Transnational Spokeswomen? Female Authors from the Balkan Diasporas, between the Intimate and the Collective
Research areas 1 and 2
Contact : lola.sinoimeri@cefres.cz
Her doctoral research focuses on the literary production of four female authors from the Balkan diasporas in Germany, Switzerland and Italy: Marica Bodrožić, Melinda Nadj Abonji, Elvira Dones and Anilda Ibrahimi. Their works are centred on the experience of exile and the point of view of immigrant women navigating between languages and cultures. She works both on the narratives of exile and on the circulation of the works through the prism of translation and reception, between the Balkans and Western Europe.
By mobilising the category of ‘transnational literature’ (Seyhan 2001), she explores the way in which these works challenge the category ‘Balkans’ and shed light on the making of Europe from its margins. As a result, the notion of displacement not only characterises the authors’ trajectories of exile, but also the oblique, shifted approaches they take of the literary, social and political field in which they are embedded. The authors, and the characters they represent, are indeed subject to national, linguistic, gender and sexual norms, as well as to a Western gaze. One of the questions that runs through her thesis is how these authors negotiate, act with, subvert, transgress or incorporate these norms. She has chosen to study autobiographical, autofictional and fictional works. Fictional characters share social and historical experiences with the autobiographical self in exile. From this perspective, the category of ‘self-narrative’ (Butler 2007; Galichon 2017) allows me to explore the links between intimate writing and collective experience – that of war, immigration, diaspora and gender violence. Her research addresses the disruptions created by the writing of theses transnational trajectories, which question the evidence of national allegiances. Theses literatures also give voice to silenced narratives, making it possible to imagine and build new forms of communities.
CV
Academic Training and Diplomas
- September 2020 -: PhD researcher in Comparative Literature under the supervision of Nadia Setti (LEGS – Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint Denis) and Clara Royer (Eur’ORBEM – Sorbonne Université)
- 2019 – 2020: Research stay under the supervision of Fabio Giomi at CETOBaC (Center for Turkish, Ottoman, Balkan and Central Asian Studies) at EHESS, Paris
- 2018: Laureate of the national qualification for secondary teaching in Modern Literature
- 2015 – 2017: Master’s Degree of Modern literature at the École Normale Supérieure, Lyon
Organized Conferences
- March 16-17 2023: Organizer with Mateusz Chmurski and Clara Royer of the International Conference “Displacements: Women’s Transnational Trajectories & Artistic Experiences of Emancipation in Central Europe”, organized by CEFRES, the UMR Eur’ORBEM of Sorbonne Université, the Institute of Czech and Comparative Literature of Charles University in Prague and the Institute of Polish Culture of the University of Warsaw, Prague
- June 2 2022: Organizer on behalf of the Laboratoire Junior Passage (Eur’ORBEM) of the One-day International Conference “Artistic and Literary Perspectives on Peripheries: Strategies of Subversion and Emancipation of Peripheries and Margins in Opposition to Centers”, Maison de la Recherche, Sorbonne Université, Paris
Participation in Research Projects
- 2023 -: Member of the research project “Displacements: Gendered-based Violence, Women’s Writing and Creative Practices in Modern Central and Southeastern Europe”, carried out by CEFRES, the UMR Eur’ORBEM of Sorbonne Université, the Institute of Czech and Comparative Literature of Charles University in Prague, the Institute of Polish Culture of the University of Warsaw, with the support of the European University Alliance 4EU+
- 2021 -: Member of the research project around the axis “Modernizations, norms, identity quests” of Eur’ORBEM, Sorbonne Université
- 2021-: Member of the French Association for Balkan Studies (AFEBalk)
Scientific Publications
Edition of a journal’s special issue Lola Sinoimeri and Naïma Berkane (dir.), “Balkan Arts and Literatures (19-21th centuries) Through the Lens of Feminist Engagement”, Balkanologie. Revue d’études pluridisciplinaires [En ligne], Vol. 18 n°1, to be pulished Book chapter « Une mère exilée aux prises avec sa langue natale : la langue albanaise dans Dashuri e huaj [Amour étranger] d’Elvira Dones » [“An Exiled Mother Dealing with her Native Language: the Albanian Language in Foreign Love by Elvira Dones”] in Hypothèse d’une langue-mère : théories, études, rêveries, Nadia Setti (dir.), Paris, L’Harmattan, 2022 Book Review « Enis Sulstarova, Arratisje nga Lindja : Orientalizmi shqiptar nga Naimi te Kadareja » [“Escaping the East: Albanian Orientalism from Naim Frashëri to Ismail Kadare”], Balkanologie, Vol. 15 n°1, 2020
Participation to conferences (selection)
- “Transnational Autobiographies Against the Western and Male Gaze ? The Case of two Women Authors from the Balkan Diasporas, Elvira Dones and Melinda Nadj Abonji”,International Conference “Displacements: Women’s Transnational Trajectories & Artistic Experiences of Emancipation in Central Europe”, CEFRES, Prague, March 16-17 2023
- « Quand les récits de guerre franchissent les frontières : les cas de Marica Bodrožić et Anilda Ibrahimi » [“When War Narratives Cross Borders: the Cases of Marica Bodrožić and Anilda Ibrahimi”], Fourth International Conference in Balkan Studies, MUCEM, Marseille, 30 June – 2 July 2022
- « Quelle(s) langue(s) pour le récit d’exil ? » [“What language(s) for the exile narrative?”], One-day Conference « Seuils de l’exil », Université Paris 8 Vincennes – Saint-Denis, December 10 2021
- « Autrices des Balkans : s’émanciper des normes de genre et de langues en littérature » [“Women Authors from the Balkans: Breaking Free from Gender and Language Norms in Literature”], IIe Congrès International de l’Institut du Genre, Université d’Angers, August 27-30 2019
Summer schools
June 7-11 2022: Participation in BruLau, International Francophone Summer School in Gender Studies, Université Libre de Bruxelles
Teaching
- 2022-2023: Comparative Literature courses at the University Jean Moulin Lyon 3 within the Bachelor of Modern Literature
- 2020-2023: Literature Courses at the University Lumière Lyon 2 within the Bachelor of Modern Literature, the “Portail Arts” (Modern Literature, Theater, Cinema, Art History) and the “Portail Lettres, Langues, Sciences du Langage” (Literature, Languages, Language Sciences)