‘Engage the Popular’ : il lavoro degli studi culturali nella crisi europea.

This essay presents, analyses, and discusses a line of research undertaken by a complex and varied research group of academics, teachers, students, independent scholars, activists for LGBT rights and voices from the worlds of the arts, writing and diverse creative fields of cultural practices. The research project aims at interrogating the strategic dialogue of Cultural Studies with the multiple occurrences and the deep uneasiness that are reconfiguring Europe in the present time, mainly focusing on the key issues of migration, borders, and mobility. Organised as an open conversation, the outcome of the project has presented initiatives, events and scientific publications, which are examined in this essay through a selective lens that focuses on the contexts of production while also suggesting reading angles and productive interpretations. In order to make the project’s insights clear and useful, this essay tries to show how some themes, concepts and textual references reciprocally intersect, stimulating a constructive dialogue for a better understanding of the present and the future of Europe.