Brazilian-Italian Cultural Exchange: Transatlantic Interaction and Knowledge Circulation

• Applicant: Dr. Janek Scholz
• Subject Area: European and American Literary and Cultural Studies ; General and Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies
• Term: since 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 535092250

Being convinced that a transareal and movement-oriented reorientation in philological research is necessary, we want to explore circulation movements between Italy and Brazil that have significantly shaped and influenced cultural transfer on both sides of the Atlantic. The primary research interest of our network is to determine the actors, institutions and practices in the context of this transfer and the infrastructures used or generated by them. The question of origin is of less interest here – instead of asking who influenced whom or in which direction certain transfers took place, we want to trace the mechanisms of literary and cultural circulation and evaluate which temporal, infrastructural and personal constellations must exist in order to enable and advance circulation. We will discuss these overarching questions using the example of Italian-Brazilian cultural contact, which means that, in addition to the broader, cross-disciplinary concept of our network, a second analytical framework is needed that takes into account the culturally specific realities of the contact zones we have chosen. However, despite the pronounced cultural specificity of our examples, the results of our research are also highly relevant across the disciplines in order to better understand which factors must come together to create favorable starting conditions for literary and cultural circulation processes. The network counts with a kick-off meeting and the final conference, plus four workshops that are titled as follows: "Personal Networks", "Circulation of Media", "Circulation of Ideas", and "Circulation of Aesthetics". In the course of three years, we will discuss topics such as modernism, cinema, anarchism, architecture, music, literature, and philosophy. Parallel to the content-wise discussions, the members also plan to argue for a closer cooperation between Italian and Brazilian Studies in Germany. To this regard, we are going to publish a position paper in an academic journal and participate in an academic podcast. In the context of the final conference, an edited volume will also be presented, bringing together the results of the research group.

• DFG Programme: Scientific Networks