DIVCULT aims to better understand the relevance of arts and culture in the theoretical and policy debates about immigrant incorporation and diversity in Europe and beyond. Over the last years, artistic activities have found increasing interest among migration researchers because they prove to be a means of moving beyond ethnic differences towards narratives of identity and belonging that are more apt to capture the current post-migrant reality in 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 jointly work on the following dimensions:
- Theoretical and conceptual issues
- Methodologies
- Relevance and social impact
These dimensions constitute the general framework in which the researchers involved can initiate joint research activities, organise workshops and conferences and prepare publications.
DIVCULT builds on previous work carried out in the IMISCOE Standing Committee on Popular Art, Diversity and Cultural Policies in Post-Migration Urban Settings (POPADIVCIT) founded in 2010. POPADIVCIT focussed on the political and institutional framework of immigrant artistic activities, the social relations between all actors involved as well as on their impact in particular in terms of political participation and mobilisation. The work has resulted in several special issues of journals.
Names of coordinators

Marco Martiniello
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Wiebke Sievers
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Executive board members (beside the coordinators)
Agenda of activities
IMISCOE Annual Conference 2020 - Online DIVCULT slots: "Immigrants’ cultural participation: why and how to study it?" (Chair: Marco Martiniello), July 1, 14:00-15:30 (CEST); "Do the artistic and cultural activities of immigrants and their descendants change national cultures? A theoretical and methodological reflection" (Chair: Wiebke Sievers), July 1, 15:45-17:15 (CEST). More information and programme available at: https://www.imiscoe.org/events/imiscoe-events/1027-17th-imiscoe-annual-conference.
DIVCULT has organized a conference open to all of its members on 30-31 January 2020 in Brussels in order to discuss theoretical, methodological and impact issues connected to the SC topics and to prepare a concrete plan of activities for the coming four years.
Output
25-26 September 2019, Liège: Conference Immigration, Cultural Participation and New Forms of Political Solidarity: Global Perspectives, http://blogs.ulg.ac.be/arts-minorites/en/immigration-cultural-participation-and-new-forms-of-political-solidarity-global-perspectives
Special issues prepared in the framework of the SC POPADIVCIT:
- Ricard Zapata-Barrero, Marco Martiniello & Wiebke Sievers (Eds.): Special issue: Diversity incorporation in the cultural policy mainstream: Exploring the main frameworks and approaches bridging cultural and migration studies, Crossings. Journal of Migration & Culture, 8, 1, 2017
- Marco Martiniello (Ed.): Special issue: Artistic separation vs artistic mixing in European multicultural cities. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 21, 1, 2014
- Marco Martiniello and Jean-Michel Lafleur Eds.): Special issue: Ethnic Minorities’ Cultural Practices as Forms of Political Expression. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 34, 8, 2008