Dr Maria Pisani

Dr Maria Pisani

Dr Maria Pisani

  B.A.(Melit.),M.A.(Melit.),Ph.D.(Melit.)

Senior Lecturer

Room 113
University of Malta
Msida
  +356 2340 3807

Head of Department

Dr. Maria Pisani holds a BA and MA in Youth & Community Studies, and a PhD in Adult Education from the University of Malta. She previously held the post of Head of Office (Malta) for the International Organization for Migration (IOM). During this time she was responsible for a number of key projects related to refugee resettlement, AVR, and human trafficking, amongst others.

Maria is also a practitioner and an activist, and the co-founder and director of Integra Foundation. Her ongoing involvement in the field provides an opportunity to keep the dialectic relationship between theory and practice alive, providing the space for critical knowledge production towards social transformation.

Maria has published in international journals and contributed to a number of edited books and has been appointed as key expert in a number of inter/national research studies. She is also Editorial Board Member on the international journal Disability and the Global South (www.dgsjournal.org) and Guest Editor for the special issue, 'Disability, Asylum and Migration' for Disability and the Global South.

Her research interests include forced migration with a special focus on gendered migration; youth studies; critical pedagogy, political mobilization and social transformation; exploring the citizenship assumption within Western epistemologies, policy development and practice; the deconstruction of Western and other dominant epistemologies and practice: engaging praxis as a project of transformation; social injustice and the intersectionality of inter alia race/ethnicity, gender, age, legal status, disability; applying post and neo-colonial theories to the study of (forced) migration, critical pedagogy and social justice issues.
  • Youth studies
  • Youth work
  • Migration studies
  • Social pedagogy
  • international relations
  • Feminist studies
  • EU and National policies

PISANI, M., 2018. Illegal young bodies and the failings of liberal democracy: Some reflections on the European Union’s ‘refugee crisis’ and its implications for juvenile justice. Juvenile Justice in Europe. Routledge, pp. 162-185.

PISANI, M., 2018. Youth work in the borderlands: reflections from Malta. Between insecurity and hope: Reflections on youth work with young refugees, 24, pp. 157.

PISANI, M. and BASARAB, T., 2018. Youth work and young refugees–Critical reflections on the evolving social order and bridges to inclusion. Between insecurity and hope: Reflections on youth work with young refugees, 24, pp. 199.

VAUGHAN-WILLIAMS, N. and PISANI, M., 2018. Migrating borders, bordering lives: everyday geographies of ontological security and insecurity in Malta. Social & Cultural Geography, , pp. 1-23.

PISANI, M., 2017. Illegalised young bodies–Some reflections for youth work practice. THINKING SERIOUSLY ABOUT YOUTH WORK, , pp. 305.

PISANI, M. and GRECH, S., 2017. Disability and forced migration: Critical intersectionalities.

SQUIRE, V., DIMITRIADI, A., PERKOWSKI, N., PISANI, M., STEVENS, D. and VAUGHAN-WILLIAMS, N., 2017. Crossing the Mediterranean Sea by boat: Mapping and documenting migratory journeys and experiences. University of Warwick: Coventry, UK, .

PISANI, M., 2016. “Illegal bodies” on the move–A critical look at forced migration towards social justice for young asylum-seekers. Perspectives on youth, 3, pp. 83-98.

PISANI, M., GRECH, S. and MOSTAFA, A., 2016. Disability and forced migration: Intersections and critical debates. Disability in the global south. Springer, pp. 285-301.

CALLEJA-RAGONESI, I., KHAKEE, A. and PISANI, M., 2014. Blessed is he who considers the human rights paradigm: Maltese aid between charity and human rights and between Catholicism and Secularism. Mediterranean Quarterly, 25(3), pp. 99-122.

PISANI, M., 2013. “WE ARE GOING TO FIX YOUR VAGINA, JUST THE WAY WE LIKE IT.” SOME REFLECTIONS ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF [SUB-SAHARAN] AFRICAN FEMALE ASYLUM SEEKERS IN MALTA AND THEIR EFFORTS TO SPEAK BACK. Postcolonial Directions in Education, 2(1), pp. 68-99.

PISANI, M., 2013. The asylum process and possibilities for a transformative pedagogy: Exploring the case of sub-Saharan African female asylum seekers in Malta. Malta Review of Educational Research, 7 (2), .

PISANI, M., 2013. The asylum process and possibilities for a transformative pedagogy: Exploring the case of sub-Saharan African female asylum seekers in Malta. Malta Review of Educational Research, 7 (2), .

PISANI, M., 2012. Addressing the ‘citizenship assumption’in critical pedagogy: Exploring the case of rejected female sub-Saharan African asylum seekers in Malta. Power and Education, 4(2), pp. 185-195.

PISANI, M., 2011. There's an Elephant in the Room and she's" rejected" and Black. Open Citizenship, 2, pp. 24-51.

AZZOPARDI, A. and PISANI, M., 2009. The Odyssey of the young female asylum seeker: Engaging critically on gendered forced migration. European Journal on Child and Youth Research, 3.

  • HPN3019 - Home Economists as Caring Professionals
  • PSY3160 - Respecting Diversity
  • YTH1008 - Principles and Practice in Youth and Community Work
  • YTH1011 - Young People with Minority Experiences
  • YTH1019 - Research Methods 1 (Philosophical Underpinnings of Research and Qualitative Paradigm)
  • YTH2008 - Sociology of Youth and the Community - An Introduction
  • YTH2010 - Fieldwork Placement 3
  • YTH5050 - Place, Space and Community Development
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