On December 17, at 17:00 p.m., the project “Tbilisi as an Urban Assembly” funded by the Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia and the Doctoral Program in Anthropology invite you to a meeting with Tatia Dvali, Master of Gender Studies in University of Paris 8.
Topic: Ponichala – the district where Tbilisi ends
“How can I get to Ponichala?” – When searching for “Ponichala” in the Google search field, one of the first questions we come across, the answer to which consists of several parts. First of all, it is important to emphasize the fact that Ponichala is not a homogeneous urban unit and it is a kind of collective name for three types of geographical locations – Zemo, Kvemo and the village of Ponichala. Accordingly, the question “How can I get to Ponichala?” Requires a logical continuation – to which Ponichala? The lecture will mainly focus on Zemo Ponichala and its ordinary affect. Its purpose is to explain, taking into account the geographical specifics, infrastructure and social reality, what part of Tbilisi is Ponichala and what is its function in the daily reality of the city; What is the role of the transport system in shaping the self-identity of the district and what part of this identity is the space that residents of Ponichala share in their daily lives. Entering Zemo Ponichala, N343 (Vazisubani-Ponichala) and N344 (Baratashvili Bridge-Ponichala) buses will pass the cemetery, the shop “Fairy Tale”, the church on the opposite side of the road, turn around in the district near Tbilisi and circle it. The lecture will try to follow these trajectories and use them to find out in today’s political, ideological and economic reality what the suburbs where the city ends can mean.
About the speaker
Tatia Dvali has been studying for a two-year master’s degree program in gender studies at the University of Paris 8 since 2020. Her first major dissertation (“What My Neighbors Interested in: Sexuality, Gender, and Ordinary Affects in the Suburbs of Ponichala”) aimed to highlight the role of the urban neighborhood in shaping sexuality and gender self-esteem. In 2014-2018 he studied at the Free University for a bachelor’s degree in management and social sciences. Her main interest during this period was her study of the problems associated with American feminism in the 1960s and 1970s, specifically with black feminism. In 2017-2018, Tatia worked on the inherited trauma of the Tbilisi Sea, the neighborhood of IDPs from Abkhazia and the second generation of IDPs. Since September of this year, she has been researching opera rooms (au-pair) in Western European countries, their daily work and care ethics. She is also involved in a study organized by the European University Alliance (ERUA) on Gender and Sexuality in Migration, which includes fieldwork in Lesbos, Greece. It aims to address the problems and needs of women and sexual minorities in immigration camps in collaboration with local or international NGOs.
Time: December 17, 17:00 p.m.
Format: Remote (platform zoom) – on a permanent link of a research workshop
For additional questions: ketevan_gurchiani@iliauni.edu.ge