“I’m Already Autonomous!”

<p class="ql-align-justify">This article presents an intersectional ethnography of a women’s empowerment space within a socio-educational service in the north of Italy. Based on long-term participant observation and qualitative interviews with women with experiences of migration and gender-based violence, the study examines how autonomy is defined in everyday institutional practice and how it becomes a site of negotiation and evaluation. The analysis situates empowerment within feminist anthropology and decolonial thought, engaging critically with Western standards of desired adulthood that equate autonomy with independence and self-sufficiency. Particular attention is given to evaluation tools and pedagogical dispositifs that frame certain forms of conduct as indicators of progress and success. Ethnographic material documents how participants reinterpret these expectations, at times strategically aligning with them, at times reshaping their meaning through situated claims such as “I’m already autonomous.” The article develops a set of ethno-pedagogical reflections grounded in fieldwork, aimed at fostering reflexive and context-sensitive assessment practices. Ultimately, it calls for a sustained and relational reworking of care relations through recognition of structural violence, epistemic asymmetries, and the political dimensions of social work.</p>