Autonomia in the 1970s: The Refusal of Work, the Party and Power

One of my aims is to unpack the myths and conspiracy theories surrounding Italian Autonomia and the 1970s to clarify better its role as a movement involved in the conflicts of a period of almost continuous political and economic upheaval and of profound cultural and social change

Globalisation, Maquiladoras and Transnational Identities at the Us-Mexico Border: The Case of Ciudad Juarez-El Paso

This paper’s point of departure is that the local and global configurations of identity in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, and in El Paso, Texas, are determined by the processes of economic globalisation, whose main manifestation is or has been until recently the maquiladora assembly plant. Hitherto, studies on border identities have emphasized more socio-cultural processes and have not analysed economic processes sufficiently as decisive in the construction of identities. The paper’s objective is to identify the salient characteristics of the identities of maquiladora workers and ex-workers on both sides of the border and to ascertain if transnational identities are emerging because of the impacts of globalisation, and what impacts these imply for cultural and social policy in “Paso del Norte”

Italian feminism, workerism and autonomy in the 1970s

This essay discusses some of the differences between Italian workerist feminism and liberal, socialist and separatist feminisms during the 1970s. It outlines the emergence of the main workerist feminist organizations around the issues of unpaid reproductive labour and of physical and sexual violence against women. The problems linked to relations between feminism and the anti-capitalist Autonomia social movement are also explored