Under the patronage of the University of Padua

from Sept. 24 to Sept. 26, 2026

Women in Crime III

at the Department of Linguistic and Literary Studies (DiSLL),

University of Padua, Italy

A three-day summit of talks around the theme

"Who Tells the Story of Violence? Gender, Law, and Power"

Convened by:

Viviana Gaballo, University of Padua, Italy
Lili Pâquet, University of New England, Australia

The goal of this event is to bring interdisciplinary scholars to interrogate the discursive, institutional, and cultural production of gender-based violence.

Rather than treating violence as a self-evident fact, this conference approaches it as a site of contestation—constructed through language, law, media, policy, and cultural narrative.

True crime media, courtroom discourse, investigative journalism, and literary fiction all participate in what might be understood as the cultural adjudication of violence, within what Mark Seltzer (2007) terms “our contemporary wound culture”. These sites produce competing truth-claims that alternately legitimize, sensationalize, contain, or resist women’s experiences (Butler 2004). In this sense, the “story” of violence is never merely narrative—it is juridical, ideological, and material.

Who authorizes violence as truth? Who adjudicates credibility? Who controls the epistemic conditions under which harm becomes legible as injustice?

By centering questions of authorship, authority, and epistemic power, this conference seeks to move beyond representation toward a structural analysis of how violence is narrated into legitimacy—or dismissed into silence. Our aim is to foster sustained interdisciplinary dialogue capable of challenging the normative frameworks that regulate women’s agency, testimony, and justice.

This gathering represents a step toward building an international research network committed to rethinking the politics of storytelling, evidence, and institutional authority in the production of gendered harm.

The Speakers

(sorted alphabetically by surname)

Simone BORILE

Clinical criminologist, anthropologist, and forensic psychologist, CIELS, Padua, Italy

Elisabetta CROCI ANGELINI

Former Professor of Economic Policy, Macerata University, Italy

Nicoletta DI CIOLLA

Adjunct professor of ESP, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

Viviana GABALLO

Associate Professor of Linguistics and Translation Studies, University of Padua, Italy

Kenya HERRERA BÓRQUEZ

Research professor, Faculty of Human Sciences, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California, Mexico

Simon HOBBS

Senior Lecturer in Visual Culture, University of Portsmouth, UK

&

Megan HOFFMAN

Independent scholar, UK

Bry B.P. HOSMILLO

Queer poet, curator, editor, and educator, South Korea

Zoe LANDSBERG

PhD candidate, Department of Literary Studies in English, Rhodes University, South Africa

Maria Gabriella MIELI

International relations manager, Universal Peace Federation (UPF) Italy, and UPF South Europe Coordinator

Sam NAIDU

Professor of English, Department of Literary Studies in English, Rhodes University, South Africa

Lili PÂQUET

Senior Lecturer in Writing, University of New England, Australia

Angela PROCACCINO

Professor of Criminal Justice, University of Foggia, Italy, and Visiting Professor at Istanbul University.

Kathleen RODGERS

Associate Professor of Sociology, University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada

Anna ROMAGNUOLO

Associate Professor of English Language and Translation, University of Naples "L'Orientale", Naples, Italy

Michael SALTER

Professor of Criminology, University of New South Wales, and Director of Childlight UNSW, Australia

Rafik SANTROSYAN

Assistant Professor of English and Communications, American University of Armenia

Silvia SIGNORATO

Associate Professor of Criminal Procedure, University of Padua, Italy

Cinzia SPINZI

Associate Professor of English Language, Translation and Linguistics, University of Padua, Italy

Laura VITIS

Senior Lecturer, School of Justice, Queensland University of Technology, Australia

Lubna YASEEN

Syrian writer, journalist, and visual artist based in the Netherlands

The Venue

University of Padua, Department of Linguistic and Literary Studies

Via Vendramini 13, Padua, Italy

The conference will take place in Theater 2, 1st floor, in the newly refurbished Department of Linguistic and Literary Studies.

Attendance to all conference sessions is free and open to the public. No registration fee is required—everyone is warmly invited to attend.

Let us know if you'll be attending! Click on the RSVP button below.

RSVP

Free admission. All are welcome.

Ingresso libero. Tutti sono invitati a partecipare.

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