Knowledge is power. The development of intersectional analysis in different disciplines would lead to a different kind of knowledge, free from stereotypes.
Marcella Corsi is a feminist economist interested in developing/disseminating intersectional studies. To her, it is most important to overcome barriers between disciplines and to foster dialogue. This is what she aims to do as MinervaLab coordinator.
An Laboratory for Researching Diversity and Gender Inequality
Minerva - Laboratory on Diversity and Gender Inequality (MinervaLab) is an interdisciplinary laboratory, collecting contributions from economics, history, sociology, architecture, demography, law, and other disciplines. It is based at Sapienza University of Rome (Italy), in the Dept. of Statistical Sciences, and was founded in 2017 by a group of feminist economists (Marcella Corsi, Carlo D'Ippoliti and Giulia Zacchia) belonging to the International association for feminist economics (IAFFE).
Marcella Corsi says that the mission of the Laboratory is to: "organize workshops, seminars, conferences, lectures and training courses". The lab also invites academics to speak about their research, presenting books/reports online, via Zoom.
Understanding Gender Relations; Pushing Intersectional Analysis
Based on the belief that we need a better understanding of gender relations and the development of a crosscutting gender/intersectional analysis, the Minerva - Laboratory on Diversity and Gender Inequality strives towards a utopian vision of interdisciplinary research for the greater good: "Knowledge is power. The development of intersectional analysis in different disciplines would lead to a different kind of knowledge, free from stereotypes", hopes Marcella Corsi.
Marcella Corsi herself is also embodying this approach, having carried out various research projects that are rooted within different disciplines (e.g., about financial exclusion and microfinance, women empowerment, and migration) at international level. She has worked as consultant for OECD, European Parliament and European Commission, and for several Italian institutions. She is Full professor of economics at the Department of Statistics of Sapienza University of Rome; her research currently focuses on issues related with human development, specifically gender equality, women empowerment, poverty and social investment. Next to her involvement with MinervaLab she is also chief editor of the International Review of Sociology since 2017, and one of the editors of the web-magazine inGenere since 2009. She was recently elected as member of the Board of the International association for feminist economics (IAFFE).
Applying a Gender Lens and Making Knowledge Accessible to All
With MinervaLab Youtube chanel, Marcella Corsi makes international academic insights accessible to all. Seminars cover very different topics through a gender lens and are given titles such as From one precariousness to another. Residential mobility and housing policies in Rome (forthcoming in September). Many of the presented content is very relevant to recent discourses, such as talks on unpaid work, work-life balance, feminist cities, gender based violence or gender backlash.
We would like to thank Marcella Corsi for contributing to IN-VISIBLE Academia and wish her all the best for her research.
If you are interested, please find more information about Minerva - Laboratory on Diversity and Gender Inequality's LinkedIn. All events are listed here.
IN-VISIBLE ACADEMIA - a platform for Gender Studies researchers
This feature is part of IN-VISIBLE ACADEMIA, a platform for research from the fields of Gender Studies, with the goal to make it more visible and accessible to a broader public. The goal is to help Gender Studies research gain more visibility and thereby to build awareness about its meaning and relevance for society. We thus hope to provide alternative content to the anti-feminist hate speech and backlash that is increasingly associated with Gender Studies on social media.
Gender Researchers for Gender Equality
You can participate here. This project is run by IN-VISIBLE and MARGHERITA-VON-BRENTANO-ZENTRUM. For us, it is of secondary importance whether you are a professor, research assistant, or doing post-doc research - we are interested in your research if you feel like your results should be made more available to a broader public. We explicitly do not want to exclude anyone on the basis of their academic degree. The only criteria here is that you have had some sort of publication success with your topic and that, accordingly, our community could peek into it. If this applies to you, then you are welcome to participate. The incoming applications will be viewed by us and - if suitable - shared via our LinkedIn and Instagram in the form of features.