Call for Papers Vol. 24 N. 1/2026 Intercultural female writings between narratives and counter-narratives

The issue titled Intercultural female writings between narratives and counter-narratives focuses on the biographical, autobiographical, and parabiographical angles of self-narration by women from an intercultural perspective.

Adopting an intercultural lens to approach the world-system promotes the recognition of a plurality of views and visions, experiences and knowledge, diversities and affinities. By refining its critical-reflective dimension, this approach makes pedagogy more ready to embrace innovation and welcome transformations, enabling it to constructively influence all planes of its production ­­– epistemological, theoretical-conceptual, methodological-operational, and socio-relational.

Added to this framework is the gender factor, which causes people's lives to follow behavioural patterns conditioned by the expectations projected by sociocultural contexts. This prompts us to view human societies as gendered. Both the intercultural and gender perspectives should be contemplated as two living entities in continuous evolution, without admitting biological determinisms or monolithic narratives that favor a single, definitive, and generalizable definition.

Within this framework, the reflection intended by the editors on this literary field particularly encourages contributions that delve into the areas of social, cultural, linguistic, and gender diversity, inter- and transnational human mobility, and forms of intercultural, inter-gender, and literary mediation. The invitation is to explore, by immersing oneself in these and similar themes, the practices of female writing that are committed to promoting the fight against all forms of disparity, discrimination, and violence. This writing is also proactive in terms of social, cultural, political, spiritual, and value-based change, and ultimately aims to contribute to the co-construction of more informed, reflective, peaceful, supportive, inclusive, and therefore more intercultural societies.

In this sense, the call welcomes contributions that illustrate study and research paths inspired by intercultural female writings that, integrated with reflections and insights on various forms of alterity – whether perceived or translated into tangible acts – aim for their pedagogical modeling. On a practical level, another interest of the call concerns the use of intercultural female writings in training processes and educational practices, in textbooks and curricula, focusing on the cognitive and learning potential that the (counter-)narratives of this literary genre can offer to individual and collective growth, unfolding primarily along two concomitant itineraries: the socialization and schooling paths of minors, on one hand, and teacher training programs, on the other.

In order to address the topics, theoretical, epistemological, and/or empirical contributions are welcome on the following topics:

• epistemological and theoretical-conceptual reflection to contribute to a broader and more complete definition of the female through writing;
• intersections between female writings and intercultural issues with particular reference to socio-pedagogical and educational aspects;
• contributions of female literary production to the co-construction of more inclusive societies and a more intercultural citizenship;
• the commitment of female writing to intercultural dialogue and peaceful coexistence;
• female self-narration as knowledge and practice for the decolonization of minds from an intercultural perspective;
• narrating the self as a woman to portray the diversities and affinities of today's societies;
• migrant writings and writings by second-/third-generation women: for a “new” intersectional, intergenerational, intercultural relationality;
• the use of language for intercultural female writing: forms, schemes, and linguistic-expressive strategies.
• the potential of (counter-)narratives and female migrant stories for their use in training and teaching processes.