Dr. Camille Giraut is a sociologist specializing in race, diversity, and affirmative action in comparative perspective between France, Brazil, and Switzerland. She completed her PhD in Anthropology and Sociology at the Graduate Institute Geneva in January 2025 with Summa Cum Laude, based on six years of fieldwork examining the reception and social meanings of affirmative action programs in color-blind contexts. Since March 2025, she has served as Head of Training at Yojoa, where she develops and delivers programs on diversity, inclusion, and anti-discrimination across Swiss public institutions and private companies. Alongside her professional engagement, she remains actively involved in academic teaching, publishing, and collaborative research with the Swiss School of Higher Education in Social Work. Her ongoing objective is to advance research on diversity and equality policies in Switzerland while preparing for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship and the SNSF Postdoc.Mobility grant.
Online Profiles
Professional contact details include her affiliation as Research Associate at the Albert Hirschman Center on Democracy, Graduate Institute Geneva, along with her institutional email and Swiss mobile number. Her academic footprint is reflected through publications in leading journals, contributions to public scholarship, and visibility through conference participation and invited talks.
Education
Dr. Giraut holds a PhD in Anthropology and Sociology from the Graduate Institute Geneva (2018–2025), where she conducted comparative fieldwork in France and Brazil, including an exchange at Universidade Federal Fluminense in Rio de Janeiro. She previously completed a Master’s degree in Anthropology and Sociology with an exchange at Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University of Geneva, enriched by an Erasmus year at the University of Malta. Her methodological training includes a visual anthropology summer school at the Netherlands Institute of Athens.
Research Focus
Her research explores affirmative action, race and color-blindness, diversity governance, intersectionality, and the lived experience of beneficiaries of equality programs. Using ethnography, in-depth interviewing, and comparative analysis, she investigates how public policies are interpreted, negotiated, and contested across national contexts. Her work situates race and social justice debates within transnational, postcolonial, and bureaucratic frameworks, with a growing orientation toward the Swiss landscape of diversity and inclusion.
Experience
Her academic experience includes teaching roles at the University of Geneva, Universidade Federal Fluminense, the Graduate Institute Geneva, and the University of Fribourg, where she contributed sessions on gender, intersectionality, and racial relations. She has also held responsibilities as conference organizer, workshop chair, and peer reviewer for several journals in English, French, and Portuguese. Beyond academia, she has worked in NGO, library, media, and human-rights settings, demonstrating a strong orientation toward applied social research and public engagement.
Research Timeline & Research Publications
Her research trajectory spans early involvement in the ANR Global Race project (2018), doctoral fieldwork in France and Brazil (2019–2023), and subsequent diversification of outputs through journal publications, book chapters, and public communications. Below is the complete list of peer-reviewed publications:
Journal Articles
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Giraut, Camille. “‘The icing on the cake’: negotiating diversity and intersectional ascription to gain access to Sciences Po.” French Politics (2025).
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Giraut, Camille. “From privileges to rights: changing perceptions of racial quotas in Brazil.” Ethnic and Racial Studies (2023): 1–24.
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Moraes Silva, Graziella; Toste Daflon, Veronica; Giraut, Camille. “Seeing race like a state: higher education affirmative action verification commissions in Brazil.” Latin American Politics and Society (2023): 1–26.
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Giraut, Camille. “Subjectivation et (afro) féminisme dans le funk carioca.” Sociétés politiques comparées (2019): 1–30.
Book Chapters
5. Toste Daflon, Verônica; Moraes Silva, Graziella; Giraut, Camille. “Raça, Estado e burocracias: as Comissões de Heteroclassificação nas Instituições Federais de Ensino Superior.” In Raça e Estado (2022).
Book Reviews
6. Giraut, Camille. Review of L’Épreuve de la discrimination by J. Talpin et al. L’Année sociologique 72.1 (2022).
7. Giraut, Camille. Review of Feminist Trouble by E. Lépinard. TSANTSA (2021): 238–240.
Research Impact
Dr. Giraut’s work advances understanding of how individuals perceive and legitimize affirmative action policies, contributing empirical depth to debates on racial classification, color-blindness, and equality frames. Her comparative research has informed discussions within French-, Brazilian-, and Swiss-based academic communities and has been recognized by the Swiss Sociological Association Young Talent Prize in 2024.
Innovation & Intellectual Property
Her contributions lie in innovative qualitative methodologies, multi-site ethnography, and the conceptual reframing of racial ascription and bureaucratic classification. While her research does not involve formal IP, it generates new analytical tools for understanding diversity governance and public policy perception.
Research Projects & Funding
Her doctoral work was fully supported by the SNSF Doc.CH grant (CHF 216,524), enabling extended field research across multiple countries. She continues to pursue external funding, particularly through Swiss and European postdoctoral mobility and excellence schemes, to develop research on diversity governance in Switzerland.
Conference Contributions
She has presented widely at international conferences, including the AAA, LASA, CES, SAGS, ARIC, CES, EHESS, and numerous seminars in Brazil, France, Switzerland, and Portugal. Her talks cover topics such as affirmative action reception, intersectionality, race verification commissions, and cultural politics in Brazil.
Academic Excellence
Her academic record includes a Summa Cum Laude PhD, competitive funding awards, multi-language research output, and recognition through national prizes. She has contributed to hiring committees, scientific committees, and peer-review activities, reflecting her growing standing within the field.
Societal / Industry Contribution
Through her role at Yojoa, she translates academic expertise into practical training programs on diversity and anti-discrimination for institutions and companies across Switzerland. Her public-facing writing, media collaborations, and community engagement strengthen the bridge between research and social change.
Global Recognition
Her publications across prominent international journals, invitations to speak at global academic events, and involvement in transnational research collaborations illustrate her visibility within international sociology, anthropology, and race studies communities.