The Veiled Mirror. Subjective Transformations in the Relationship with Migrant Women

Abstract

Starting from the history of the birth, development and life of an Intercultural Women ́s Centre in Verona, issues emerge in the local which have arisen in international feminism. With what way of looking and with what expectations do western feminist women approach women who come from other worlds, asking them to enter into an authentic relationship? Is recognising the equal dignity of the other, proclaiming the equality that comes from belonging to the same sex enough to bridge the inequalities of lived experience or does it end up being once again a form of annulment of the difference of the other? Practices are described of speaking in ways that allow for the arising of different subjectivities, rooted in embodiment and personal story, that constitute, for all, an image of female greatness and strength that does not erase, but rather preserves the differences. Weaving relationships with women who cultivate their relationship with transcendence intimately, whatever the name that is put to this, leads us to question the empoverishing of western culture and see the necessity of always keeping the big questions about the meaning of existence open.