Articles for DWF
Books reviewed by DWF
Articles for DWF
Debate [Trial: let's listen: two meetings on politics], 1992, n. 16, pp. 7-23
Two encounters took place in December 1991 and February 1992 in the review's headquarters. The debate occurred in two moments, of which an account is given here synthetically but, on the whole, accurately. Elena Gentili, Ida Dominijanni, Annamaria Crispino, Maria Luisa Boccia, Annalisa Biondi, Roberta Tatafiore, Alessandra Bocchetti, Paola Masi, Vania Chiurlotto, Paola Bono, Marina Pivetta, Tilde Capomazza, Mariella Gramaglia, Rosanna Marcodoppido, Luciana Viviani, Rosetta Stella took part in the debate.
The principal issues were: the relation between social change and the creation of a female symbolic, in the connection of political practice and political action; the importance of language and of the reached, possible, necessary levels of comunication; the problem of the collective subject's possible residual quality, with the reasons which may create it and the ways of avoiding it by once more extending confrontation within the feminist community and beyond.
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Words and practise, 1997, n. 34-35, pp. 58-68
Reflecting on her decision to leave the Democratic Party of the Left in February 1997, the author reconsiders the meaning of politics for her today. Three fundamental issues are the present poverty of political language, the crisis of the parties' capacity to represent society, and the crisis of political participation. She looks at them retracing her experience as a feminist who was also a Communist Party member (and then of the Democratic Party of the Left) from 1964 to 1997.
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CORSI Rita (introduced by BOCCIA Maria Luisa), From object of thought to
thinking thought Carla Lonzi's interlocution with psychoanalysis, 1997, n. 34-35,
pp. 74-91
In this section of the journal, a feminist scholar of some standing [Boccia] introduces a younger scholar. In this article - the introduction of a thesis - Rita Corsi tries to show how Carla Lonzi's position towards the theory and practice of psychoanalysis isn't just a mere refusal: her critique to the central concepts of psychoanalysis moves from "another level", that of a female subjectivity that has complete self-awareness and isn't afraid to measure up against a thought that, when looked at with lucidity, is recognisable as sexed. It is from a preliminary affirmation of non-involvement that it is possible to create the conditions for a dialogue.
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Private Road, 1998, n. 39-40, pp. 7-12
Reflecting on the questions inevitable for a woman who doesn't want to became "a prisoner of her own loyalty to her past", the author addresses the issues discussed in the editorial, concluding that "doing for and on our own" may be only a shortcut. If we don't share "the essential dimension of a continuous questioning of the relation between the self and the world", we risk privatising the very relationships between/among women, which would then lose their political meaning.
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BOCCIA Maria Luisa - BUFFO Gloria - DOMINIJANNI Ida, Sliding doors, 1998,
n. 39-40, pp. 117-130
This section includes two political documents: The glass door. Women and men between the power and the impotence of politics, by M.L. Boccia, G. Buffo, I. Dominijanni, and Feminist changes, by the Roman group Onda, both publicly presented after the publication of "Dwf" n. 34-35 and n. 36. From very different points of view, they discuss the problems on which those issues focussed, analysing the Italian political situation.
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Thinking differently, 1999, n. 42-43, pp. 76-86
The philosophical thought of sexual difference has accepted Virginia Woolf's suggestion that we have to find new words and create new methods. According to the author, "thinking differently" does not imply trying to answer the question "what is femininity?", nor should it attempt to redefine female identity laying down rules for women's subjectivity and existence.
She envisions it as a public and political exchange among women, where the sense of taking oneself as one's starting point is reproposed and renewed; women's freedom today requires a new emphasis on each woman's single identity, as it requires each woman's personal involvement and responsibility.
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BOCCIA Maria Luisa - GALLUCCI Laura - MASI Paola (edited by), "Balena"
through the notes, 2000, n. 47, pp. 12-17
Sentences, aphorisms, fragments from the meetings of <Balena> as they were recorded by the editors through their notes. This "rough material" is organised in three main areas, as they were identified during the meetings: care humanitarian intervention, conflict/conflicts, nights/needs. A final section is devoted to several snapshots of the group's political discussion and practice.
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LATTARULO Simona (introduced by BOCCIA Maria Luisa), Simone de Beauvoir: a philosopher
of the existence, 2000, n. 47, pp. 70-82
Boccia introduces Lattarulo. The philosophical theses of Simone De Beauvoir are commonly associated to her partner, the French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre. The author suggests that this is not the proper way to understand her work; on the contrary, reading her writings inside "existentialism" means ignoring her autonomous philosophical experience.
Not by chance, the missing element in these interpretations is her consciousness of being a woman. The author demonstrates that the experience of her sexual difference is deeply anchored in De Beauvoir's writings and that it can not be ignored if one wants to fully understand her philosophical approach.
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Books reviewed by DWF
BOCCIA Maria Luisa - ZUFFA Grazia, L'eclissi della madre, Milano, Pratiche,
1998
rev. by Rosetta Stella, 1999, n. 42-43, pp. 119-122