The Universitat de València has programmed a series of cultural and awareness-raising activities on each of its campuses to celebrate two important days for sexual diversity: 17 May, the International Day Against LGBTQIA+phobia, and 28 June, International Pride Day.
To celebrate the International Day Against LGBTQIA+phobia, the Universitat de València has launched the campaign ‘La UV, la teua’, an initiative of the Advisory Council of Student Initiatives related to the LGBTQIA+ in the UV, which was created in November 2022 with the aim of organising activities, initiatives and campaigns related to affective, sexual and gender diversity for the students. The council reports to the UV Principal María Vicenta Mestre’s commitment to the students to promote action and involvement of the university in LGBTQIA+ rights. The campaign is supported by the Principal’s Delegation for the Students and by the Office of the Vice-Principal for Equality, Diversity and Inclusive Policies of the UV. It aims at drawing attention to the university as a safe, equal and inclusive space, by highlighting the resources available to support diversity, especially between students. It consists of a series of posters that will be displayed in the different centres and faculties of the university, as well as videos that will be shared on the diversitats social media in the coming days. More information here.
In addition to the constitutional acts, a presentation was organised with the Equatoguinean writer Trifonia Melibea Obono and the Palestinian journalist Murad Odeh, together with the Vice-dean of Culture, Equality, Inclusive Policies and Sustainability of the Faculty of Philology, Translation and Communication of the UV. Both professionals have shared their experiences and research on the situation of the LGBTQIA+ collective in places such as Equatorial Guinea and Palestine, as well as their journalistic and literary projects, used as a tool for political action.
Trifonia Melibea Obono has presented part of her research on conversion therapy and other forms of violence against lesbian women and trans men in the Fang ethnic group in Equatorial Guinea, and the possibilities of literature as a political action. Murad Odeh has spoken about violence intersectionality for the queer collective in Palestine and the effects this apartheid has on the development of diversity and sexual freedom. He has also presented his latest journalistic work done in the West Bank, proposing different Arab referents in general and Palestinian referents in particular.
The presentation is called ‘Literature and journalism against LGBTQIA+phobia in repressive contexts’, and is coordinated and presented by Professor in the Department of Language Theory at the UV Patricia Picazo. It took place on Monday, 6 May at 12pm in the Espai Cultural of the Faculty of Language Studies, Translation and Communication. More information here.
The activities planned for this event will be complemented by those funded by the equality and diversity grants. On 6, May at 5pm, in the classroom 110 of the Faculty of Philology, Translation and Communication of the UV, there will be a presentation with the journalist Iván Gelibte, who works for Diario Sur and is the coordinator of the LGBTQIA+ magazine Six. This activity is coordinated by Director of the Department of Language Theory and Communication Sciences Adolfo Carratalà.
The School of Engineering (ETSE-UV) will join the celebrations on 17 May with the + Diversos Awards 2024, which will reward the best idea to promote respect for diversity in orientation, identity and gender expression. This applies to STEM, including the activities in other institutions or companies, as well as to society in general. They encourage us to forget about the current stereotypes and prejudices. This activity is coordinated by Deputy Director for Institutional Relations, Equality and Culture Ángel Robles. More information here.
The activities will continue on Tuesday, 14 May with the celebration of ‘the 2nd TrencArt Workshop: Innovation, gender and decolonisation in contemporary art’ in the Palmireno Room of the Faculty of Geography and History. In this conference, students will share their experiences of working on gender equality and decolonisation in the classroom. This will be followed by a presentation by cultural promoter Helena Sotoca and the EdredonLab collective, who will update the academic discourses with contemporary artistic proposals made by people with a high social media impact. This activity is coordinated by Professor of the Department of Art History at the Faculty of Geography and History Pablo Sánchez.
Finally, on 6 June the Faculty of Geography and History will host the seminar ‘Being affected. Emotions, diversity and subjectivities in the contemporary culture’, coordinated by Professor of the Department of Art History at the Faculty of Geography and History Clara Solves. The study the history of affection and emotions has become relevant within cultural studies in recent decades. The idea of this presentation is for it to be a space where this line of research can be accepted. The proposals revolve around different points of view, such as the connection with the files and sources of affect theory, or the analysis of cultural history focusing on the emotional systems that shape modernity and contemporaneity. There will be an emphasis on the intersection between emotions and other analytical categories such as gender or sexuality. You can find more information for both activities here.
On the other hand, in collaboration with l’Armari de la Memòria de la Generalitat Valenciana, a creative workshop has been organised around Pepe Miralles’ work on 25 May from 10am to 1:30pm in La Nau Cultural Centre. Artist Pepe Miralles’ work is characterised by its link with HIV awareness and its social stigma. The artistic finality to create images about AIDS takes second place, and then focuses on an active work centred on the thoughts about AIDS and HIV. This workshop seeks to promote Pepe Miralles’ work and his l’Armari de la Memòria file archive, as well as carrying on with his line of work, reflecting on the construction of this social imaginary.
Every third Sunday in May (this year on the 19th) international activities are held to commemorate and show solidarity with people affected by HIV. L’Armari de la Memòria is organising a workshop in two parts: reading and working on texts with Álvaro G. Devís and creating banners with Carmelo Gabaldón. During these two sessions, we will work on Pepe Miralles’ work and on texts relevant to his artistic creation, while reflecting on the impact of HIV and AIDS in the LGBTQIA+ community. The aim is to activate the archive to regain its collective and social dimension, reclaiming images, texts and other documents as a starting point for building new ways of thinking about AIDS together. More information and registration here.
Furthermore, on 29 and 30 May research group Physical Activity, Education and Society (AFES) of the Universitat de València will hold its annual conferences. This year, the conferences are expecting two internationally renowned personalities from the University of Monash in Australia: Professor lisahunter, a specialist in the queerification of physical education, and Professor Richard Pringle, who will be speaking on sexuality, masculinities and sport. Doctor Rosa Llobell will also take part in the conferences, addressing gender stereotypes in physical activity, as well as Marta Oliber and Núria Devís, who will explain the scholarships available for pre-doctoral students. You can view the conference programme here.
The cultural programme will conclude in the first week of June with the organisation of Huichol Ojos de Dios rainbow flag knitting workshops at various university campuses. This activity will be led by Las Ganchilleras Luchadoras (The Knitting Fighters), a group of female gypsy women from the Cabañal, who use knitting as a manual art to initiate a process of change and overcoming within the research-action-participation project of Professor of the Department of Education and School Management at the Faculty of Philosophy and Educational Sciences Donatella Donato.
The workshops are introduced as a meeting point in which to create close-knit communities and affection and to relate different collectives and struggles. They will take place between 1:30pm and 2:30pm in the places and dates already fixed:
- On Tuesday, 4 June in the main square, next to the Fet químic sculpture, on the Burjassot campus.
- On Wednesday, 5 June at the entrance terrace of the Gregori Maians Library of Social Sciences on the Tarongers campus.
- On Thursday, 6 June in the entrance gardens of the Faculty of Philosophy and Educational Sciences on the Blasco Ibáñez campus.
Moreover, prior to the workshops, at around 12pm, informative multi-coloured points will be installed in the university libraries’ lobbies of the different campuses, where diversitats’ technical staff will share the different diversity resources with the students.
- On Tuesday, 4 June in the main lobby of the Eduard Boscà Science Library on the Burjassot campus.
- On Wednesday, 5 June in the main lobby of the Gregori Maians Library of Social Sciences on the Tarongers campus.
- On Thursday, 6 June in the main lobby of the Joan Reglà Library of Humanities on the Blasco Ibáñez campus.
The celebration will end in the days following Pride Day (28 June), when the rainbow flag will wave on top of the university buildings.
