The Duoda Women's Research Centre is an interdisciplinary research center internationally recognized for research, teaching and publications. The center is on located at Edifici Florensa, a building in the Campus Diagonal Sur of the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...

Overview

History

The name Duoda was taken from a ninth-century Barcelona countess,

Dhuoda Dhuoda (''fl.'' AD 824–844) was a Frankish writer, as well as Duchess consort of Septimania and Countess consort of Barcelona. She was the author of the ''Liber Manualis'', a handbook written for her son.Cherewatuk, Karen. "''Speculum Matris'': ...

, famous for the education manual Liber Manualis she wrote for her sons, who were taken from her. Duoda began as a Centre for Historical Research on Women in 1982, founded by women lecturers and students at the university who wanted to have a women's space within it. In 1991 it took on the name of Duoda and over time evolved from its historical focus to one encompassing an

interdisciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several fields such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, economi ...

scope. It started to offer an MA programme in

Women's Studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on Feminism, feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining Social constructionism, social and cultural constructs of gender; ...

in 1998 and an Online MA in the Studies of Sexual Difference in 2000. These two programmes, after the

Bologna agreement 96px, alt=Logo with stylized stars, Logo alt=Map of Europe, encompassing the entire Bologna zone, 256px, Bologna zone The Bologna Process is a series of ministerial meetings and agreements between European countries to ensure comparability in ...

, were merged into one programme that can be followed in different forms.

Sexual differences as thought and politics

In Spain, Duoda has been central to the introduction of the thinking and politics of sexual differences undertaken by two important and inter-related Italian groups, the Milan Women's Bookstore Collective and Diotima, the Women's Philosophical Community at the University of Verona. The work and evolution of these two groups was explained in their book, ''No credere di avere dei diriti'', translated into English as, The thinking and politics of sexual differences emerged in the late 1960s - in part triggered by

Luce Irigaray Luce Irigaray (; born 3 May 1930) is a Belgian-born French feminist, philosopher, linguist, psycholinguist, psychoanalyst, and cultural theorist who examines the uses and misuses of language in relation to women. Irigaray's first and most ...

. Her thesis, ''Speculum'', posed a critique of western cultural and philosophical structures and beliefs. She proposed moving beyond equality towards wider freedoms. The Italian groups and Duoda are committed to exploring politics rooted in sexual differences. They have worked on topics such as affidamento, the politics of desire, female authority (as opposed to power), and the politics of setting out from the self. Lisa Muraro authored ''The Symbolic Order of the Mother''. It emphasizes the relationships between women, on giving them significance and on language. It is grounded in the need to think through sexual differences. It enabled a different kind of perception of politics to develop among those who find sense in it.

Virtual library

Duoda recently created a virtual library, to hold texts and documents in various languages. Currently the texts are available in Spanish and Catalan.

References

External links

Duoda - Centre de Recerca de Dones. Universitat de Barcelona - Parc Científic de Barcelona
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duoda Women's Research Centre Women's studies Research institutes in Spain