Thematic Axes
The scientific structure of #Cultures 2026 is organized around eight thematic axes that frame the congress and guide submissions, partnerships and academic dialogue.
Each axis is an intellectual and organizational space.
They orient the scientific program, structure the review process, support thematic sessions and enable collaborative participation through the Axis Partnership call.
A detailed presentation of the scientific structure
The thematic axes of #Cultures 2026 were designed to reflect key debates in contemporary cultural studies, including public policy, diversity, education, digital culture, migration, management, heritage and the arts. Below you will find the complete English version of each axis description.
Axis I — Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development
National and international cultural policies in contexts of tension, geopolitical reconfiguration and institutional crisis. Cultural governance, public and private financing of culture, cultural rights as human rights, cultural diplomacy and international cooperation. Relations between culture, sustainable development and global agendas. The impacts of transformations in the world order on cultural systems, institutions and communities. Challenges and prospects for the formulation of inclusive, plural and sustainable cultural policies in the twenty-first century.
Axis II — Cultural Diversity, Human Rights and Inclusion
Cultural diversity as both a value and a field of contestation. Anti-racism, feminisms and LGBTQIA+ rights from a cultural perspective. Indigenous peoples, traditional communities and quilombola communities, their territories, knowledges and rights. Intersectionality as an analytical and political tool. Accessibility and the social and cultural inclusion of persons with disabilities. Intolerance, discrimination and symbolic violence in contexts of crisis and reconfiguration of the world order. Human rights as a cultural and political horizon. Resistance, mobilization and achievements of social movements in the field of diversity and inclusion.
Axis III — Cultural Territories, Education and Sustainability
Territorialities and their cultural, symbolic and political dimensions. Territorial conflicts and their impacts on cultures, identities and ways of life. Intercultural, decolonial and anti-racist education. Local knowledges, traditional knowledge and epistemologies of the Global South. Relations between school, community and territory. Environmental and cultural sustainability as a political project. Transformative pedagogical practices in contexts of inequality and diversity. The right to education and to culture in scenarios of instability and mobility.
Axis IV — Technology, Digital Culture and Social Innovation
Digital cultures and their social, political and symbolic implications. Artificial intelligence, algorithms and their impacts on the production, circulation and consumption of culture. Digital platforms, social media and the reconfiguration of public spheres. Disinformation, post-truth and narrative disputes in digital environments. Surveillance, privacy and digital rights. Technology-mediated social innovation. Digital creative economies and new models of cultural production. Technologies as instruments of resistance, organization and social transformation. Digital exclusion and inequality from a cultural perspective.
Axis V — Borders, Migrations, Diasporas and Identities
Contemporary human mobility and its cultural dimensions. Borders as spaces of contestation, negotiation and cultural creation. Forced migration, refuge and internal displacement in contexts of conflict and climate crisis. Diasporas, transnational communities and multiple belongings. Identities in motion, hybridities and cultural negotiations. Xenophobia, racism and discrimination against migrants and refugees. Migration policies and their impacts on cultural rights. Border cultures, diasporic artistic production and cultural practices in contexts of mobility.
Axis VI — Cultural Management, Organizations and Entrepreneurship
Cultural management in contexts of instability, scarcity and transformation. Cultural organizations, public and private facilities, and their strategies of adaptation. Cultural entrepreneurship, the creative economy and new models of sustainability. Funding, resource mobilization and policies for cultural support. Cultural project management in contexts of diversity and inclusion. Training of cultural managers and entrepreneurs. Relations between culture, market and the state in scenarios of global reconfiguration. The impacts of digital technologies on management and on the cultural production chain. Culture as a driver of local and regional development.
Axis VII — Memory, Heritage and Musealization
Collective memory, social memory and disputes over the past in contexts of conflict and transition. Tangible and intangible cultural heritage, preservation, destruction and reappropriation in scenarios of crisis. Musealization, curatorship and museum practices from critical and decolonial perspectives. Archives, documentation and access to cultural memory. Heritage at risk, armed conflicts, environmental disasters and cultural erasure. Subaltern, silenced and contested memories. Memory policies, historical reparation and cultural justice. Digital technologies and new forms of preservation, circulation and access to heritage.
Axis VIII — Arts, Performances, Communication and Cultural Practices
Artistic and performative practices as forms of resistance, reinvention and meaning-making in contexts of crisis and transformation. Visual arts, music, dance, theatre, cinema and literature in relation to the central theme of the congress. Communication, media narratives and cultural representations. Community cultural practices and their political and identity dimensions. Art and activism, creation as a form of social intervention. The circulation and reception of the arts in contexts of mobility and diaspora. Art markets, copyright and the creative economy. Digital cultural practices and hybrid forms across languages, media and territories.
Looking for the right axis for your work?
These thematic axes also guide the submission process of #Cultures 2026. Authors should select the axis that best matches the theoretical, methodological or practical focus of their proposal.
Interested in scientific collaboration?
Research groups, academic networks and institutions may collaborate directly in the scientific construction of the congress through the Axis Partnership call.