Projects / Programmes
Intercultural Literary Studies
January 1, 2019
- December 31, 2027
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.07.00 |
Humanities |
Literary sciences |
|
| 6.05.02 |
Humanities |
Linguistics |
Theoretical and applied linguistics |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H390 |
Humanities |
General and comparative literature, literary criticism, literary theory |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 6.02 |
Humanities |
Languages and Literature |
intercultural literary-historical studies, imagology, ethical literary science, translation/interpreting, literary didactics, the didactics of translation
Data for the last 5 years (citations for the last 10 years) on
June 28, 2024;
A3 for period
2018-2022
| Database |
Linked records |
Citations |
Pure citations |
Average pure citations |
| WoS |
189 |
156 |
129 |
0.68 |
| Scopus |
235 |
314 |
247 |
1.05 |
Researchers (28)
Organisations (2)
Abstract
The research field covered by interculturality is vast, which can be seen from the heterogeneity of the group, for researchers work in English literary studies, American studies, German and French literary studies, Translation and Interpreting studies, Slavonic studies, Slovenian and comparative literature, and research literary interculturality in contact between cultures in the English/American, Francophone and German-speaking areas, between the South and West-Slavonic literatures.
The research programme is partly dedicated to study fields that were in the centre of attention in the previous period (mediation of literatures and cultures, literatures in direct intercultural contacts and literary-aesthetic research), but it will primarily be directed at new questions, as well as reinterpretations in the light of new findings. Research will be put into the context of contemporary socio-economic and scientific context in which the axis of research on the global level is slowly being shifted from the centre to the periphery, to new languages, states and cultures, in the world and in Europe. Research focuses on five basic fields:
1. Ethical aspects of literature (new aspects in the ethical literary science as well as new views on the framework of the tasks and objectives of intercultural literary science)
2. Intercultural literary-historical studies (literary-historical aspects, reception, literatures in direct intercultural and transcultural contacts, canonization etc)
3. Imagology (the image of the Other in the discussed literatures)
4. Translation/interpreting as intercultural communication, a relationship between central and peripheral languages and translation of peripheral literatures into Slovenian (the role of central and peripheral languages, indirect translations, the role of translations in forming the Slovenian language and Slovenian expert terminology, interpreting during the migrant and refugee crises)
5. Literary didactics and translation didactics
In the world of increasingly intensive exchanges between the cultures and individuals literature and intercultural literary studies can contribute important knowledge that makes mutual cooperation easier, increases international mobility and reduces friction resulting from migrations, while strengthening intercultural awareness on all levels of contemporary society. The research group knows that contemporary literary science has to respond more efficiently than traditional concepts to the erosion of personal and collective identities in the period of greater transcultural connectivity, characteristic of the 21st century, which in many people causes fear and this is reflected also in political changes. In this framework, the dissemination of ideas and discourses, connected with literature and culture (i.e. »the literary osmosis«) and their study, is set forth in the research programme.
Significance for science
The research programme fills the gap within the research field with its interdisciplinary approach and set objectives. There seems to be, in the light of neoliberalist, natural-science-oriented and pragmatic trends, little space for humanist and especially literary discourse or ideas. Literary science is facing a seemingly insoluble dilemma: by adopting the methods of empirical sciences it risks the loss of its autonomy and identity, while by insisting on hermeneutic standpoints it risks marginalization and a detachment from the scientific paradigm. The solution has to be sought in the holistic elimination of the asymmetry of value: the humanities must follow the example of empirical sciences where they are the most effective (pragmatic synthesis of theoreticism, empiricism and application). At the same time, it has to make good use of the potentials of self-reflexive and multi-perspective thinking. Hermeneutic thinking can namely provide a holistic literary study approach and thus upgrade empirical studies about biological, cognitive, social and cultural contexts of literary communication. Literature itself is a foreign element in its own culture (Wintersteiner), which is why its study and the study of intercultural communication enables an easier and better decoding of the foreign in society, understanding of relationships, politics, economy, etc.
The discussion of literatures in intercultural contact broadens the interpretation of literary works, and critical as well as theoretical approaches, as reading takes place in different cultural environments, languages and cultural consciousness. Moreover, a detailed knowledge of the main trends of (intercultural) reception of foreign literatures significantly contributes to the knowledge of one's own cultural specificities and language as well as the trends and the dynamics of their development and transformations, brings new knowledge in the field of intercultural contacts and in understanding the Other and the different. On the one hand, it also enables an insight into the specificities of Slovenian literature and, on the other hand, contributes to its inclusion into the European and world space, while we can apply scientific findings into the school curriculum (literature teaching, selection of texts for school textbooks, development of reading strategies).
The research findings within the programme Intercultural literary studies are important in strengthening mutual understanding between various cultures in a globalized world. The bring new results in the field of translation literature in Slovenian and thus significant knowledge about the emergence, formation and changes of the Slovenian language in contact with other languages and cultures in time and space. From the point of view of intercultural and/or interlingual mediation within the described research topics we shall continue to research the dynamics of word-switching and anomalies in contact between English/German/South-Slavonic/Scandinavian and Slovenian fiction.
Within the translation studies, we shall continue to research the dynamics of word-switching and anomalies in contact between English/German/French/South-Slavic/Scandinavian and Slovenian fiction. In addressing translation topics, where linguistic, literary-theoretical, literary-comparative, historical and sociological aspects, the focus is on the less researched areas, nationally as well as globally: drama and technical translation, translation into and between peripheral languages, especially of the comparisons between the translations from peripheral and central languages. Our research will contribute new knowledge in the field of cultural transfer and enable greater sensibility and tolerance in intercultural dialogue. Thus it will enable a better understanding of the contacts between peripheral literatures themselves and the intermediary role of central cultures in these contacts on the global level, for Slovenian researchers have a better chance i
Significance for the country
At the end of the previous century the so-called narrative turn taught us that humanist and literary studies represent an important part of science, although they sometimes do not bring immediate results (or such that can be measured in money). The knowledge of one's own language, literature and culture and those of other nations also accelerates socio-economic contacts and thus contributes to a deepened development of the entire society. The researchers included in the research programme Intercultural literary studies are well aware of this. With our research we contribute to the positioning of Slovenian culture and literature into the intercultural space of the 21st century, to a creative intercultural interaction and richness and a peaceful coexistence.
During the past decades it has become evident that through fragmentation, particularization and the medialization of cultural milieus cognitive capabilities to establish coherent, self-reflexive and adaptable structures are weakening, although are key in an independent orientation in dynamic social changes. Literary study and its descriptions of the complex experience of being, based on scientific-theoretical and historical analysis and self-reflection importantly contribute to coherence, self-reflexivity, stability and cooperation between all social actors. We have to be aware that liberalist capitalism is on the wane and there are new societies and orders in view. Humanist thought has in similar circumstances always taken the leading role. From a discursive-historical aspect it is literature that importantly participates in the constitution and the changing of culture and society. In Slovenia too, literature has proven to be a linking and state-forming element, which is why it is all the more important to dedicate ourselves to research in the context of intercultural and literary studies and thus strengthen the idea of intercultural communication.
The role and meaning of literary communication, literature and literary science can be understood as the mediation between various political outlooks and value systems, moral codices and ethical concepts. If literary texts are read as models transculturally, we quickly recognize their exceptional value and realize that literature, original and translated, encourages the development of critical thinking and mechanisms and prepares people (from the young to the old ones) for everyday life in a pluralist society. This society is today a migration society. We are aware that people in their search for a transcultural identity often come across sociological, political and cultural obstacles. In the period of migrant crises, we are therefore interested in the quality interpreting, especially community interpreting, which is directly connected to the respect of human rights, particularly in the case of migrants who speak peripheral languages and are unfamiliar with our culture. Our members have established a professional development programme for legal interpreters and community interpreters in asylum-seeker procedures and thus practically contribute to easier intercultural communication.
Literature is a multi-layered phenomenon, which qualitatively and quantitatively help to form individual, cultural and national identity. As the role of belles-lettres is marginalized throughout Europe, the monopoly of technological media, however, changes the reader profile into a searcher of internet data, it is necessary to give back literature and literary history an adequate place in society. We must know, and use it to our own advantage, that communication today takes place through mass media, especially electronic ones, which questions the existence of a classic book form and its public; on the other hand the very age of digital literacy open up numerous new possibilities, since literature, scientific findings and ideas reach the final consumer much earlier than before.
The social importance of the research programme is in the intertwin
Most important scientific results
Interim report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Interim report
