Guest lecture: Prof. Dr. Giulia Mensitieri

Prof. Dr. Giulia Mensitieri is a researcher in anthropology at the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS-
Clersé Lille), and teaching economic anthropology at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). She
holds a PhD in Social Anthropology and Ethnology from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences
Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. Her book The Most Beautiful Job in the World: Lifting the Veil on the Fashion
Industry was published in French (La Découverte, 2018) and translated into English (Bloomsbury
Academic, 2020), Russian and German. Her work was featured in media outlets such as The
Guardian, BBC podcasts, Le Monde and Radio France.

Her research explores the glamorous face of global capitalism, focusing on the symbolic and political
power of the luxury fashion industry, but also on the forms of exploitation and value appropriation
characterizing this industry. She views this field as a paradigm of contemporary capitalism in terms of
material and immaterial production, global circulation, and inequality.

In her guest lecture, Prof. Dr. Mensitieri will focus on the work of models and influencers in the
contemporary fashion industry, and its dependence on mechanisms of predatory debt on the one
hand, and symbolic systems representing success and luxury on the other hand.

The lecture will be held in English.

Students, researchers, faculty members and guests are very
welcome to join!