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Thematic Line 1 - Reading Diaspora, Postcoloniality, and the English-speaking World
Coordinator: Teresa Cid
TL 1, Reading Diaspora, Postcoloniality, and the English-speaking World, researches various types of verbal, visual and audio texts in strong relation with the migratory movements resulting both from British colonial expansion and the recurrent emigration into the Americas. Cultural transformations, power relations and language policies entailed or encouraged by these historical movements are a main focus of enquiry. Research further addresses the ways in which language, ideas, images, music, among other expressive forms in the English-speaking world have had, and still have today an operative agency upon the historical migration of peoples and cultures, rather than simply mirroring or responding to them.
As such, the strategic relevance of English as a Iingua franca and as an international language, no longer dominated by native speakers, is also addressed with a strong emphasis on communication and the problems involved in cross-cultural dynamics.
Thematic Line 2 - Interlingual, Intercultural and Intersemiotic Exchanges
Coordinator: Alexandra Assis Rosa
TL 2, Interlingual, Intercultural and Intersemiotic Exchanges, focuses on Translation and Reception Studies together with Literary and Inter-art Studies. It also emphasises on the aesthetic-ideological complex of intersemiotic negotiation. Within the theoretical framework of Translation Studies, it aims to map, describe, analyse, interpret and explain intercultural encounters with a special focus on: translation, the intercultural circulation of diverse verbal and audiovisual text types, the contextual relevance of intercultural power relations (and the role of the currently hypercentral English language) and the contribution of intercultural interference for the construction of any culture, while focusing particularly on Portugal and the English-speaking world. In its current configuration, this line encompasses several Digital Humanities projects, involved in data mining, in building and making available online open-access databases and corpora, or in creating online interactive platforms, all of which are expected to serve as stepping-stones for further research.
Thematic Line 3 - Humanities, Medicine, Communication
Coordinator: Isabel Fernandes
TL 3, Humanities, Medicine, Communication, aims to research inter- and trans-disciplinary uses of Literary Studies and explore how the communicative skills they promote can contribute to better relational practices in Medicine and Nursing. Research will draw from the previous work in Narrative Medicine by members of the inter-institutional research project Narrative & Medicine based in ULICES since July 2009. It takes advantage of the strong focus on Literary Studies and Literary Theory that characterizes most of ULICES researchers’ training to promote an innovative convergence with the Health Sciences, in line with recent developments in English-speaking countries such as the USA, the UK and Canada. Its social impact targets are: (1) the training of trainers in this new interdisciplinary area of intervention in Portugal; (2) higher education courses; and (3) the dissemination of research results, in close collaboration with partner institutions in the field of Health and its related areas.
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