Julie Peghini

Biographie

Julie Peghini is an anthropologist and filmmaker, and Associate Professor at Université Paris 8, where she is a member of the CEMTI. She is also an affiliated researcher at the IMAF. Together with Dominique Malaquais, she co-coordinated YIF MENGA, a multi-sited research program exploring performance as a political project, in collaboration with the Récréâtrales in Ouagadougou. Her work includes the medium-length film Ce dont nous sommes faits (2021), co-directed with Malaquais and Elise Villatte, as well as seminars on the arts in Africa and its diasporas (with Anne Doquet and Christine Douxami). Deeply inspired by the work of Sony Labou Tansi, she has also contributed to the series Afriques: Utopies urbaines, prophétiques, performatives, organized across institutions such as the Cité de l’architecture & du patrimoine, the Haute école des arts du Rhin, and the Cité internationale des arts. Her first feature-length documentary, Insurrection du verbe aimer (2019, 80 min), reflects on the contemporary legacy of Sony Labou Tansi. She has also collaborated artistically on theatrical works inspired by his writing, including projects with Marcus Borja (Le chant des signes) and Etienne Minoungou (Si nous voulons vivre), the latter presented at the Festival d’Avignon in July 2026. From 2020 to 2023, she served as Deputy Director of the EUR ArTeC. She is currently Director of the Fondation Lucien Paye – Maison des Afriques.