On February 20th, Professor Julie Billaud together with a group of Swiss-based precarious researchers running the non-profit association Programme Indépendant de Recherche (PIR), organised a “boxed conference” at Fonderie Kugler in Geneva. Yoann Kongolo, a Swiss kick-boxing champion, and Akim Oualhaci, a French sociologist specialising in combat sports, came together on a ring created by the artist Thomas Schunke especially for this occasion, for a performance combining sociology and a boxing lesson. While Oualhaci talked about his research in boxing clubs located in working-class neighborhoods in Paris and New York, Yoann Kongolo introduced the audience to a few kick-boxing moves. A punchy and joyful experimentation with Pierre Bourdieu’s motto: "Sociology is a combat sport".

A film produced by the experimental graphic studio leidyi.com: