The activities of this project were organized into six specific work packages.
During the project, the Fellow developed and improved collaborations and professional ties with the following institutions:
- The University of Edinburgh, School of Social and Political Science
- Instituto Universitario de Investigación de Estudios de las Mujeres y de Género de la Universidad de Granada
- The Institutional Ethnography Nordic Network, University of Agder
- Centro di Ateneo Elena Cornaro per i Saperi, le Culture e le Politiche di Genere, University of Padua.
Thanks to this Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship the Fellow has developed a more solid experience as a researcher, and it has improved and boosted her academic career. In particular, the Fellow has improved her: (1) theoretical knowledge, (2) methodological knowledge, (3) English language skills, (4) skills in writing proposals and publishing in journals; (5) skills in organizing academic events and outreach events, and 6) skills in networking.
At the end of the fellowship, the Fellow completed 73 training activities and conducted activities to transfer her knowledge to professionals, young researchers, and students.
The research project was conducted in three European countries – Belgium, Italy, Spain – by utilizing the Institutional Ethnography approach, with different qualitative research methods.
The Fellow conducted the fieldwork using the following methods:
1) a first discursive interview with lone mothers (ten interviews for each country).
2) a second discursive interview (two interviews for each country) with lone mothers focused on the legal documents of their separation (participants were selected among the mothers already interviewed at the first interview).
3) analysis of legal documents provided by the mothers for the second interview.
4) an “interview to the double” with three professionals (lawyers, social workers, and court-appointed experts in the field of psychology) and a gender activist for each country.
5) analysis of two events on shared custody and parental responsibilities evaluation.
6) photovoice sessions (one for each country) involving the mothers who were interviewed at point 1.
Results show that the introduction of children's shared custody by default has changed the practices and discourses surrounding the family crisis. However, the mothers interviewed highlight the need to consider properly - during the phase of judicial evaluation - the power relations within the family field that often saw women in a situation of subordination, with lower economic and cultural capital than men. Furthermore, the interviews underline that, when women are victims of domestic violence, in-court procedures concerning shared custody seem to not consider properly the need to protect these women and their children from different forms of violence. Furthermore, the results show how lone mothers try to negotiate the dominant definition of family and parenthood and how they ask for support during their journey through the judicial institutions, and how the institutions shape their requests.
The Research Fellow has delivered ten conference papers and she has an additional two conference papers underway. Then, she has delivered six publications (three articles, two book chapters, one review) and she has an additional four journal manuscripts and one book underway. Furthermore, she delivered many presentations and webinars, videoclips, and an International event on Institutional Ethnography.
