Registration: Masterclass “Aesthetics of Defiance”

Contact:  j.ruizdiazfigueredo@uva.nl

This masterclass explores how bodies dressed and styled outside dominant norms can become agents of resistance. Focusing on dress, fashion, and hair as embodied political practices, it examines how individuals and communities subvert power structures through everyday aesthetics. By integrating visual analysis and storytelling, the session invites participants to engage critically and personally with how strategies of appearance contest colonial, gendered, and racialised logics. Through a decolonial lens, we will analyse historical and contemporary case studies in which dress and hair unsettle hegemonic (Western, colonial) beauty standards and normative identities and oppose control, surveillance, and/or erasure. Participants will also engage with the work of other scholars and practitioners who theorise the body as a site of creative defiance.

The masterclass is delivered by Jazmín Ruiz Díaz, Visiting Scholar at the Decolonial Futures Research Priority Area.

Bio: Jazmín Ruiz Díaz (she/her) is a Paraguayan scholar and journalist. She holds a PhD in Culture, Media & Creative Industries from King’s College London. Her work sits at the intersection of cultural studies, gender studies, and media studies. She is also the co-founder of the educational platform Moda en Teoría (@modaenteoria on Instagram and TikTok), which explores fashion-related phenomena and practices through a decolonial, feminist, and intersectional lens.

Program

The session blends critical theory, visual analysis, and participatory learning, focusing on decolonial resistance through appearance at the core.

15:00-17:00: LECTURE (Including Q&A)

17:00-17:30: COFFEE-BREAK

17:30-19:00: WORKSHOP

17:30 – 17:40: Introduction to Workshop

In small groups, participants choose or develop a case of decolonial resistance through dress, hair, or fashion.

Guiding questions:

• What norms are being resisted?
• How does the body become a site of creative defiance?
• What power structures are being challenged—colonial, racial, gendered?

17:40 – 18:10: Group Work

18:10 – 18:40: Group Sharing

18:40 – 19:00: Closing Reflections