Research

Projects, past & present

Comparative, often collaborative projects.

Feminist strike poster reading On ne veut pas se faire plumer nos retraites
Feminist strike poster, Geneva

Who Counts as "We"? Class, Sexuality and Race in the Women's Liberation Movement in Geneva, 1970–1977

Ongoing
Individual research — oral history & activist archives

A historical and sociological inquiry into the early years of the women's liberation movement in Geneva, examining the dynamics of knowledge making and identity building around class, sexuality and race — drawing on the MLF archive held at the Archives Contestataires de Genève. Presented at the European Conference on Politics and Gender, Newcastle, June 2026.

Visual for the MLF Genève podcast series, portrait intime d'une génération, 1970–1979
MLF Genève: portrait intime d'une génération (1970–1979) 4-episode documentary podcast series, creator and author — produced by Chahut Média, 2026. Listen on Chahut Média.

Shaping the Legal Consciousness of Intersectional Subjects (LEGALVEIL)

Completed — 2025
Principal Investigator · Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) · 2019–2025
Team members: Dr. Sélima Kebaïli and Maroua Sbyea

How Muslim women who wear the veil negotiate, accommodate, or contest the legal regulation of their dress in France, Switzerland, and the UK. With Sélima Kebaïli, the project produced the concept of "everyday femonationalism" and several articles on the gendered coloniality of law. Closing conference: "Gendered racialization. Navigating exclusion and disenfranchisement in Europe," UNIL, May 2025.

Gendered Globalization of the Legal Professions (GGLP)

Completed — 2018
Principal Investigator · Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) · 2015–2018
Co-PIs: Prof. Nicky Le Feuvre and Prof. Grégoire Mallard · Team members: Isabel Boni-Le Goff and Valeria Insarauto

A comparison of early-career trajectories among lawyers in France, Switzerland, and Germany, examining how globalization and the feminization of the legal profession produce differentiated experiences of alienation and gendered discrimination.

The Challenge of Pluralism. Practices of Intersectionality in Women's Movements in France, Québec and Ontario

Completed — 2014
Principal Investigator · Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC)

A comparative study of how feminist movements in France and Québec have taken up — or resisted — intersectionality in their practices and organizational strategies. This research provided the empirical foundation for Feminist Trouble: Intersectional Politics in Post-Secular Times (Oxford University Press, 2020).

PhD Supervision

Gina Wirz Suarez — in progress
"Siempre vivas" (Everlasting): The Colombian Feminist Movement in Exile
Co-supervised with Graziela Moraes Silva, Graduate Institute Geneva
Juliette Miatello — in progress
Beyond Backlash: Feminist Movements in Italy and France amid Political and Digital Pressure
Co-supervised with Elena Pavan, Università di Trento (Italy)
Maroua Sbyea — in progress
Veil at Work. Professional and Religious Trajectories of Hijabi Muslim Women in France and in the United Kingdom
Co-supervised with Choukri Hmed, Université Paris Cité
Noémie Rentsch — in progress
Solidarité femmes et l'accueil des victimes de violence domestique: sociologie de l'institutionnalisation d'un engagement féministe
Co-supervised with Jonathan Miaz, CRAPUL, UNIL
Charlène Calderaro — defended 2024
Far-Righting Feminism? Criminalising Street Harassment in France and Britain
Co-supervised with Sara R. Farris (Goldsmiths, University of London)
Fiona Friedli — defended 2021
Régulation des relations familiales et reproduction de l'ordre de genre: des transformations du droit à la justice en action
Co-supervised with Bernard Voutat
Lucile Quéré — defended 2021
Du corps au "nous". Produire un sujet politique par le self-help féministe
Sole supervision
Eleanor T. Khonje — defended 2020
The Emergence of Neoliberalized Feminism: An Examination of Gender Dynamics, Gender Equality Initiatives and "Business Power" in Global Governance
Sole supervision
Solène Froidevaux — defended 2019
Des corps et des armes: devenir un sujet genré par la pratique sportive du tir à l'arc et du tir à l'arme à feu en Suisse
Sole supervision
Njeri Chege — defended 2014
Male Beach Workers and Western Female Tourists: Livelihood Strategies in Kenya's South Coast Region
Co-supervised with Fenneke Reysoo