Universitat Rovira i Virgili
Campus of International Excellence Southern Catalonia
Department of Anthropology, Philosophy and Social Work

Outreach activities 2024

From 15 to 31 January 2024 in the foyer of the Catalunya campus library, MAUMIS students exhibited their posters produced in the course "Postindustrialisme, globalització i espai urbà" (Postindustrialism, globalisation and urban space).

In this activity, the students put into practice the set of theoretical and ethnographic resources seen during the course to address the processes of transformation and production of urban space in the context of late capitalism. These dynamics of change are often structured in international economic and social flows that impact on the cultural dynamics of regions, interconnecting realities and deepening the complexities that these enclaves sustain.

Organised by the University Master in Urban Anthropology, Migrations and Social Intervention, a lecture by Dr. Andrea Boscoboinik from the University of Friburg (Switzerland) was held on 14th February, focusing on the Swiss Alps where, like other parts of the world, mountain landscapes have become ideal places to live, particularly for people from the cities in flat areas. Today, the mountains, like other non-urban areas, are attracting an increasing number of people in search of tranquillity, fresh air, nature and a lifestyle different from the urban one. New mobile lifestyles and lifestyle migrations are encouraging a new type of population to visit or settle in peripheral regions. Thus, the mountains today host a vast range of residents, permanent or temporary, differing in motivations, origins, resources and wealth.

This series of lectures -organized as an activity of the Master's in Innovation in Social and Educational Intervention- had three sessions (February 16 and 23, and March 15) and with the participation of Carme García Yeste, Roxana Yzusqui, Marina Claverías, Sandra Girbés Peco and Aurora Séaz, all professionals from different institutions involved in the territory.

Series of lectures scheduled for the following dates: 21/02, 3/04, 17/04, 15/05 and 22/05 of 2024, with the participation of Miguel Pajares, Jerôme Ferret, Yolanda Bodoque, Oriol Puig and Dan Rodríguez.

On February 22, 2024 a welcome day was held for new doctoral fellows of the Department of Anthropology, Philosophy and Social Work.

We met to get to know each other and inform them of resources that may be useful during their period at DAFiTS. Information was shared about courses, grants, academic career assessment criteria, etc. In addition, their doubts and suggestions were heard.

On 29 February, monographic number 4 of the History of Social Work collection was presented: "Les escoles de treball social a Catalunya (1932-2009), un viatge a través de la formació".

The work is promoted by the Seminari Permanent d'Història del Col·legi and prepared by ten professors from six schools of Social Work that have existed in Catalonia, among which we count Dr Ramona Torrens. In the book we find the origins and evolution of each school, its vision of training and the connection with the professional and social world.

Dr María Isabel Jociles Rubio (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) presented the session entitled "Comités y reflexiones de bioética: ¿cuidado/vigilancia de la ética de la investigación o clausura/censura teórico-metodológica?", which was coordinated by Fernando Vidal and Blanca Deusdad (URV), and held on March 5, 2024.

Based on the experiences that have emerged in the course of a research focused on families who have resorted to Assisted Reproduction Techniques with the intervention of Third Parties (including, in this case, Surrogate Mothers), different issues related to the ethics of ethnographic research are addressed: how to proceed with data protection in the case of the use of qualitative research techniques, how to deal with parents' precautions about their children's participation in ethnographic research, how to respect/"collect" the point of view of children (mainly, but not exclusively, minors), how to dissociate oneself from "official" discourses on the phenomenon studied, especially, but not only, when these discourses stigmatise the group with which the research is to be carried out, etc. At the same time, based on the relationship maintained by the research team of the project "Reproductive governance in Spain: Perspectives of/on the children of TRA-D families (TRA-D children)" with a bioethics committee in charge of evaluating the project presented, the role of these committees in the design of ethnographic research and its derivations is reflected.

Last Thursday, March 7, the Department of Anthropology, Philosophy and Social Work organized a tribute to Carmina Puig because of her retirement.

The event was conducted by professors Eva Zafra Aparici, Cristina García Moreno and Claudia Anleu-Hernández, all colleagues of the honoree. The event began with the interventions of the DAFiTS director, Montserrat Soronellas, followed by Maria Victòria Forns as coordinator of the degree in Social Work, and Antoni M. Jordà, former dean of the Faculty of Legal Sciences.

Subsequently, a round table was held, with the presence of Joan Josep Pujadas, Josep M. Comelles, Blanca Deusdad (all three from DAFiTS), Carme Fernández Ges (Ramon Llull University), Rosa Garriga Blasco (supervisor) and Conchita Peña Gallardo (College of Social Work of Catalonia). The event was closed by Carmina Puig.

On Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at the Arxiu d'Etnografia of Catalonia (Room 521 of the Catalunya campus) took place the lecture on Multimodal Anthropology and the screening of the documentary "It was tomorrow", with the participation of the author and anthropologist Dra Alexandra D'Onofrio (Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology / University of Manchester).

On Wednesday, March 13, Publicacions de la Universitat Rovira i Virgili and the Dharma-Gaia Foundation presented the book "Estudios budistas en América Latina y España", edited by Jaume Vallverdú and Daniel Millet. The authors detailed the history of the project and presented its general content.

In addition, the presentation was attended by Francisco Díez de Velasco, from the Universidad de La Laguna, and Catón Carini, from the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas y la Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Both were responsible for presenting the current situation of Buddhist studies in Spain and Argentina.

On Wednesday, March 13, in the Sala de Graus of campus Catalunya took place the presentation of the latest book by Joan Prat i Carós, entitled "La seducción de la Antropología". The author was accompanied by two of his colleagues and disciples, Yolanda Bodoque Puerta and Jordi Roca Girona, and a very large audience.

The Faculty of Legal Sciences, the URV's Department of Anthropology, Philosophy and Social Work, the Terres de l'Ebre and Tarragona delegations of the College of Social Work organised the XVII World Social Work Day entitled "Les violències sexuals contra la infància i l'adolescència", which took place on 14 March in the Aula Magna of the URV's Catalunya campus.

The sexual abuse of minors is a social problem, which affects the most vulnerable members of the population. We aimed to debate and make visible its dimension, processes that affect victims and their environment, and the role of Social Work in assessment, intervention and action.

From March 18 to 21, 2024, the week of the Doctoral Programme on Anthropology and Communication was held. With presentations by consolidated research staff and young researchers in training, it was a week rich in debates.

On April 17, Dra Ana Josefina Cuevas Hernández, from the University of Colima (Mexico) presented this conference organized within the cycle of training activities 2023-24 of the Doctoral Programme in Social Work.

This third session of the Social Anthropology Group Workshop, entitled "Digressions, disrupcions i resistències en salut mental", took place in the Arxiu d'Etnografia of the Catalunya campus on April 25. On this occasion, the presentations were given by Eloísa de Lima (Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the UFOP, Brazil) and Elena Blanco De Tena and Martín Correa Urquiza. Prof. de Lima presented her work on the health profile of high school students in the Brazilian city of Ouro Preto. Elena Blanco and Martín Correa talked about Arxiu Boig!, a project that seeks to preserve, recognize and make visible the intangible heritage linked to the Mad Movement in Catalonia.

On May 10 at the Catalunya campus, Eva Miralles Siré (pre-doctoral fellow of the Doctoral Program in Social Work - DAFiTS), Manoli Villarino (co-founder of Associació Famílies Abusos Sexuals Infantils Tarragona - AFASIT), Natàlia Olivera and Teresa Bitrià (technicians of the municipal toy library of Lleida) presented their experiences on prevention and intervention around violence against children.