Promoting Gender Studies within a Catholic Institution: Insights from Our Research Group

In this contribution we critically reflect on the history and practices of our research group, which represents an attempt to promote gender studies in a Catholic institution in Italy, the Catholic University of the Sacred Hearth, where we work and teach. In this institution gender is poorly thematized both in teaching and research: there are no degree courses on gender studies (just an elective course within the Faculty of Psychology), nor research centres focused on the topic. The contribution explains how our work, which consisted of conducting empirical and archival research, organizing seminars, giving lessons, and writing collectively, brought the theme of gender into our university, through specific choices. First, the choice to adopt a bottom-up approach, inherent to the very characteristics of the group, composed mostly of PhD students at the time of its foundation. Second, some specific theoretical choices:

• The adoption of a historical approach aimed at broadening the sociological canon in a feminist perspective.
• The choice to delve into gender studies starting from women's studies.
• The choice to focus on the production of knowledge rather than to the change of the praxis (e.g. academic policies).

To date, these choices have proven successful in terms of recognition of the group at an institutional level, but have led to inevitable field limitations, which will not be easy to overcome. The paper gathers the reflections that we have produced and socialized in four years of unpaid work, with the desire to collect feedback and reflections from the conference participants.