352
The Arts of Migration: Dancing and Signing (to) the World
The Arts of Migration: Dancing and Signing (to) the World
Sunday, 10 July 2016: 12:30-14:00
Location: Hörsaal 07 (Main Building)
RC31 Sociology of Migration (host committee) Language: English
While traditionally the focus of migration studies has centred on migratory flows as well as on labour issues and on the implementation of political and social policies aiming towards the social integration of migrants (often an euphemism for assimilation), the cultural and artistic fields are increasingly attracting the interest of researchers as they realize how the arts, especially dance and music, constitute powerful means not only to provide a voice to the (usually) voiceless migrants, but also and perhaps more fundamentally, to provide relevant means to build bridges among peoples coming from different social backgrounds and to encourage the development of new kinds of (enduring) social relationships.
Even though in some cases, the “local” population may be attracted to the migrants’ artistic genera in relationship to their (supposed) exoticism, contributing thereof to their alterity, the success of the arts of migration is evident in the multiplication of, for instance, African dance academies and courses.
In this regular session I welcome theoretical and empirical papers that deal with the role of art in providing new spaces for social relationships among local and migrants as well as papers that analyze critically how a new focus on the migrants’ cultural and artistic production may also contribute to empower them by transforming the ways in which migrants are usually represented in the social imaginary, rendering them visible in other fields.
Session Organizer: