Fitting In – Standing Out: Cultural Entrepreneurship and Optimal Distinctiveness in Africa and Asia
20. & 21. November 2025, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz
Fakultätssaal FB07, Philosophicum
Organized by Tom Simmert, Bakar Abdul-Rashid Jeduah & Matthias Krings
Conference Program:
20. November
13:00 Opening
13:30 Keynote
Eric Zhao (Oxford): The Generative Power of Optimal Distinctiveness Research
14:30 Coffee Break
15:00 Panel 1: Fashion between Africa and Asia
Johanna von Petzold (Amsterdam): Beyond Fitting In or Standing Out: Mediating Chinese Fashion in Mozambique
Jupiter Wang (Amsterdam): Platformized Optimal Distinctiveness: Aspirational Labor Amid Trends, Law, and Exploitation in SHEIN
Jeannett Martin (Mainz): Searching for Optimal Distictiveness in West African Cloth Trading Companies
16:30 Coffee Break
17:00 Panel 2: African Music and Dance
Tom Simmert (Mainz): Standing Out as a Genre: Exceptionalism and Sonic Branding in Nigerian Afrobeats
Bakar Abdul-Rashid Jeduah (Mainz): Afro Dance Festivals: A Playground for the Negotiation of Dancer Identities through Optimal Distinctiveness
Usaku Robinson Wammanda (Mainz/Lagos): Disseminating African Culture Through Afro Dance
19:00 Conference Dinner
21. November
9:00 Panel 3: Aesthetics of K-Culture
Linus Büttner (Frankfurt): Aesthetic Strategy and Market Performance: Optimal Distinctiveness in the Visual Dynamics of Korean Film
Egbert Amoncio (Frankfurt): Colors of Kickstarter
Tabitha Adler (Frankfurt): Introducing K-(Pop) Culture: Self-Identification and Familiarization through “KPop Demon Hunters”
10:30 Coffee Break
11:00 Panel 4: Wakaliwood, Nollywood and Taiwanese Media Worlds
Damien Pollard (Newcastle): Ugandan… but not too Ugandan: Wakaliwood, National Indentity and Transnational Fandom
Sonia Campanini (Frankfurt): A Woman’s Touch? Optimal Distinctiveness and the Emergence of Women as Cultural Entrepreneurs in Contemporary Nollywood
Mirjam Tröster (Frankfurt): Between Ephemerality and Recognizability: The Transformation of Taiwan XR Dance Experiences
12:30 Closing Remarks
13:00 On-Site Lunch
14:00 End
[Visual Design by Tanja Labs @ artefont]
