Ignacia Perugorría coordinates the EHU node of the ENLIGHT IDenti-T Network—Interdisciplinary Dialogue on Evolving Identities in Times of Democratic Transformation (2025-2027)—a collaborative initiative involving the University of the Basque Country, the University of Galway, the University of Bordeaux, and the University of Göttingen. In this role, she works with a multidisciplinary team of researchers at EHU, including colleagues from the Departments of Law, Psychology, Anthropology, Sociology, Educational Sciences, and Philosophy, contributing to a broader international effort to address one of the most pressing challenges of our time: the contested and rapidly evolving nature of identity in contemporary democracies.
Across Europe and beyond, identity has become a central flashpoint for political mobilisation along the conservative–progressive spectrum, revealing growing tensions between traditional assumptions of stable, homogeneous identities and emerging understandings of identity as fluid, fragmented, and continuously negotiated. These shifts, unfolding within wider processes of democratic transformation, have contributed to an increasing disconnect between citizens’ lived experiences and institutional structures—one that is often strategically instrumentalised to advance exclusionary agendas and erode democratic values and rights.
Bringing together researchers from diverse disciplines, career stages, and institutional contexts, IDenti-T seeks to strengthen interdisciplinary dialogue through three core objectives:
- Advancing shared knowledge on the intersections between identity and socio-legal and political structures (including gender and LGBTIQA+ rights, intersectionality, cultural and functional diversity, digital identity, and environmental change);
- Building a cross-sectoral platform for dialogue, co-creation, and public engagement; and
- Fostering a sustainable community of practice that supports early-career scholars and promotes collaborative research, teaching, and mentoring.
In doing so, the network contributes primarily to ENLIGHT’s flagship domain of Equity, while also engaging with Culture and Creativity, Climate Change, and the Digital Revolution, ultimately aiming to reimagine democracy in more inclusive, resilient, and rights-based ways.
