DiMMi International – ITHACA

In 2024, DIMMI aims at reaching a new international dimension and the initiative expands to other Mediterranean contexts with “DiMMi International – ITHACA Diary Contest,” in its first edition, developed in collaboration with the European research project ITHACA – Interconnecting Histories and Archives for Migrant Agency: Entangled Narratives Across Europe and the Mediterranean Region (www.ithacahorizon.eu), funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 program.

The diary contest allows to collect and preserve a plural cultural heritage in danger of being lost. Additionally, it contributes to contrast stereotypes surrounding the themes of migrations and migrants, and hate speech through the direct narration of women and men with their personal or family experiences.

Any person with a personal or family migratory background living in the Mediterranean region who is willing to share his/her own life experience.

Participants are invited to share their autobiographical accounts whether written, video/audio recorded or drawn. The written contributions can be delivered in either Arabic, French, English, Greek and Italian; in case participants wish to use any other preferred language, they should also provide a translation in English.

The contributions have to be sent to the addresses below within March 31, 2024. The stories are expected to reflect the personal life experience of the author and help foster a new narrative of migration seen through the migrants’ own eyes and their multiple points of view. This narrative mainly aims at deconstructing the mainstream discourse of the migratory phenomenon. The selection process will also focus on the contributions’ capacity to convey the full range of diversity which characterizes contemporary migrations.
The authors will be introduced to the public during the contest ceremony which will be held during the Pieve Santo Stefano Award on September 13-15, 2024.

The selected stories will be published in a collective volume. Furthermore, all the stories received will be collected at the National Diary Archive of Pieve Santo Stefano.