Irene Bono
Professore/Professoressa associato/a
- Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società
- SSD: SPS/04 - scienza politica

Contatti
- 011/6702613
- irene.bono@unito.it
- Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società
Università degli Studi di Torino
Lungo Dora Siena, 100 - 10153 Torino
Palazzina D2 - Terzo piano - Ufficio 36 - https://www.didattica-cps.unito.it/persone/irene.bono
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Presso
- Department of Cultures, Politics and Society
- Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società
- Area and Global Studies for International Cooperation - AGIC
- Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società
- Corsi online
Curriculum vitae

Insegnamenti
- LABORATORIO SULLA STRUTTURA DELLA RICERCA (CPS0287)
Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società - PARTECIPAZIONE E CONFLITTO NELLE SOCIETÀ MEDITERRANEE (CPS0569)
Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società - POLITICS AND DEVELOPMENT (CPS0861)
Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società - POLITICS AND DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA (CPS0428)
Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società
Temi di ricerca
My research interests develop in three directions:
1\Nationalism and State-making
2\Development, participation and conflict
3\Political change and inequality
I combine fieldwork methodology and archival research, from a perspective of historical sociology of politics. Maghreb countries are my principal area of inquiry, and Morocco is my main fieldwork of expertise.
1\Nationalism and State-making
In the last years my main research interest concerned the relation between the sources used for studying nationalism and State-making and the ways in which such phenomena are shaped). My starting hypothesis was that studying nationalism beyond partisan sources, which are the main reference especially in post-colonial States, would allow a broader comprehension not only on nationalism itself, but also on the horizon and the process of State-making, and on the forms of the State itself. In the research on Muslim entrepreneurs in Morocco and Turkey (FASOPO, 2009-2011) I focused on neo-nationalist networks of business-men close to political Islam. In the research Entrepreneurs of the nation (as PI, CERI Sciences-PO, 2011-2012) I focused on the experiences of a sample of business-men who took part in the national movement in Morocco as non-leaders. Through the research Traces of the Nation (as PI, CRESC 2014-2017) I consolidated a research network on the relations between sources and forms of nationalism in different African countries. The research Studying the Nation State through personal traces (as PI, University of Torino, 2018-2020), has two main goals: finalizing the research-monograph Dans la discretion. Traces d'un entrepreneur du national au Maroc, and publishing the personal documentation I could collect and study on non-leader actors in Morocco as a digital research archive.
I have discussed the results of my research in Italy (University of Torino, University L'Orientale Napoli), France (Sciences Po Paris, EHESS Paris), Iceland (University of Iceland), Switzerland (University of Zurich), Morocco (Mohamed VI Polytechnic University). The most significant research products of the last five years are:
- The conference: Quelles archives pour l'histoire du temps présent? Traces personnelles et paradigmes collectives, Rabat, 10/12/2015.
- The reserch-monograph: L'Etat d'Injustice au Maghreb. Maroc et Tunisie. Karthala, Paris, 2015 (with B. Hibou, H. Meddeb, M. Tozy)
- The peer-reviewed article: Conflitti fondatori e frontiere nazionali in Marocco. Per un approccio discreto alla statualità, Afriche e Orienti, 2-3/2016.
- The panel: Nazione e nazionalità. Prospettive teoriche, empiriche, metodologiche, XXXI Congress of the Italian Society of Political Sciences, University of Urbino, 14-16/09/2017.
2\Development, participation and conflict
My PhD dissertation focused on the relation between political participation and development policies. By analysing in socio-historical perspective the implementation of the National Initiative for Human Development in Morocco, I explored a wide range of practices and narratives of political participation, their contentious dimension and their implications on local government and power relations, far beyond the participatory approach to development. In the research Tanmia: Questioning Development as the Manufacture of Public Action in the Arab World, (French Agency of Research 2008-2011) I focused on the relation between political participation and the labour market. I explored my hypotheses out of my principal geographic area of expertise first by analysing the involvement of local associations in the post-earthquake management in Italy, then by focusing on Italian banking foundations in local government. In 2015 I coordinated the research seminar Conflicts of Development in the MENA Region (Graduate Institute, Geneve) for exploring the interaction between the two phenomena in comparative perspective.
I have discussed the results of my research in Italy (University of Torino, University of Catania, Ca' Foscari University Venice), Spain (Autonoma University Barcelona), France (Sciences Po Paris, EHESS Paris), Switzerland (Graduate Institute Geneve), Germany (University of Potsdam), UK (University of Cardiff), Tunisia (University of Tunis), Morocco (University Hassan II, Casablanca). The most significant research products of the last five years are:
- The peer-reviewed article: Une lecture d’économie politique de la «participation des jeunes» au Maroc à l’heure du Printemps arabe, Revue Internationale de Politique Comparée, 20/ 2013.
- The chapter: Comment devenir employable? Certifier l’exclusion, l’indifférence et la stigmatisation sur le marché du travail au Maroc, in B. Hibou (ed.), La bureaucratisation néolibérale, Paris: La Découverte, 2013.
- The peer-reviewed article: Indigenti responsabili e giovani occupabili: il governo neoliberale di chi merita assistenza in Marocco. Meridiana, 79/2014.
- The edited book: Development as a Battlefield, Boston: Brill-Nijhoff, 2017 (with B. Hibou).
3\Political change and inequality
Since the Arab Awakenings in 2011, my research experience on Maghreb countries lead me to reflect on occurring political change in the region. I aimed at exploring the relation between political change and inequality in a non-deterministic perspective, for questioning the paradigm of convenient obedience. I first approached this topic in the research on Social contestation and political management of corruption and unemployment in Morocco (FASOPO 2011-2012). In the research on Social justice demography: Youth representations in Morocco and Tunisia (as PI, FASOPO 2012-2014) I focused on youth movements denouncing social injustice, and on practices and imageries of legitimization youth inequality.
In the research on Regimes of legitimate inequalities: a comparative perspective (as PI, University of Torino 2014-2016) I explored my hypothesis in comparative perspective, beyond my area of expertise. The research on Hegemony, domination and resistance, (University of Torino 2016-2018) allowed me exploring this argument in an interdisciplinary perspective.
I have discussed the results of my research in Italy (University of Torino), France (Sciences Po Paris, University of Bordeaux), Switzerland (Graduate Institute Geneve), Morocco (University Hassan II, Casablanca). The most significant research products of the last five years:
- The conference Trasformazioni politiche e revival religioso nel mondo arabo, University of Torino, 18-19/04/2013 (with J.F. Bayart).
- The peer-reviewed article Rethinking Cities in Contentious Times: The Mobilisation of Urban Dissent in the ‘Arab Spring’. Urban Studies, 50/2013 (with M. Allegra, J. Rokem).
- The panel Formaliser l'injustice par les chiffres en Afrique, 3ème Rencontre d'Etudes Africaines en France (REAF), University of Bordeaux, 30/06-2/07/2014 (with V. Bonnecase, B. Samuel).
- The edited book Le gouvernement du social au Maroc, Paris: Karthala 2016 (with B. Hibou).
Progetti di ricerca
Ricevimento studenti
In attesa di nuove disposizioni, l'attività di ricevimento si svolgerà esclusivamente su appuntamento da concordare via mail, nella stanza virtuale della docente: https://unito.webex.com/meet/irene.bonoMENA POLITICS: Per sostenere il colloquio necessario all'ammissione al Corso di Laurea magistrale in Scienze internazionali, profilo MENA Politics, occorre compilare il modulo per la verifica del possesso dei requisiti minimi e iscriversi in una delle date di ricevimento indicate qui sopra, selezionando una fascia oraria.