Ecocrítica y ecothriller: negociaciones en América Latina y el Norte Global
The global environmental crisis and its consequences are undoubtedly among the socio-political challenges that, alongside the coronavirus pandemic, have had the greatest impact on public discourse in recent years. As a result, there has been an intensive examination of ecological subjects in literature and film in Latin America. The subgenre of the eco-thriller has proven to be particularly sensitive to environmental issues, in which the social and health consequences resulting from environmental changes and crimes against environmentalists are also dealt with. Despite the very extensive literary and cinematic production of eco-thrillers, there has been no academic examination of this genre in Latin American studies to date. In order to close this research gap, the project is dedicated to the topic of "Ecothrillers and Ecocriticism in Latin America".
Project description
Sub-project I consists of analyzing the nexus of environment, violence and disease in Latin American eco-thrillers and refers to a corpus of literary and cinematic works from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. Subprojects II and III are concerned with "Ecocriticism and ecothrillers from a comparative perspective" and video podcasts.
Sub-project I initially aims to create an analysis grid on the basis of which the underlying corpus can be examined. Furthermore, sub-project I and, with an extended corpus, sub-project II will focus on the genre-specific characteristics of the Latin American eco-thriller. Subproject I also deals with the influence of environmental changes on the literary and cinematic genre system on the basis of the emergence of the eco-thriller and the discussion of its sharpening (Subprojects I and II). Sub-project I also focuses on analyzing the concepts of nature inherent in the works under investigation, their ideological charges and the power structures behind them, which are also discussed in sub-project II. A further aim of sub-project I is to examine the human-environment relationships constructed in the works to be analyzed from a cultural, social and economic perspective. Furthermore, crimes against the environment and against environmentalists as well as the health impairments (both physical and psychological) of the groups of people living in the contaminated or destroyed areas resulting from the environmental crimes will be examined (Subprojects I and II). The aim of sub-project III is to make the environmental activism of Latin American authors, artists and filmmakers accessible to a non-university audience by means of interlinked country portraits that take global networks into account. For this purpose, video podcasts will be produced, the first part of which will provide an overview of specific problems and challenges; the second (interview) part will feature collectively organized and individual ecocritical voices of creative artists.
Focal points of the project
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Monograph: [working title].
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International conference in Siegen: Ecocrítica y ecothriller: negociaciones en América Latina y el Norte Global
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Country portraits (Latin America): Podcasts/videos that allow different voices from the Latin American region to have their say in relation to ecocriticism.
Everything at a glance
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Duration
01.01.2024 - 01.06.2027 (Ongoing) -
Research area
Media and culture -
Funding
DFG
Funding bodies and cooperation partners
The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the "Sustainable Universities" program. The aim of the funding is to develop and implement innovative concepts for environmentally friendly and resource-conserving campus design.
Important partners in the project are the city of Siegen, which provides support in the areas of mobility and climate protection, and the Institute for Environmental Research NRW, which provides scientific analysis and expertise. Siegen's municipal utilities are also involved in the implementation of sustainable energy solutions.