1 Elena Vacchelli PhD Geography Department Open University e.vacchelli@open.ac.uk Conference paper Researching cultural spaces 3-06-2006 Resistant spaces of identity in contemporary Milan: women’s cultural centres Introduction In this paper women’s centres are looked at as a constitutive part of civil society and it is enquired wheatear and how they relate to the state by elaborating ongoing versions of women’s interests and needs. At this stage, prior to field research, mainly theoretical aspects of the research questions are faced. The work of Nancy Fraser (1989,1990) offers not just the theoretical framework to interpret women’s centres but also a politically informed account of the mechanisms of needs formulation using in-dept insights of the work of Habermas. In particular Fraser looks at Habermas’ critical theory in order to understand to which extent it mystifies or clarifies the basis of male domination and female subordination in modern societies. Habermas’ functional distinction between material reproduction and symbolic reproduction provides thus the theoretical tools for classifying actual social practices and activities. The symbolic meaning of contemporary women’s centres in Milan and the material practices that constitute them are explored using Fraser’s theoretical framework on subaltern counter publics and Doderer’s (2003) classification of women’s centres in contemporary Germany. The contextual and strategically conversant re-articulation of women’s interest around the state is clarified by Pringle and Watson’s (1992) accounts on interests’ formulation in the post-structuralist state. Balances on how social welfare programs reinforce rather than challenge basic structural inequalities confirm the partial and essentialist notions of women political interests elaborated by state institutions.