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Lucia Sorbera

BA (Hons), MA and PhD Università di Venezia “Ca' Foscari”
Lecturer
738 Brennan-MacCallum Building A18

+61 2 90367017

My research in the field of women’s history focuses on the study of Egyptian feminism. My PhD thesis, titled Nationalism, cosmopolitism and internationalism in the discourse of the Egyptian Feminist Union (in Italian) analyses the origins of Egyptian Feminist and its relationships with the international suffragist movement between the First and the Second World War. I have published also on Arab women’s autobiography, Arab women’s political leadership, and contemporary Iraqi cinema.

Research areas

  • Gender and women history
  • Middle East Studies
  • Arabic Literature
  • Cross-cultural studies

Current projects

My main current project is a compilation and analysis of women’s narratives and political agency in the 2011 Egyptian revolution, which I study within the broader context of Egyptian contemporary history. I am a member of the Research Cluster Religion State and Society in the Muslim World, a research group lead by Associate Professor Lily Zubaidah Rahim and funded by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (2013). The Cluster is currently organizing an international symposium on Competing Visions in the Muslim world. Rebuilding States and Reinvigorating Civil Societies (June 2013).

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Selected publications

Books

  • Casini Lorenzo, Paniconi Maria Elena, Sorbera Lucia. Modernità arabe. Nazione, narrazione e nuovi soggetti nel romanzo egiziano, Messina: Mesogea (2012).

Book Chapters

  • “An Invisible and enduring presence: women in Egyptian politics”, in Anceschi Luca, Gervasio Gennaro, & Teti Andrea (eds.), Hidden Geographies. Informal Powers in the Greater Middle East, Routledge, UK (Forthcoming in 2013).
  • “History and Fiction in the New Iraqi Cinema”, in Jordi Tejel, Peter Sluglett, Riccardo Bocco, & Hamit Bozarslan (eds.) Writing the Modern History of Iraq: Historiographical and Political Challenges, London: World Scientific Publications Connecting Great Minds (2012): 423-444.
  • “Gli studi sui rapporti con le donne musulmane in Francia. Il Velo e la Repubblica: vent’anni dopo” [A critical review of the studies on Muslim women in France. The Veil and the Republic twenty years on] in Rossi Doria A. &Bertilotti T. (eds.) Annali Irsifar, Milano: Franco Angeli (2008): 61-80.
  • “Saggio Bibliografico” [Bibliographical Essay], in Zolo D. and Cassano F. (eds.) Alternativa Mediterranea, Milano: Feltrinelli (2007): 595-625.
  • “Viaggiare e svelarsi alle origini del femminismo egiziano” [Travelling and unveiling at the down of Egyptian feminism], in Scrittori A.R (ed.) Margini e Confini. Studi sulla cultura delle donne nell’età contemporanea, Venezia: Cafoscarina (2006): 265-294.

Refereed journal articles

  • “Leadership femminili dal Dar al-Islam alla Global Umma” [Women’s leadership from Dar al-Islam to the Global Umma], Contemporanea. Rivista di Storia dell’800 e del 900, Il Mulino, Bologna, 2 (2011): 302-309.
  • “Dreamers Without Borders. Irakischer Film nach Saddam Hamburg, 6-14 October 2007 and Off-Line Baghdad (Not Just Another Film Festival), Milan, 13-16 December 2007”, International Journal of Contemporary Iraqi Studies, 3:3 (2009): 321-329.
  • “Gli esordi del femminismo egiziano. Costruzione e superamento di uno spazio nazionale femminile” [The dawn of Egyptian feminism. Constructing and overcoming a women’s national space], in Genesis. Rivista della Società Italiana delle Storiche, VI:1 (2007):115-136.

Edited journals

  • I am co-editing with Dr. Leila el-Houssi the monographic part on Femminismi nel Mediterraneo [Feminism in the Mediterranean] of Genesis. The Journal of the Italian Society of Women Historians. The issue will contain articles on feminism in Iraq, Morocco, Tunisia, and on Islamic Feminism, plus my own contribution on Egypt (forthcoming, July 2013).
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Areas of teaching and supervision

Teaching

  • I teach and coordinate all the Units of Studies in the Arabic and Islamic Studies (ARIS) Program. I contribute to the International Comparative Literatures Program and to the European Studies Program. I supervise Honours students whose thesis is in the field of modern and contemporary history, literature, gender, and politics of the Arab world.

Supervision

  • I supervise Master and PhD students in my research area of expertise, which is women and gender history of the Arab world and the Middle East. Research topics related to modern and contemporary cultural history and literature can be taken into consideration for supervision.
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Conference activity

  • Florence Univ. 21-22/01/2013 Conference Le radici delle trasformazioni nel mondo arabo. Un confronto sulle interpretazioni [The roots of transformation in the Arab World. An exchange on interpretations] Paper “Note su una rivoluzione riuscita. Il femminismo in Egitto.”[Notes on a successful revolution. Feminism in Egypt].
  • Trieste Univ. 18/01/2013. Invited Presentation at Trieste University. “Women, Gender and Islam.
  • Cairo Univ. 13-15/11/2012. International Symposium Creativity and Revolution. Conference Paper: “Gender Agency and Creativity in the Revolutionary Egyptian History”. Plenary Session.
  • Melbourne Univ. 17-18/03/2012. Conference Middle East in Revolt: The First Anniversary. Paper: “Gender and Politics in Egypt today. Continuities and Changes One Year on…”
  • Trieste Univ. 20/01/2012. Round Table: Protagonismi Femminili dalle Primavere Arabe a Occupy Wall Street [Women’s agency from the Arab Spring to Occupy Wall Street].
  • Bologna Univ. 14/12/ 2011. Conference, Femminismi nel Mediterraneo, Paper: “Gender identities and Political leadership in Egypt today.”
  • Milano U. 9-11/06/2011. X Congress of Società di Studi sul Medio Oriente Contemporaneo. Paper: “Storia e Memoria in Atyaf di Radwa Ashur.” [History and Memory in Atyaf by Radwa Ashur]
  • Canberra, 15-17/04/2011. NISA Conference, Far West/Estremo Occidente. Paper: “Lost in Translation, Women and Gender Representation across the Mediterranean.”
  • Sydney, Macquarie Univ. 14/03/2011. Public Forum, The Middle East in Revolution.
  • The Univ. of Sydney, 15/02/2011. Conference People’s Power in the Arab World. Paper: “Women and Gender in the Egyptian Revolution.”
  • Barcelona, 17-24/06/2010. World Congress of Middle East Studies. Paper: “Geographies of Power and Resistance in Transnational Feminist Networks.”
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Other professional contributions

  • I am a member of the Editorial Board of the new Series on Women and Gender History published by the Italian publisher Viella in partnership with the Italian Society of Women Historians. I serve in the board of the Summer School of the Italian Society of Women Historians, and of the Italian Society for Middle Eastern Studies (SeSaMO).
  • My interest in interdisciplinary and cross-cultural studies led me to collaborate with the Department of Italian Studies in joint seminars: the most recent was held on April 23, 2012 (In conversation with the Italian-Algerian Wtriter Amara Lakhous), and the next one will be held on May 14, 2013: The Clash of Civilisers: Muslim Minorities, Italy, and the Global Crisis. Invited Speaker, Dr. Gabriele Marranci, Macquarie University.
  • Below, the link to the Sydney Ideas lecture, where I hosted the Egyptian writer Ahdaf Soueif (February 27, 2013), and to my most recent interventions at SBS Radio, Italian broadcasting
  • In conversation with Ahdaf Soueif
  • Una Musulmana nel Parlamento del NSW, with Marina Freri, April 8, 2013.
  • Donne egiziane tra letteratura e rivoluzione, with Marina Freri, February 22, 2013
  • La rivoluzione continua, with Marina Freri, November 23, 2012.
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