The "Arts, culture and migration" (DIVCULT) Standing Committee aims to better understand the relevance of arts and culture in theoretical and policy debates on immigrant incorporation and diversity in Europe and beyond. In recent years, artistic and cultural practices have attracted growing attention among migration researchers, as they offer ways of moving beyond ethnic differences towards narratives of identity and belonging that are better capture the post-migrant realities of many cities and countries.

We intend to cover a wide range of artistic and cultural activities in our analyses, ranging from music, literature, cinema and theatre to sports, fashion, clothing, design, and food.

The idea is to work on the following dimensions jointly: 

• Theoretical and conceptual issues
• Methodologies
• Relevance and social impact

These dimensions provide a framework through which members can initiate joint research activities, organise workshops and conferences, and develop publications.

DIVCULT builds on work carried out in the former IMISCOE Standing Committee on Popular Art, Diversity and Cultural Policies in Post-Migration Urban Settings (POPADIVCIT), founded in 2010. POPADIVCIT focused on the political and institutional frameworks of immigrant artistic activities, the social relations among the actors involved, and their impact, particularly in terms of political participation and mobilisation. The work resulted in several journal special issues.  

For further information on DIVCULT activities, please contact Irene (Assistant Coordinator) at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The application document describing the aims and functioning of our Standing Committee is available default here(210 KB) .

The current DIVCULT PhD representatives (2025-2027) are Ana Beatriz Pelicioni| (University of Warsaw, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and Eurídice Hernández Gomes (University of Helsinki, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

An overview of the role of the DIVCULT PhD representative is available  pdf here(88 KB) .

Names of coordinators

Elsa Mescoli

CEDEM - FaSS, ULiege, Belgium

Karolina Nikielska-Sekula

Jagiellonian University, Poland

Assistant coordinator

Irene Gutiérrez Torres

Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

PhD representatives

Ana Beatriz Baselice Pelicioni

University of Warsaw, Poland

Eurídice Hernández Gomes

University of Helsinki, Finland

Executive board members (besides the coordinators, the PhD representatives and the assistant coordinator)

Amandine Desille

Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal

Melissa Moralli

University of Bologna, Italy

Matteo Dutto

Monash University European Research Foundation ETS, Italy

Kamila Krakowska Rodrigues

Leiden University, Netherlands

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Selected publications

2026
Dutto, M. (2026). From Italy to so-called Australia: On doing research across migrant and Indigenous cinema. In A. Piperoglou & F. Ricatti (Eds.), Researching migration on Indigenous lands (IMISCOE Research Series). Springer.

Gutiérrez-Torres, I., Lenette, C., Blomfield, I., Diallo, A., & Smets, K. (2026). Beyond tokenism: Strategies to co-disseminate with migrant co-researchers and expand their roles in neoliberal academia. Qualitative Inquiry, 0(0).

Hernández Gomes, E., & Kılınc, N. (2026). “The library experience goes far beyond books”: Latin American women’s narratives of transcultural embedding and social integration through using public libraries in Helsinki. Migration Studies, 14(1), mnaf064.

Zapata-Barrero, R. (2026). ‘Ideological turn’, interculturalism and the making of diversity as a public culture. In Handbook on migration and public policy (pp. 165–180). Edward Elgar Publishing.

2025
Brandellero, S., Krakowska Rodrigues, K., & Pardue, D. (Eds.). (2025). Urban nightlife and contested spaces: Cultural encounters after dusk. Routledge.

Desille, A., & Nikielska-Sekula, K. (2025). Visual governance of migration: “Dignity” as a method. Ethnicities.

Desille, A., Azevedo, L., Estevens, A., Larrabure, S., & McGarrigle, J. (2025). “My place is in-between places": Collaborative filmmaking as a conveyor of embodied gender experiences in Portuguese academia. Ethnic and Racial Studies.

Martiniello, M. (2025). The superdiverse city: A paradise for immigrant integration and harmonious cohabitation? Insights from Belgium. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 48(9), 1778–1788.

Martiniello, M., & Solomos, J. (2025). Racism, antiracism, football and migration: Introduction. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 1–12.

Nikielska-Sekuła, K. (2025). Migrants as heritage makers: Micro practices and multiscalar perspectives in post-migration cultural heritage participation. International Journal of Heritage Studies, 31(12), 1613–1634.

Oso, L., Ribas-Mateos, N., & Moralli, M. (Eds.). (2025). Elgar Encyclopedia of Global Migration: New Mobilities and Artivism. Edward Elgar Publishing. 

Sievers, W. (2025). From others to artists? Immigrant and ethnic minority art. In An Introduction to Immigrant Incorporation Studies (pp. 305-324). Routledge.

Zapata-Barrero, R. (2025). Taking the principle of complementarity between interculturalism and multiculturalism seriously. In Research handbook on multiculturalism (pp. 362–376).

2024
Dutto, M., Ricatti, F., Simeone, L., & Wilson, R. (2024). Youth in the city: Fostering transcultural leadership for social change. In W. Sievers (Ed.), Cultural change in post-migrant societies. IMISCOE Research Series. Springer.

Gutiérrez-Torres, I. (2024). Trapped in Ceuta: Reflexive tactics and methods in participatory filmmaking among cross-border women. Migration Studies, 12(3), mnad031. https://doi.org/10.1093/migration/mnad031

Gutiérrez-Torres, I. (2024). Archival participatory filmmaking in migration and border studies. In K. Leurs & S. Ponzanesi (Eds.), Doing digital migration studies: Theories and practices of the everyday (pp. 67–87). Amsterdam University Press.

Martiniello, M., & Mescoli, E. (2024). Arts and refugees: Multidisciplinary perspectives (Vol. 2). Arts, 13(1), 40.

Moralli, M. (2024). Research as care: Positionality and reflexivity in qualitative migration research. Qualitative Research, 24(3), 751–770.

Moralli, M. (2024). Arts-based methods in migration research: A methodological analysis on participatory visual methods and their transformative potentials and limits in studying human mobility. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 23, 16094069241254008.

Sievers, W. (2024). Cultural Change in Post-Migrant Societies: Re-imagining communities through arts and cultural activities. Springer Nature.

2023
Clarebout, A., & Mescoli, E. (2023). Food hospitality and the negotiation of subjectivities through meals in the context of migration: Case studies from Belgium. Food, Culture & Society, 1–17.

Mescoli, E., & Martiniello, M. (2023). La culture face à l'urgence sanitaire liée à la Covid-19 à Bruxelles. In F. Gamba, S. Cattacin, & N. Viana Alzola (Eds.), Ville et créativité (pp. 211–222). Éditions Seismo.

Nikielska-Sekuła, K. (2023). Embodied transnational belonging. International Migration Review, 60(1), 204–230. 

2022
Krakowska Rodrigues, K. (2022). Storytelling nights: Performing (post)memory of Cape Verdean migration to Rotterdam. Crossings: Journal of Migration & Culture, 13, 107–121.

2021
Moralli, M., Musarò, P., Paltrinieri, R., & Parmiggiani, P. (2021). Creative resistance. Cultural practices, artistic activism and counter-hegemonic narratives on diversity. Studi culturali, 18(2), 163–180.

Sievers, W. (2021). Towards equality: Joining forces with arts and culture in the struggle for change in migration societies. Comparative Migration Studies, 9(1), 33.