Collettiva Yilou 一楼: un “primo piano” di attivismo femminile sino-italiano transnazionale

Ardizzoni, Sabrina

Collettiva Yilou 一楼: un “primo piano” di attivismo femminile sino-italiano transnazionale

This article offers an ethnographic analysis of the activism of “Yilou”, a transnational and transfeminist collective founded by students at the University of Bologna, which has progressively become a reference point for the Sino-Bolognese student community and beyond. Testimonies reveal a drive to construct inclusive dialogue across diverse intersectional identities: men and women in gender fluidity, students, artists, and migrant workers, united in their commitment to women’s rights and resistance to gender-based violence. The study examines “Yilou”’s relationships with analogous Italian and migrant associations, as well as its positioning visà-vis the challenges posed by so-called pink feminism and the revival of traditional values exemplified by the model of “xián qī liáng mǔ” “good wife and wise mother”). Through the voices of this key actor in Sino-Italian feminist activism, the article explores the categories shaping gendered discursive practices in the Sinophone world, both in China and in Italy, while also addressing the role of student and labor migration in the construction of transnational feminism. Ultimately, the choice to foreground “Yilou” seeks to move beyond narratives of migrant women as inherently vulnerable, instead framing female migration as a site of selfdetermination and subjective empowerment.

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31 January 2026

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