Monika Salzbrunn is Full Professor of Religions, Migration, Diasporas at University of Lausanne, invited research professor at Università degli Studi di Genova and associated researcher at CéSOR/EHESS Paris. She is the first female scientist in Switzerland to receive the prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant in SHS, for her project ARTIVISM. Art and Activism. Creativity and Performance as Subversive Forms of Political Expression in Super-Diverse Cities. Monika Salzbrunn was Emmy Noether grantee of the DFG, principal investigator of several SNFS projects and has published numerous articles, books and films in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Japanese, namely « Dance, music and (trans)nationalisms ».

Spotlight Talk “Diversity (Affects) from below. Performing Political Critique through Joyful Fashion Shows”

28th May 10.30 – 11.15 am | Monika Salzbrunn

Based on my critical analysis of the (mis)uses and contradictions of the concept of diversity (Salzbrunn 2014, 2021), I will first give an overview about constructive approaches to intersectional elements which constitute diversity. In the second part of my presentation, various ways of staging diversity will be discussed. A particular focus will lie on the affective dimension of the performances which express political critique. The empirical material consists of fashion shows and interviews with their protagonists and organisers in Paris, Genoa and Douala. These “cultural productions…reflect and enhance specific understandings of diversity” (Call for papers 2020) in the domains of performance art and fashion design. Dr. Raphaela von Weichs provided the audio-visual material about Douala (and partly about Genoa) as part of the ERC funded project ARTIVISM. Art and activism. Creativity and Performance as Subversive Forms of Political Expression in Super-Diverse Cities of which I am the principal investigator. I did long-term fieldwork and filming in Paris in the 1990ies and 2000 years as well as in Genoa (since 2017) and produced the related short film “Défilé Maddalena La Superba”.