Events

Memodias @ ESA RN03 Mid-term Conference

October 23–24, 2025 | 📍Göttingen, Germany

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At the ESA RN03 “Biographical Perspectives on European Societies” mid-term conference “Memory, Crisis and Future” held in Göttingen on 23-24 October, MEMODIAS was presented and discussed in the session “Migration, Displacement, Memory”.

In the paper, CRISIS, SOCIABILITY, AND MNEMONIC SOLIDARITY BETWEEN AFGHAN AND SOMALI DIASPORAS IN ITALY: CREATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL PERSPECTIVES, Gianluca GATTA discussed preliminary findings from Memodias, focusing on the Italian case. The paper explores how Afghan and Somali diasporas in Italy engage in fragile forms of sociability and memory exchange shaped by urban space and reception systems. While shared routines can foster moments of connection, these encounters remain sporadic and can coexist with forms of tension or conflict. Precarious living conditions and uncertain prospects of return complicate the weaving of transnational ties, yet creative practices and fleeting interactions sometimes open spaces for mnemonic solidarity and future-oriented imagination.

Memodias Final Event @ Escapes Conference

September 11–12, 2025 | 📍Milan, Italy

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MEMODIAS’ Final Event — the panel “Mnemonic Solidarity among Diasporas”, curated by Gianluca Gatta and Monica Massari at the VII ESCAPES Conference — offered a vibrant space where case studies and perspectives resonated across diverse contexts, weaving a rich tapestry of insights, connections, and future possibilities.

✨ These reflections mark a NEW POINT OF DEPARTURE in our collective effort to explore and enact grassroots forms of solidarity through memory — aimed at social, economic, and political justice. A commitment that has guided MEMODIAS throughout its journey, and that feels more urgent than ever in today’s troubled global landscape.

Gianluca GATTA shared findings from MEMODIAS, highlighting how Afghan and Somali diasporas engage in situated forms of solidarity shaped by displacement and transnational memory.
Susan BANKI presented Asian Refugees United, showing how art and activism foster healing and unexpected alliances between different communities.
Charles BRADLEY examined contextual uses of trauma in refugee settings, showing how shared stories in Lebanon and Jordan resist pathologization and build collective memory.
Dilyara MÜLLER-SULEYMANOVA examined how second-generation Bosnians and Kosovars in Switzerland respond to current conflicts through inherited memories and digital engagement.
María INÉS HERNÁNDEZ showed how embroidery workshops with migrant women in NYC weave environmental memory and care into diasporic solidarity.
Martina PADOVANI and Chiara GIACOMELLI shared how pinhole photography with migrant youth in Italy fosters embodied memory and creative resistance.
Cecilia BARTOLI reflected on multilingual, multimodal storytelling with migrants, drawing on the experience of Asinitas in Rome.
Viki MLADENOVA offered a reflection on the Balkan Route, reimagining space as a site of shared vulnerability and relational resistance.
THANKS to all who contributed with such depth and generosity — MEMODIAS continues through the connections, reflections, and solidarities it helped bring to light.

 Memodias @ 5th ISA Forum of Sociology

July 6–11, 2025 | 📍Rabat, Morocco

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At the ISA Forum held in Rabat in July, Memodias was presented in two sessions curated by RC38 “Biography and Society”, exploring key issues around migration, memory, and biographical research.

In the first paper, TRANSGENERATIONAL DIASPORIC MEMORIES AND MNEMONIC SOLIDARITY: THE CASE OF THE AFGHAN AND SOMALI DIASPORAS IN THE USA AND ITALY, presented in the panel “Transnational Generations – Memories and Knowledge Transmission of/in Migration and Exile”, Gianluca GATTA discussed preliminary findings from Memodias. Drawing on interviews and creative workshops, the paper explored how memories are shaped across generations within diasporic communities. Key themes included the shift toward individualized identities among youth, the influence of parental narratives shaped by conflict, tensions between generational expectations and transnational ties, and the social conditions that hinder meaningful encounters and solidarity between Afghan and Somali communities. Urban environments and sociability emerged as central in shaping how memories are lived, reworked, and transmitted.
The second paper, CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF BIOGRAPHICAL CREATIVE WORKSHOPS: MIGRATION AND MEMORY RESEARCH IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AND THE USA, was co-presented by Gianluca GATTA, Monica MASSARI, and Simona MICELI in the panel “Creative Methods in Biographical Research”. It offered further reflections on a methodological approach already introduced in previous RC38 meetings. Drawing on experiences from multiple research projects, the paper deepened the discussion on creative biographical methods that combine interviews with arts-based workshops. The presentation focused on how this approach can address linguistic, cultural, and emotional barriers – with a focus on silence – and how it aligns with postcolonial and decolonial perspectives in challenging dominant research paradigms.

Workshop “Migrations and Border Violence” @ UNIMI

March 28, 2025 | 📍Milan, Italy

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MEMODIAS contributed to organizing the international workshop MIGRATIONS AND BORDER VIOLENCE | Practices of Memory and Oblivion across the Mediterranean at the University of Milan.

An opportunity for collective discussion and reflection on the processes of constructing public and collective memory of contemporary migrations through the stories of those who have crossed the Mediterranean.

The seminar explored the massacres in the Mediterranean and the deaths caused by border regimes, shedding light on how mobility and memory are denied between the two shores of the sea. It addressed traumatic memory and forms of oblivion, practices of listening and processing unacknowledged mourning, as well as artistic expressions that help build a public memory of these tragedies. Public mobilizations and legal support for the families of the victims in their pursuit of truth and justice were also discussed.

Scientific committee: Monica Massari, Silvia Di Meo, Gianluca Gatta and Thomas Aureliani (University of Milan)


Download the full program here (Italian and French)

Seminar “Gendered Narratives, Embodied Crossings” @ the New School

February 10, 2025 | 📍New York, USA

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MEMODIAS co-organized Monica Massari’s seminar: “Gendered Narratives, Embodied Crossings: Migrant Women’s Lives, Memories and Forms of Resistance in the Mediterranean Context”, hosted by MEMODIAS’s partner institution, the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility at the New School for Social Research in New York.


️The seminar addressed migrant and refugee women’s agency practices, survival and resistance strategies beyond romanticizing and overpowering discourses, by focussing on micro-practices related to women’s daily work and life️
Based on the outcomes of two major research projects – ITHACA Project and MOBS – and also supported by MEMODIAS project, the seminar was aimed at addressing the political dimension of migrant women’s actions, while subverting forms of concealment and self-invisibilization that have for so long affected women involved in contemporary forms of global mobility.

Memodias @ UNIMI

November 19, 2025 | 📍Milan, Italy

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The seminar “Memory Practices of the Afghan and Somali Diasporas in the USA and Italy”, organized at the host institution – the Department of International Legal, Historical and Political Studies of the University of Milan – at the end of the outgoing phase, was an opportunity to discuss the research conducted in the United States and the planned activities in Italy.

Seminar and interdiasporic event: “Migration, Diaspora, and Mnemonic Solidarity” @ the New School

October 18, 2024 | 📍New York, USA

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The seminar and interdiasporic event “Migration, Diaspora, and Mnemonic Solidarity”, held at the partner institution — the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility at The New School — as part of the MEMODIAS project, offered a fantastic opportunity for connection and exchange.

Through various case studies and perspectives shared by our guests – Sahraa Karimi, Karina Horsti, and Mohamed A. Hashi – we delved into how cultural and biographical memories are created and shared within a diaspora, considering its internal fractures, stratification, and differentiations. We also explored how different diasporas with similar historical backgrounds can build solidarity through memory.

Memodias @ ISA RC38 Conference

September 4-6, 2024 | 📍Budapest, Hungary

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MEMODIAS’ participated in the Conference “Biographical Research Quo Vadis?” organized by the Research Network 38 “Biography and Society” of the International Sociological Association (ISA).

Monica MASSARI, Gianluca GATTA Simona MICELI presented a paper on “Reflexivity, Migration and Memory: Exploring the Entanglement of Biographical Research and Creative Methods”
Our research, grounded in the reflective and emotional turn within migration studies, explores the synergies of combining biographical methods with creative tools. We investigate how this integrated approach enhances our understanding of the complex realities faced by migrants and refugees, particularly when supported by reflexive reciprocity and ethical presence in the field.

 Memodias @ 119th ASA’s Annual Meeting

August 9–13, 2024 | 📍Montréal, Canada

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At the 2024 Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, MEMODIAS was presented in a roundtable within the International Migration section, through a paper titled “Memories of the Somali Diaspora in the USA through Ilhan Omar and Abdi Iftin’s Memoirs“.

In his paper, Gianluca Gatta explored two memoirs recently published in the U.S. by voices from the Somali diaspora. By comparing the protagonists’ trajectories, I analyzed their influences, choices, and how they processed biographical memory and the ‘American Dream.’ This dream, far from being passive or without ambivalence, reflected their family backgrounds, migratory experiences, and legal statuses. For both authors, it was a way to remember and revive some egalitarian, joyful, and promising aspects from their families’ daily experiences in Somalia before the civil war.