What is the role of culture in challenging the narrative structures that characterize the European imaginary on migration? And, specifically, how can performing arts support diversity in European cities? Through different research and curatorial experiences, the volume offers new insights on the ways in which artistic practices build spaces of resistance, forms of subversion, and counter-hegemonic discourses on migration. In particular, it represents a collection of studies, methodologies and artistic practices which explore the role of performing art as a space of participation and alternative citizenship in contemporary cities. Research and artistic experiences that not only open new possibilities for theoretical and methodological reflection, but also enhance the creation of alternative social imaginaries on diversity and spaces of creative coexistence, deconstructing mainstream paternalistic and neocolonial attitudes towards migration.

Roberta Paltrinieri is Full Professor of Sociology at the University of Bologna where she is Scientific Coordinator of DAMSLab and Director of the Ces.co.com (Centre for Advanced Studies on consumption and communication).

Paola Parmiggiani is Full Professor of Sociology at the University of Bologna where she is Director of the Second Cycle Degree Programme (MA) in "Sociology and Social Work". Her main fields of study and research are practices of consumption, social and humanitarian communication.

Pierluigi Musarò is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Bologna. He is Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science, Research Fellow at the Institute for Public Knowledge (NYU), and at Monash University.

Melissa Moralli, is Research Fellow at the University of Bologna. Her research interests are social innovation, migration and participatory methodologies.