Julien Debonneville

Biographical note 

After having studied Sociology (University of Geneva, 2005-2008) and Social sciences (University of Lausanne, 2008-2010), I was hired by the University of Lausanne as a junior researcher on SNSF (Swiss National Science Foundation) and SNIS (Swiss Network for International Studies) research projects (2009-2011). These projects focused on the role of the World Bank in the transfer of development policies in Brazil and the Philippines (SNSF), the feminization of the fight against poverty in Brazil and the Philippines (SNIS). I subsequently completed a doctoral thesis devoted to transnational migrations at the University of Geneva (2011-2016), which was based on 10 months of ethnographic fieldwork in the Philippines, unpicked the processes of sexualization and racialization of Filipina women as they go through recruitment, training and deployment as migrant domestic workers. From 2016 to 2019, I expanded my field of research into the nexus of Mobilities and Migrations through an SNSF-funded project. This innovative research focused on the processes of racialization and sexualization that take place in the European artistic field. In particular, I explored the ways in which the normative regime of transnational mobility shapes artistic careers. By studying the transnational field of the arts in so-called “(post)multicultural“ societies, I demonstrated how the construction of cultural, ethnic/racial and gendered differences has become an aesthetic norm which structures the biographical, professional and mobility trajectories of artists in the field of contemporary dance. Since 2020, I have kept contributing to the fields of Transnational Mobilities and Migrations studies, Gender studies and Critical race theory, Sociology of Public spaces, Sociology of Work and Sociology of Art.

Areas of competence

• Fields and theoretical approaches:  Sociology of Migrations/Mobilities – Transnational studies – Gender studies – Critical race theory – Ethnography – Sociology of Work – Sociology of Art – Development studies
• Migrations / Mobility: Transnationalism – Globalization – Industry of Migration – Migration career – Social / Spatial Mobility – Boundary making.
• Gender and critical race studies: Intersectionality – Otherness – Multiculturalism – Race – Whiteness – Social construction of body – Identity – Hybridity.
• Development studies: Social development – International organizations – Global governance – Conditional cash transfer – Micro credit – decoloniality.