TRAMP · TRANSATLANTIC APPROACHES TO CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE IN THE ERA OF TRUMP
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2020-10-01 → 2023-09-30
- EU contribution
- €257,561
- Participants
- 2
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
TRANSATLANTIC APPROACHES TO CONTEMPORARY LITERATURE IN THE ERA OF TRUMP
Project TRAMP was focused on the analysis of 21st-century American and Western European literary fiction as a way of shedding light on the current crisis of transatlanticism and the rise of far-right and right-wing populisms across the Western world. The main premise of the project was that literature is especially suited to capture the disturbances and nuances of a time of paradigm shift, when old certainties are being challenged or reconsidered, a time when “the old is dying and the new cannot be born,” to use Nancy Fraser’s recent rephrasing (2019) of the old Gramscian adage. Project TRAMP's main objective was to contribute to the understanding of how these shifts can and will continue to transform society by focusing attention on literary production and offering readings that can have an impact not only on the aesthetic and critical field, but also on the analysis of present and future challenges, as has been identified by the EU's H2020 strategy "Europe in a changing world - inclusive, innovative and reflective societies." Its research questions were geared towards discussions of how literature can be a site of reflection for and offer perspective on complex and crucial societal challenges, such as the rise of intolerance, xenophobia, and a politics of grievance, as well as to offer measured approaches to sensitive issues such as nationalisms and cultural identity. Through literary analysis and by producing critically-informed readings of the contemporary fictions being produced in both North America and Western Europe, project TRAMP sought to shed some light into the affective investments that are driving these social and political changes and to identify what, if any, are the avenues for an effective engagement with societal needs and crises.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
This Action addresses one of the societal challenges addressed by the EU’s H2020 strategy, “Europe in a changing world—inclusive, innovative and reflective societies,” by focusing attention on the breakdown of the postwar liberal consensus between Europe and the United States—visible in the resurgence of right-wing populisms and hegemonic nationalisms in the last decade—by means of interdisciplinary research in in the fields of literature, cultural studies, and politics. By applying a transatlantic approach to the analysis of contemporary American and European literary texts, the research component of the Action aims to renew and actualize the modes of interpretation in the field of transatlantic literary studies, to produce critically-informed readings of contemporary fiction that is responding to the crisis of transatlanticism (understood as a shared belief system), and thus to offer insight into systems of representation, the articulation of structures of power and knowledge, and how these can be re-imagined through literary fiction. The Action will be undertaken by Dr. Resano at Dartmouth College (United States) and UCD (Ireland) under the supervision of Prof. Donald Pease and Prof. Liam Kennedy, two leading experts in the fields of American Studies, literary theory, and cultural studies. It is designed to contribute to the Fellow’s career development and employability through the acquisition of core research and transferable skills, to strengthen the existing collaboration between two leading research centers in Europe and the US—thus contributing to the H2020 strategy of spreading excellence and strengthening Europe’s competitiveness—and to inform public opinion and wield influence in the debates around the rise of populisms in Europe and the US in the last decade, offering a renewed and innovative perspective on some of the priorities identified in the EU’s H2020 framework, thus contributing to Europe's ability to address societal challenges in the future.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITY COLLEGE DUBLIN, NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, DUBLIN · DublinCoordinatorIreland
- TRUSTEES OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE · HANOVERUnited States
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union