The Gender Workshop aims to continue its "Feminist Talks" with people from various areas of intervention and work in gender equality, and women's dignity and well-being in Portugal and Spain. This talk focuses on disability issues. The guest will be Catarina Vitorino, interviewed by Gonçalo Cholant.


Bio notes

Catarina Vitorino concluded her Master's degree in Psychology in 2018, in the area of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy in Psychological Disorders and Health at the University of Coimbra. She is currently a PhD student in Health Psychology, under the DOCTORATES 4 COVID-19 programme, at the Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive and Behavioral Intervention of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences. Her research project is titled "Large-scale, longitudinal documentation of the impact of COVID-19 on mental health and wellbeing across Portuguese nurses and their families". Her main scientific interests are Cognitive Behavioural Therapies, processes of adaptation to different contexts of adversity, and Disability Studies from an emancipatory perspective. She is a disabled woman and defines herself as an anti-ableist, feminist and intersectional activist. She argues that disability contributes to shaping the individual identity, but does not define anyone. She believes that one day disability can be approached not with a "but", but with an "and". She is a staunch advocate of the significance of the true intersectionality of social movements and that this is the path to a society free of oppression. She is currently co-coordinator of the Coimbra branch of the Associação Centro de Vida Independente and co-founder of the feminist collective As DEsaFiantes.

Gonçalo Cholant holds a PhD in Modern Languages: Culture and Literature by the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Coimbra (FLUC) (2019), and currently holds the position of Guest Assistant Professor at the same institution. He teaches on the doctoral programmes in Feminist Studies and Modern Languages. He holds a MA (2012) in Feminist Studies (FLUC), Portugal, and a BA (2008) in English Language and Literature from the Federal University of Pelotas (UFPel), Brazil. He is a researcher at CETAPS - Centre for English, Translation, and Anglo-Portuguese Studies, in the American Intersections group, and in the Trauma Observatory - at the Centre for Social Studies (CES). His research interests are African-American Literature, Caribbean Literature, Autobiography, Women’s Writing, Feminist Studies, Representations of Violence, and Trauma. His latest publication is Reconfigurations of the Bildungsroman Taking Refuge from Violence in Kincaid, Danticat, hooks e Morrison. Published by De Gruyter in Berlin and Boston.