Dr. Ivana Rapoš Božič Awarded MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship for Research on Migrants’ Artistic Practices

The PaReMAPs project explores how migrants use artistic practices—such as visual art, literature, and performance—to express their experiences, negotiate identities, and engage with wider publics. Through these creative forms, migrants can challenge stereotypes, raise new questions about ethnoracial diversity and belonging, and contribute to public conversations about migration.

The research will focus on migrants from non-EU countries living in Slovenia.  a relatively new immigration destination in Central Europe. Although the country has a long history of cultural diversity shaped by the legacies of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Yugoslavia, migration has become increasingly politicized in recent years. In this context, questions of recognition and belonging have gained particular social and political relevance.

By studying migrants’ artistic practices, the project will examine three interconnected dimensions: migrants’ experiences of recognition and misrecognition, the ways they articulate claims for recognition through art, and how these artistic expressions are received and interpreted by different audiences. 

Through this research, PaReMAPs aims to deepen understanding of the relationship between migration, art, and social justice, while contributing to more inclusive public conversations about migration in Slovenia and across Europe.

Ivana Rapoš Božič currently works as a postdoctoral researcher at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, where she studies how migrants of different origins make sense of their position in Czech society and how they respond to instances of ethnoracial Othering. Her long-term research interests include migration, civic and political engagement, and negotiations about the boundaries of belonging in the context of Central Europe. More information about her research can be found at www.ivanaraposbozic.com.