a) Estudos Feministas e Estudos de Género: interdisciplinaridade e reconhecimento by Adriana Bebiano (2023)

In this essential article for understanding the field of Feminist and Gender Studies, Adriana Bebiano reflects on the trajectory, challenges and achievements of these domains in the contemporary academic and cultural space. The author analyses the fundamental role of interdisciplinarity as a method and as a political strategy, emphasising the importance of crossing knowledges to understand the complexities of relations of power, identity, and inequality.

Bebiano also addresses the process of legitimising Gender Studies in universities and in the production of knowledge, facing resistances and reaffirming its relevance in current critical thinking. The article proposes a careful reading of the social transformations, ethical commitment and political impact of these studies in the contemporary world.

An indispensable read for anyone who wants to understand the place and power of feminisms in academia and society.

b) Intimate Lovers, Legal Strangers—The Politics of Dissident Relationality in Portugal by Ana Cristina Santos and Ana Lúcia Santos (2023)

The article investigates how cultural, legal, and political frameworks in Southern Europe are still based on the ideal of reproductive, monogamous, and cis-heterosexual couples, while LGBTQ+ intimacies continue to face prejudice and exclusion, despite legislative advances. Based on the Portuguese context, it discusses how state recognition can contribute to (de)constructing the cultural abjection attributed to these experiences, exploring the personal, sociocultural, and legal aspects that shape affective trajectories.

The text analyses the visibility of non-normative sexualities, the importance of the legal status of marriage as a way of overcoming invisibility and stigma, and points to non-monogamy as one of the main focuses of cultural rejection, associated with ideas of moral panic. Finally, it presents the notion of relational performativity and proposes relational dissidence as key to understanding the intimate experiences of LGBTQ+ people in the process of ageing.

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This series is a joint initiative of the Doctoral Programme in Feminist Studies at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Coimbra (FLUC) and the Centre for Social Studies (CES), aiming to promote critical readings of literary works by women and gender-dissident authors from diverse geographical and cultural contexts. The discussions will be guided by theoretical contributions from feminist, gender, and queer studies in their multiple aspects.

This second series will be coordinated by Fabrina Souza and Iuri Lopes, PhD candidates in Feminist Studies. The sessions will take place monthly, preferably on the first Wednesday of each month, at 17:00, lasting approximately two hours, at the CES | Alta facilities.

In this second edition, we will have online meetings in December (2025), January, and June (2026).

Participation is free and open to the entire community, upon prior registration [here].

The series’ coordinators or participants will initially suggest the works to be read, which will later be announced both during the meetings and on the initiative's official website. Whenever possible, the selected texts will be sent by email to those who have registered. The discussion will be conducted in Portuguese, and if necessary, in English and Spanish, with each participant being allowed to use the edition and translation of their choice.

Subsequent readings will be decided collaboratively, based on the interests expressed by the group members.

For further information, please contact: fabrinasouza@ces.uc.pt or iurilopes@ces.uc.pt