Coordination: Bruno Venâncio

Presentation

In their broadest senses, literature, humanism and cosmopolitanism correspond to radical possibilities for human expression. These are not merely activities, techniques, or ideas in which or with which human beings become involved when thrown into the concrete situation they find themselves; these are complex, unique, and specific (artistic, ethical-philosophical, social, and political) developments that express a particular understanding that human beings have of themselves – their strengths, their maximum capacities, and thus also their finitude and limits. They are foundational events of the human being as such. And, from the moment they first encountered the possibility conditions that led to their occurrence, they not only place the human being under a permanent tension of clarification about the meaning of his humanity, but also about the legitimacy and the way by which the human being finds in literature in humanism and/or cosmopolitanism an adequate forms of expression, reflection and self-enhancement. But they also compete, among themselves and with all the activities, techniques or ideas in which or with which human beings become involved, to position themselves as the highest expression of the humanity of human beings.
It is in this framework that the Line of Research in Literature, Humanism and Cosmopolitanism, within the scope of Aberta University’s Chair in Global Studies, is presented. The purpose of this line of research is to study the ways in which these three
areas of expression of the human being’s humanity relate to each other and how they have related to each other throughout history, what multiple manifestations they adopt and open in contemporaneity and have adopted throughout history, in which moments they found conditions to prosper, and what those conditions were, or at what moments they did not find fertile ground, how they found points of convergence and edification or, on the contrary, of dissension and friction, how they face and confront those who, adopting contrary artistic, ethical-philosophical, social and political perspectives and points of view, oppose and continue to oppose them, what understanding they propose about the skills, competences and specific limits of the human being. In short, this line of research will seek to assess what literature, humanism and cosmopolitanism have to tell us about what is most intrinsically human in the human being.

Objectives

• To establish a wide-ranging network of researchers, from the most varied areas of knowledge, who, together, can promote the study of the relations between Literature, Humanism and Cosmopolitanism.
• To foster partnerships and solid contact and research networks, involving researchers and national and international institutions, in order to enhance work associated with these and contiguous themes, enabling knowledge sharing and dissemination.
• To promote and support academic and scientific research projects (of any degree of graduate and post-graduate education) of students and researchers.
• To encourage the dissemination of the results of scientific research and the publication and editing of works and articles and studies in national or international journals.
• To carry out dissemination and training actions aimed at a specialized audience and any interested public, through the organization of scientific events (colloquia, conferences, workshops, seminars, free courses, etc.).

Projects and initiatives

• Colloquia:

2023: I International Colloquium on Literature, Humanism and Cosmopolitanism.

2025: II International Colloquium on Literature, Humanism and Cosmopolitanism

• Conferences:

Four annual seasonal conferences (spring, summer, autumn and winter), with a keynote speaker.

• Summer Courses:

Annual and monothematic, in the format of multidisciplinary conferences.

• Editions:

Proceedings of the colloquia. Proceedings of conferences. An agreement will be sought with a publisher, national or international, with scientific publication ranking of A or B.