https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/133222 2026-04-15T15:38:23Z 2026-04-15T15:38:23Z Polidano, Kay Cassar, Dylan Falzon, Mark-Anthony https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145460 2026-04-10T08:03:06Z 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: SociologyMT : issue 2 Authors: Polidano, Kay; Cassar, Dylan; Falzon, Mark-Anthony Abstract: Table of Contents:; - Choosing Childfree: The Experiences of Women in Malta - Valerie Visanich and Solange Bonello; - A Place for Art: Art in the Museum and on the Body - Daniel Henry Solberg Bell; - For a global sense of place: Beyond ‘native’ and ‘migrant’ in St Joseph High Road, Ħamrun, Malta - Godfrey Baldacchino et al.; - Experiences of community and mobility within Ħal Qormi San Bastjan - Sara Mari Cardona; - ‘Should I stay or should I go?’: Young people’s perspectives on moving abroad - Elaine Sciberras

2026-01-01T00:00:00Z Visanich, Valerie Bonello, Solange https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145459 2026-04-10T07:58:52Z 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Choosing childfree : the experiences of women in Malta Authors: Visanich, Valerie; Bonello, Solange Abstract: This study explores the experiences of women in Malta who voluntarily choose to live childfree, situating their decisions within a sociological framework that considers personal choice alongside prevailing pronatalist ideologies in a context of very low fertility. Malta, like other Southern European countries, has experienced a sharp decline in birth rates and now records the lowest fertility rate in Europe. This demographic shift forms the backdrop to recent pronatalist measures and renewed emphasis on childbearing. Broader structural changes, including expanded access to higher education, increased female participation in the labour market, and evolving gender relations, have reshaped life trajectories, enabling women to prioritise autonomy, careers, and reproductive choice. The study adopts an interpretivist qualitative approach that values the lived experience of childfree women. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews with 15 women aged 35 and over who had voluntarily chosen not to pursue motherhood while living in Malta. Thematic analysis was used to explore how participants construct identity, exercise agency, and navigate social expectations. Findings show that decisions to remain childfree stem from enduring self-awareness, careful reflection, and a desire to maintain autonomy, rather than from rejection of children or motherhood. Although participants described fulfilling lives without regret, their accounts also revealed persistent normative pressures, subtle stigma, and gendered expectations framing motherhood as compulsory and childfree lives as deviant. While these women exercise agency, their choices remain negotiated within enduring cultural, familial, and institutional constraints.

2026-01-01T00:00:00Z Solberg Bell, Daniel Henry https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145458 2026-04-10T07:54:49Z 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: A place for art : art in the museum and on the body Authors: Solberg Bell, Daniel Henry Abstract: This article explores how spatial and contextual settings of art – specifically the museum and the human body – shape its perception, legitimacy and value. Drawing on sociological, aesthetic and spatial theory, particularly the work of Bourdieu, Dickie, Latour, and Zolberg, it compares how art is experienced and interpreted within institutional versus embodied spaces. Drawing on interviews with a museum curator and tattoo artist and a youth focus group, the analysis shows how art’s value emerges through spatial placement, emotional response and audience interaction. By foregrounding embodiment, affect and place, it proposes a four-part model in which art is understood as; an object or experience (A), eliciting aesthetic response (B), in front of an audience (C), within a specific context (D). This dynamic framework captures how both elite and everyday forms of art acquire meaning, value and legitimacy. This article offers a comparative insight into how art is valued and legitimised across settings.

2026-01-01T00:00:00Z Baldacchino, Godfrey Axisa, Julian Abela, Marlena Bartolo, Francesca Busuttil, Luigi Caruana, Isaac Debattista, Martina Hili, Chanelle Mifsud, Ylenia Maria Romano, Renata Antonella Vella, Rosaya Venables Morrison, Lola https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/145457 2026-04-13T12:01:06Z 2026-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: For a global sense of place : beyond ‘native’ and ‘migrant’ in St Joseph High Road, Ħamrun, Malta Authors: Baldacchino, Godfrey; Axisa, Julian; Abela, Marlena; Bartolo, Francesca; Busuttil, Luigi; Caruana, Isaac; Debattista, Martina; Hili, Chanelle; Mifsud, Ylenia Maria; Romano, Renata Antonella; Vella, Rosaya; Venables Morrison, Lola Abstract: A particularly busy main road in the central town of Ħamrun (population: 10,500), exemplifies an intricate coming together of the local and the global in contemporary Malta. Here, commercial and other service outlets have overtaken residential units; and as the Maltese-born population ages and moves out, migrants have moved in. The names and labour force of many retail outlets now express national identities beyond Malta. Shop owners, managers and workers who are not Maltese-born weave generally uplifting narratives of achieving security and success in Malta, offering testimonials of resilience and hope. In contrast, the native-born rue their current predicament, and speak nostalgically about a mythic past. There are also differences within ‘native’ and within ‘immigrant’ groups; and there is evidence of locals working with immigrants, and vice versa, suggesting some assimilation and integration. This article presents a particular street as redolent of experiences and articulations that are constructed and consumed within, between and across ‘native’ and ‘migrant’ subjectivities. It is inspired by Doreen Massey’s poignant reflections on Kilburn Road, London, and is based on the physical navigation on foot of St Joseph High Road, Ħamrun, on a Saturday in November 2024 by a class of 11 University of Malta sociology students and their professor. Description: Data is available at the following link: https://doi.org/10.60809/drum.31996068

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