Keywords: Iberian literature and culture, Portuguese speaking countries in Africa South American literature and culture European women voices

General description of the Research Group

More than ever, literary studies must be interconnected with social forces and other arts. This RG aims at exploring the importance of interculturality in a space where the role of communities considered marginal or with a decentred voice and excluded from the circuits of power is privileged. Focusing on Iberian, Portuguese-speaking African and South American (Portuguese and Spanish) literatures and cultures, the aim is to understand which vectors best define these cultures. The attention given to the mutual interconnection and to the female experiences that stand out (especially in the 19th to 21st centuries) creates a research focus that should be predominant in the various projects that are being outlined. The importance of women and their voices will be a key factor of analysis. 

Closely linked to this issue is a search for the identity of these communities, where female identity is undoubtedly a determining aspect. And in this search, one can easily reach the Middle Ages and the beginnings of literature. The interrelationship between the medieval feminine universe and the different environments in which these female communities moved is characterised by similarities and differences, by tangents and secants. Without neglecting other vectors of interconnection and dialogue between Lusophone and Spanish-speaking communities, the RG intends to organise a conference open to scholars (Iberians, Africans, and South Americans), where mutual relations can be discussed, and where dialogues that are sometimes hidden, ignored or even denied can emerge. Also on the horizon is the creation of a database on the presence of women in the medieval texts studied and in recent texts (19th-21st centuries) in Portuguese, Castilian, Galician, and Catalan. By studying the social, economic, religious, and cultural contexts, it is intended to build bridges with the other CITCEM’s research groups.