Call: Talent for Research
Centre for Literary and Intermedial Crossings (CLIC)
2023-2024
(see below for Dutch and here for the PDF of the call in both languages)
Number of places: 3-5 students
Integration and embedding into the research group
In addition to the being individually coached by senior researchers (alone or in tandem) in the framework of their current research, CLIC offers BA- and MA-student researchers in spe to integrate them into the following activities of the research group:
- Students participate in meetings by the research group; in this way, they are informed about current developments and research within the research group and they gain insight into the specalisms and activities by CLIC members.
- Students help with preparing the CLIC day (an international symposium that CLIC organizes annually).
- Students take part in the FWO screenings for doctoral candidates (panel CULT 2) that CLIC organizes to get to know what is expected of a successful FWO application and into the way of giving and taking feedback on the level of PhD research.
- Students can apply for a travel bursary to actively attend a conference, a master class, summer school etc. abroad (they are then asked to write a conference report for the CLIC website).
- Students can receive a budget to organize their own student conference (possibly (but not necessarily) in collaboration with the WOLEC or with PhD students).
- Students are encouraged to apply for a scholarship on BA level within the EUTOPIA project.
Topics and coaches:
The Centre for Literary and Intermedial Crossings brings together researchers in the field of literary studies, literary translation studies and theatre studies. CLIC members focus their research on various ‘crossings’ concerning media, genres and/or spaces (zie ook https://clic.research.vub.be/en/about).
The following colleagues offer to coach student on the following topics:
Theme 1: Broadcast Biographies: Innovations in Genre and Medium, 1945–2020
Students are welcome to explore one or multiple research strands within this broader project, which focuses on life writing, radio drama, audionarratology, and cultural memory. Whose lives are told on radio and in what ways? What is the role of voice, sound, silence, and music? How do these narratives play with fact and fiction? How do they rely on or go against the community-building strategies of (public) broadcasting? How do they exemplify, shape and/or transform cultural memory? Students wanting to work on podcasts are also welcome to get in touch.
Research coaches: Inge Arteel; Birgit Van Puymbroeck
Theme 2: Brussels/Belgium in Literature
Brussels and, by extension, Belgium have largely escaped literary mythologization and therefore are less familiar to readers and scholars of modern literature than other cities and nations. Over the centuries, Brussels and other Belgian topographies nevertheless have inspired authors from across the world, writing in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Research could address some of the manifold ways in which Brussels and other Belgian locations have been employed to give literary expression to artistic developments, cultural traditions, philosophical reflections, socio-political commitment, the unification of Europe, life in exile, encounters with otherness, urban transformation, etc. Special attention may be paid to the different styles and genres writers have employed to render their imaginings of Belgium, Flanders and Brussels.
Research coaches: Elisabeth Bekers; Diana Castilleja
Theme 3: Self-Reflexivity and Generic Change in 21st-Century Black British Women’s Literature
Drawing on theories concerning genre, metafiction and postcolonialism, this research demonstrates how instances of self-reflexivity in works by contemporary British women writers of African and African-Caribbean descent call for the refinement of existing (white/male-centred) theories of metafiction, which all too often have dissociated self-reflexivity from realism and political engagement. Conceptualising metafiction as a catalyst for generic change, we seek to trace an alternative self-reflexive tradition that may contribute to a better understanding of the political, cultural, and aesthetic dynamics of genre evolution today in and through the Black British field.
Research coaches: Elisabeth Bekers; Janine Hauthal
Theme 4: Hybrid Identity Construction: Migration in Latin American Women’s Narratives
This research aims to explore and evaluate the impact of transgenerational relationships in narratives on Latin American migration authored by women. The construction of a hybrid identity and the evolution of the migration experience will be analyzed diachronically through three major axes, namely: a) Identity and ethnicity, b) Border migration studies and geopoetics, and c) Trauma theory and affect theory. The analysis of these narratives will provide a better understanding of how previous narratives shape and influence the identity construction of 21st century generations and how the transmission of migration experiences evolves in new female authors.
Research coach: Diana Castilleja
Theme 5: Cycles across Literary Genres and Narrative Media
This research explores the cycle (i.e., a macronarrative consisting of several individual works) as a transgeneric and transmedial narrative principle by focusing on cycles of novels, short stories, plays, poems, films, theatre performances etc. It explores the narrative tools typically wielded by cycles and pays particular attention to part-whole relations to capture the specificity of the cycle. The goal is to better understand (1) the specific narrativity of the cyclical form (as opposed to, for example, the serial form); (2) how the cyclical form plays out in and across literary genres and media; (3) the specific affordances (both aesthetically and politically) of the cycle form (in the sense of Caroline Levine) and its networked narrative.
Research coach: Janine Hauthal
Theme 6: Multilingualism and Intermediality in Contexts of (Post-)Migration
Multilingualism and intermediality have become central features in artistic production, giving expression to the changing realities of contemporary life worlds across the globe and, more particularly, in Europe. Often, both features have a direct impact on the production, reception and institutionalization of contemporary artistic practice that is attune to the experience of (post)migration and to the hybridization of identities in societies of our times. Intermediality plays a central role, for instance, when translations are displayed in sub- or surtitles or when recordings, made with a mobile phone, ‘travel’ to bigger screens and stages. Interested students are invited to explore the politics of aesthetic form and/or the emergence of what Mieke Bal has called a ‘migratory aesthetics’ in contemporary literature, theatre, film etc.
Research coach: Janine Hauthal
Each coach will council max. 1 student per call.
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Talent voor onderzoek
Centre for Literary and Intermedial Crossings (CLIC)
2023-2024
Aantal plaatsen: 3-5 studenten
Integratie in en betrokkenheid bij de onderzoeksgroep:
Naast de individuele coaching door senior researchers (alleen of in tandem) in het kader van lopend onderzoek wil CLIC de BA- en MA-studenten onderzoekers in spe bij de volgende activiteiten van de onderzoeksgroep betrekken:
- Studenten nemen deel aan alle vergaderingen van de onderzoeksgroep; ze zijn zo op de hoogte van actuele ontwikkelingen en onderzoek binnen de onderzoeksgroep en krijgen een inkijk in de specalisaties en activiteiten van de collega’s.
- Studenten werken mee aan de voorbereiding van de CLIC dag (een internationaal symposium dat CLIC elk jaar organiseert).
- Studenten nemen deel aan de door CLIC georganiseerde FWO screenings voor predocs (panel CULT 2) om een eerste inzicht te krijgen in de verwachtingen van een FWO aanvraag en in de manier van feedback geven en verwerken op niveau van doctoraal onderzoek.
- Studenten kunnen een reiskrediet aanvragen om naar een conferentie in het buitenland te reizen (als taak schrijven ze een rapport over de conferentie voor de CLIC website) of om een master class, summer school (en dergelijke) actief bij te wonen.
- Studenten krijgen een budget om een eigen studentenconferentie te organiseren (dit kan in samenwerking met de WOLEC of met doctoraatsstudenten gebeuren).
- Studenten worden aangemoedigd om een onderzoeksbeurs op BA niveau aan te vragen binnen het EUTOPIA project.
Thema’s en onderzoekscoaches:
The Centre for Literary and Intermedial Crossings brings together researchers in the field of literary studies, literary translation studies and theatre studies. CLIC members focus their research on various ‘crossings’ concerning media, genres and/or spaces (zie ook https://clic.research.vub.be/en/about).
De volgende collega’s willen volgend academiejaar studenten coachen, voor de volgende thema’s:
Thema 1: Broadcast Biographies: Innovations in Genre and Medium, 1945–2020
Students are welcome to explore one or multiple research strands within this broader project, which focuses on life writing, radio drama, audionarratology, and cultural memory. Whose lives are told on radio and in what ways? What is the role of voice, sound, silence, and music? How do these narratives play with fact and fiction? How do they rely on or go against the community-building strategies of (public) broadcasting? How do they exemplify, shape and/or transform cultural memory? Students wanting to work on podcasts are also welcome to get in touch.
Onderzoekscoaches: Inge Arteel; Birgit Van Puymbroeck
Thema 2: Brussel/België in de literatuur
Brussel en België zijn zelden het onderwerp van literaire mythologisering en verwierven daardoor minder bekendheid bij lezers en letterkundigen dan andere steden en landen. Door de eeuwen heen, vormden Brussel en andere Belgische topografieën echter wel degelijk een inspiratiebron voor auteurs van over de hele wereld die schreven in het Duits, Engels, Frans, Italiaans, Nederlands en Spaans. Onderzoek kan zich richten op de uiteenlopende manieren waarop de literaire verbeelding van Brussel en andere Belgische locaties uitdrukking geeft aan artistieke ontwikkelingen, culturele tradities, filosofische strekkingen, socio-politiek engagement, de eenmaking van Europe, het leven als banneling of migrant, ontmoetingen met het Andere, stedelijke transformatie, etc. Speciale aandacht kan daarbij besteed worden aan de verschillende stijlen en genres die auteurs hanteren om literaire gestalte te geven aan België, Vlaanderen en Brussel.
Onderzoekscoaches: Elisabeth Bekers; Diana Castilleja, Dirk Vanden Berghe
Thema 3: Self-Reflexivity and Generic Change in 21st-Century Black British Women’s Literature
Drawing on theories concerning genre, metafiction and postcolonialism, this research demonstrates how instances of self-reflexivity in works by contemporary British women writers of African and African-Caribbean descent call for the refinement of existing (white/male-centred) theories of metafiction, which all too often have dissociated self-reflexivity from realism and political engagement. Conceptualising metafiction as a catalyst for generic change, we seek to trace an alternative self-reflexive tradition that may contribute to a better understanding of the political, cultural, and aesthetic dynamics of genre evolution today in and through the Black British field.
Onderzoekscoaches: Elisabeth Bekers; Janine Hauthal
Thema 4: Hybrid Identity Construction: Migration in Latin American Women’s Narratives
This research aims to explore and evaluate the impact of transgenerational relationships in narratives on Latin American migration authored by women. The construction of a hybrid identity and the evolution of the migration experience will be analyzed diachronically through three major axes, namely: a) Identity and ethnicity, b) Border migration studies and geopoetics, and c) Trauma theory and affect theory. The analysis of these narratives will provide a better understanding of how previous narratives shape and influence the identity construction of 21st century generations and how the transmission of migration experiences evolves in new female authors.
Onderzoekscoach: Diana Castilleja
Thema 5: Cycles across Literary Genres and Narrative Media
This research explores the cycle (i.e., a macronarrative consisting of several individual works) as a transgeneric and transmedial narrative principle by focusing on cycles of novels, short stories, plays, poems, films, theatre performances etc. It explores the narrative tools typically wielded by cycles and pays particular attention to part-whole relations to capture the specificity of the cycle. The goal is to better understand (1) the specific narrativity of the cyclical form (as opposed to, for example, the serial form); (2) how the cyclical form plays out in and across literary genres and media; (3) the specific affordances (both aesthetically and politically) of the cycle form (in the sense of Caroline Levine) and its networked narrative.
Onderzoekscoach: Janine Hauthal
Thema 6: Multilingualism and Intermediality in Contexts of (Post-)Migration
Multilingualism and intermediality have become central features in artistic production, giving expression to the changing realities of contemporary life worlds across the globe and, more particularly, in Europe. Often, both featureshave a direct impact on the production, reception and institutionalization of contemporary artistic practice that is attune to the experience of (post)migration and to the hybridization of identities in societies of our times. Intermediality plays a central role, for instance, when translations are displayed in sub- or surtitles or when recordings, made with a mobile phone, ‘travel’ to bigger screens and stages. Interested students are invited to explore the politics of aesthetic form and/or the emergence of what Mieke Bal has called a ‘migratory aesthetics’ in contemporary literature, theatre, film etc.
Onderzoekscoach: Janine Hauthal
Elke coach zal maximaal 1 student per call begeleiden.