The conference, organised by the Office of Religious Affairs (OAR) in collaboration with the Reial Monestir de Santa Maria de Pedralbes, will be held from 29 June to 6 July, and will include a range of activities to be held at different spaces in the city.
This second edition of the “Fe(r) i dones” conference organised by Barcelona City Council through the Office for Religious Affairs in collaboration with the Monastery of Pedralbes will be reflecting on the role of communities as agents of change. The community perspective will be the focus of the debates at a conference that first took place last year with the aim of raising awareness and putting women’s role in a diversity of religious and spiritual convictions, beliefs and traditions. The central theme of the conference will be a reflection on how women with different beliefs and convictions organise themselves and act within the community, looking at this from a transformational perspective.
This second edition of the conference had grown in so many ways. It will be broader in scope, lasting for longer – eight days – and some of the activities will be relocated, taking the conference to other parts of the city, but without abandoning the original venue, the Monastery of Pedralbes, which will be hosting some of the events.
This expansion of the scope of the “Fe(r) i dones” conference is also evident in the fact that this new edition will have two curators. Montse Castellà i Olivé, translator and editor of Buddhist texts, author of numerous articles, and president of Sakyadhita Spain and of the UNESCO Friends Association for Interreligious and Interconvictional Dialogue (AUDIR), who curated the previous edition will this year be joined by Jenabou Dembaga who is a Muslim, an Afro-descendant, Afro-feminist and anti-racism activist as well as a sociologist, educator and Soninke researcher. Txell Bonet, a journalist, broadcaster and radio director experienced in giving women a voice, will be leading the conference.
2nd FeRiDones conference: “Communities as agents of change”
In 2022, the focus of the conference will be “Communities as agents of change”. While the first edition focused on how sacred texts, rituals and religious and spiritual transmission are understood and experienced from the perspective of women with a diversity of beliefs (you can see the video summary of the conference here and the article here), this year the aim is to take a fresh look from a community perspective. The aim is to emphasise the need, expressed and shared by women believers, to live out their own faith and beliefs within the community and to look at how women’s relationships create a framework for personal growth, one within which they can be recognised, and can combat the gender inequalities, violence and discrimination they experience.
Including the feminist and intercultural perspective in a cross-cutting way is the responsibility of all areas of the Barcelona City Council and all residents of the city; and this also includes religious and spiritual traditions. The objective of the OAR has been to design a conference aimed at visualising the role of women in different convictions and spiritualities, as believers who have an active role in the day-to-day life of religious entities, and to contribute to the advancement of gender equality within the different convictions and spiritual beliefs. All this must be set in the context of the wealth of religious pluralism in Barcelona, a city that has more than 980 religious communities and organisations from 28 different traditions , and thousands of believers, many of them women.
More days, more venues, more activities and something for all ages
The 2021 conference took place on 7 and 8 October and was attended by the Mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, who said in the opening ceremony that the conference “would help Barcelona to move towards becoming an intercultural, fair and feminist city”. You can watch the video summary here.
This year the conference will be a longer one, taking place from 29 June to 6 July. Among other things this will make it possible to offer a more diverse programme, provide activities for different age groups and hold them in different parts of the city to ensure that the debates and reflections reach more areas of Barcelona. The activities will be a combination of spaces for reflection and more participatory and experiential activities, and will involve leading young women and activities for children.
The conference will also invite internationally-renowned female role models for believers from different religious traditions, while also fostering the participation of local religious communities. Virtual communities will also be taking part in this new edition of the event. This is the legacy left by the pandemic; successive lockdowns during the Coronavirus crisis led to a huge increase in the number of digital spaces dedicated to reflection and debate, and some religious women have become leaders in social media. Using these digital networks, live debates will be held with women who bring international virtual communities together. In short, the conference will be more open, accessible and diverse.
Local, international and virtual communities
The high points of the conference will be related to this year’s theme: women’s communities. At the local level, the voice of Barcelona’s women’s communities will be heard at the REFLECTION CIRCLES “Women’s communities: past, present and future”, to be held at the Centre for Community Life in Trinitat Vella on the first day. Two of the women’s communities taking part have also organised two WORKSHOPS, which will take place at two different venues in the Ciutat Vella and Sarrià – Sant Gervasi districts of the city: the Sisterhood programme of the evangelical Hillsong Church will be running the workshop “How can we take care of each other?”, and Sakyadhita Spain will be offering “The demons that constrain us and the paths that set us free”, a workshop focused on meditation.
This edition will also include the participation of women’s spiritual communities from around the world who will be sharing the values and objectives aimed at advancing women’s rights within their own traditions, and in society. Drukpa Kung Fu Nuns, Sisters in Islam, the Catholic Women’s Council and the Aba Yala Community of Wise Indigenous Women Theologians will all be taking part in the “Inspiring communities” ROUND TABLE. This is a combined online and face-to-face activity at the Monastery of Pedralbes. You can also follow live on the Monastery of Pedralbes YouTube channel HERE (spanish)
And finally, virtual communities will also be central to this edition, where you will find many women believers and religious leaders who bring communities together through social networks, and who are content creators and agents of transformation. Social media is a powerful tool for creating a sense of community, and encouraging substantial numbers of people to act. Two of the activities in the #FeRiDones programme are INSTAGRAM DISCUSSIONS led by co-curator of this year’s conference, Jenabou Dembaga (@jenadembaga), who will be talking to Muslim and feminist Chaimaa Boukharsa (@chaimaaboukharsa), and Elisa Fernanda Barreto (Mexico), Catholic leader of No la tipica feminista (@nolatipicafeminista). You can follow the two discussions via the three protagonists’ Instagram accounts.
amina wadud @TheLadyImam
This year there will be a keynote SPEECH “We Make This Road by Walking It: Islam, Gender, Sexuality and Justice” given by scholar, doctor and imam amina wadud, a world authority on Islamic feminism. She is the author of several books, and co-founder of the pro-feminist and pro-faith organisation Sisters in Islam (SIS). She has also worked as an international consultant on Islam, justice and human dignity, and has been a researcher on sexual diversity and human dignity in the primary sources of Islam. She will be taking part in the closing day at the Reial Monestir de Santa Maria de Pedralbes. You can also follow live on the Monastery of Pedralbes YouTube channel HERE (catalan).
Activities for children (from 8 to 12 years of age)
At the same time as the speech and the round table discussion, activities that will be taking place on the final day of the conference at the Monastery of Pedralbes, there will be two children’s activities so that attendees can come with their children who will be entertained while they themselves enjoy the activities for adults.
- THE WORKSHOP FOR CHILDREN “Tempus mundi, how time was experienced in a medieval monastery”: a visit aimed at slowing time down, enjoying the physical environment of the Monastery and its importance as a space for reflection and meditation.
- STORYTELLING by Agnès Agboton, who will be telling stories rooted in the traditional spiritualities of West Africa, and in which women and girls are the main characters.
INSCRIPCIONS I INFORMACIÓ:
- Free activities with a limited number of places. PRIOR BOOKING is required for each individual activity – click HERE.
- If you should need assistance with access please let us know, either by emailing activitatsoar@bcn.cat, or calling +34 673 931 868 (Monday to Friday from 9 am to 2 pm) before 23 June.
- YOU CAN DOWNLOAD A PDF VERSION OF THE PROGRAMME IN THE ATTACHED FILE or HERE (CATALAN).
You can find the press conference HERE and the press release HERE.
