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[Commlist] JICMS 2024 conference. Call for submissions: Reporting Honor Killings in Italian Media

Sat Oct 14 20:16:54 GMT 2023





*Call for Submissions*

*Conference:*IV Edition of the Journal of Italian Cinema and Media Studies

*Location:* The American University of Rome, Italy

*Date:* 13-15 June 2024

*Panel Title:* /*Reporting Honor Killings in Italian Media*/

*Organizer:*Flavia Laviosa (Wellesley College, USA)

*Abstract:*

Over the past twenty-five years, honor killings, perpetrated predominantly against women, have surfaced strongly within the human rights framework alerting artists, journalists, and political activists. The dramatic confluence of social and cultural events that make these killings a phenomenon, crossing socio-economic classes and education boundaries, is poignantly portrayed in documentaries, feature films, TV series, and news in Europe.

When families migrate to new countries, they bring with them their traditional honor codes and forms of punishment inflicted on women who are deemed to have stained their family’s reputation. These practices inevitably cause intercultural and intergenerational clashes when young women, born and/or raised in the multi-religious and multicultural host country and society, aspire to education and a career, and want the freedom to socialize with other groups and make their own choice of partner.

Honor based violence resides within the framework of patricentric, patrilineal, patrilateral family structures, communities and societies. The justification for the perpetration of violence is the protection of a social construction**of ‘honor’ as a value-system, norm or tradition. The term covers a spectrum of behaviors involving power, control, and intimidation. The men believe that they are acting in the best interest for their family since their reputation is at stake, and that they have a moral duty towards their own communities.

In Italy 6 cases of honor killings have been widely reported by the media:

1) Hina Saleem**(Gjrat, Pakistan 1985 - Zanano di Sarezzo [Brescia] Italy, 2006), 21 years old, was slain by her father because she wanted to live like a Westerner and had decided to go and live with a non-Muslim man. Her father and his two sons-in-law were each convicted of murder and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

2) Sana Dafani (Italy 1991- Montereale Valcellina [Pordenone] Italy, 2009), 18 years old of Moroccan origin, was killed by her father because she had a relationship with a 31-year old Italian man. The father was convicted of murder with a life sentence.

3) Begum Shahnaz (Pakistan – Modena, Italy, 2010) was killed by her husband because she defended her daughter Nosheen who refused an arranged marriage. The daughter, 20 years old, was admitted to hospital with a cranial traumatism and a broken arm after her 19-year-old brother beat her with a stick in the courtyard of their building.

4) Sana Cheema (Pakistan1993 - Brescia, Italy, 2018), 25 years old, was killed by her father and brother for refusing an arranged marriage. Both men were accused of murder in Italy.

5) Azka Riaz (Pakistan 1999- Morrovalle [Macerata] Italy, 2018),21 years old, was bitten up to death by her father and then abandoned on the edge of a road. The father was convicted of murder with a life sentence.

6) Saman Abbas (Pakistan 2003 – Novellara [Reggio Emilia] Italy, 2021), 18 years old, refused an arranged marriage with a cousin in Pakistan. Five family members are accused: her father detained (extradited from Pakistan), her uncle (extradited from France) and two cousins detained in Italy, while her mother is still a fugitive in Pakistan. All must answer for the charges of kidnapping, manslaughter and suppression of a corpse.

The most recent case, Saman Abbas, has been reported daily following the investigative process leading to the discovery of where her body had been buried and the identification of the perpetrators, as well as the trial which is still in progress. The media coverage and the legal implications of this case will break new grounds on understanding, dealing with and preventing honor based crimes.

The goals of this panel are:

1) To analyze TV crime news and talk shows (e.g. /Crash Files, Il punto, La vita in diretta, Ultim’ora. Storie Italiane, Quarto grado, Chi l’ha visto? //Prisma Cusano Italia TV/)*//*reporting these cases; and RAI archives for earlier cases.

2) To examine the work conducted by Jacopo Della Porta and Elisa Pederzoli, journalists of /Gazzetta di Reggio Emilia/ and authors of the book /Saman, Vita e morte di una ragazza italiana/ (Compagnia Editoriale Aliberti, 2023); and of Martina Castigliani, journalist of /Il Fatto Quotidiano /and author of the book/Libere. Il nostro NO ai matrimoni forzati /(PaperFIRST, 2022).

3) To explore the impact of human rights activists like Tiziana Dal Pra, founder and president of the organization Trama di Terre (Imola).

4) To understand the critical work of intercultural mediators.

5) To reflect on how the Italian legislation defines and regulates cases of honor killings.

The discussion of honor killings would be informed by social and cultural anthropology theories which problematize the unresolved coexistence of culturally diverse and parallel worlds, and offer critical lenses to study the complex picture of psychological and sociological forms of marginalization as experienced by immigrants in Italy. The purpose of this panel is to reflect on how the media contribute to the inter-cultural and legal debate.

*//*

Media scholars, journalists, human rights activists, anthropologists, psychologists, lawyers and intercultural mediators are invited to contribute to this panel.


Interested contributors should send a 250-word abstract and a 150-word biographical note (word.doc only, no pdf) to:

Flavia Laviosa at (flaviosa /at/ wellesley.edu) <mailto:(flaviosa /at/ wellesley.edu)>by 15 December 2023.


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