Masks connote an ontology linked to identity and the possibility of being. But they are also shaped by human to human interaction, i.e. they are socially driven and shaped by politics. Masks enact a foundational performance. They draw attention to the masquerade structuring identity.
Masquerades have always been a relevant cultural element, assuming diverse meanings and functions along the history of humanity. Common to season and religious festivals, ceremonies and rituals of initiation or death, carnival festivals and balls, masquerades have always inspired the production of meaning in human societies. From theater to dance, literature and the visual arts, the masquerade and its representation connote at once exposure and (dis)simulation. They are arguably cultural mechanisms that structure the becoming of a subject.
Under current conditions, we live at a time of masks, tapping simultaneously into obfuscation, secrecy and protection. Masks suggest a reflection on cultural experience as a masquerade. The XII Lisbon Summer School for the Study of Culture proposes to discuss, on the one hand, processes of masking and unmasking, the collective models of the masquerade as a cultural, literary and artistic genre, as well as a translational mode. On the other, the masquerade, following the inspiration of Joan de Riviere, reflects as well on the process of performative engendering. The Summer School shall equally discuss the masquerade as a strategy of gender performativity and gender as a performance, mirrored in new identities. Drawing from Judith Butler’s seminal theory of performativity (1988, 1990, 2011), and “playing” with the transformative character of masquerades, participants are invited to reflect on why and how bodies and language matter when subversive body formations are under threat, and on the very nature of the relation between subversion and the normal. Simultaneously, we invite intersectional work articulating cultural forms of the masquerade with modes of identity formation, including race, gender, age and class.
The XII Summer School for the Study of Culture invites proposals that address, though may not be strictly limited to, the topics below:
The masquerade as a cultural form
Masks and power
Engendering/masking/performing
Masks as protection, conformity and resistance
Femininity and masculinity as masquerades
Queering
Passing
The theatricality of the masquerade
Masks in literature, cinema and art
From drag to vogue
The postcolonial and the decolonial masquerade
Identity and the mask
Masquerades as translational acts
Pandemic masks
We encourage proposals coming from the fields of culture studies, film and the visual arts, literary and translation studies, history, anthropology, media and psychology.
If the evolution of the pandemic allows it, the Summer School will take place at several cultural institutions in Lisbon and will gather outstanding doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers from around the world. In the morning there will be lectures and master classes by invited keynote speakers. In the afternoon there will be paper presentations by doctoral students.
Paper proposals
Proposals should be sent to lxsummerschool@gmail.com no later than February 28, 2022 and include paper title, abstract in English (max. 200 words), name, e-mail address, institutional affiliation and a brief bio (max. 100 words) mentioning ongoing research.
Applicants will be informed of the result of their submissions by March 30, 2022.
Rules for presentation
The organizing committee shall place presenters in small groups according to the research focus of their papers. They are advised to stay in these groups for the duration of the Summer School, so a structured exchange of ideas may be developed to its full potential.
Full papers submission
Presenters are required to send in full papers no later than May 30, 2022.
The papers will then be circulated amongst the members of each research group. In the slot allotted to each participant (30’), only 10’ may be used for a brief summary of the research piece. The Summer School is a place for networked exchange of ideas, and organizers wish to have as much time as possible for a structured discussion between participants. Therefore, in each slot, 10’ will be used for presentation, and 20’ for discussion.
Registration fees
Participants with paper – 290€ for the entire week (includes lectures, master classes, doctoral sessions, lunches and closing dinner)
Participants without paper – 60€ per session/day | 190€ for the entire week
Fee waivers
For The Lisbon Consortium students and CECC researchers, there is no registration fee.
For students from universities affiliated with the European Summer School in Cultural Studies, members of the Excellence Network in Cultural Studies and members of the Critical Humanities Network the registration fee is 60€.
Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP hereafter) hereby opens a tender for the award of two research scholarships, hereafter referred to as Doctoral Research Scholarships, in the area of Culture Studies, under the FCT Research Grant Regulations and the Research Grant Holder Statute (RBI and EBI respectively hereafter).
These scholarships are financed by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) under the Collaboration Protocol for the Pluriannual Financing Plan for Doctoral Student Degree Research Student Grants, signed between FCT and CECC – the Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Cultura (UIDB2021.2/00126/2020).
1. SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS
The tender shall be open from 16 to 29 June 2021, at 5pm (Lisbon time).
Applications and their respective supporting documentation, stipulated in the present Notice of the Opening of a Tender, must be submitted via email to concursos.cecc@fch.lisboa.ucp.pt.
Candidates may submit one application only. The submission of more than one application will result in the annulment of all applications.
False statements or plagiarism on the part of candidate are grounds for annulment of the application, without prejudice to any other punitive measures.
2. TYPE AND DURATION OF SCHOLARSHIPS
Doctoral Research Scholarships are intended to finance students’ PhD research in Portuguese universities.
The research leading to a PhD shall take place at Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Cultura – CECC (UIDB2021.2/00126/2020), which shall thus be the scholarship recipient’s host institution, without prejudice to any other work undertaken in collaboration with one or more institutions.
The research leading to a PhD by the scholarship recipients must fall within the framework of CECC’s (UIDB2021.2/00126/2020) strategic activities plan and must be developed under the auspices of the Doctoral Degree Programme in Culture Studies of UCP’s Faculdade de Ciências Humanas (FCH hereafter).
The work plan should take place entirely or partially in a national institution (national scholarship or mixed scholarship, respectively). One national and one mixed scholarship will be awarded.
These are, as a rule, annual scholarships, renewable for a maximum period of four years (48 months). Scholarships cannot be awarded for periods of less than three consecutive months.
In the case of mixed scholarships, the period stipulated by the work plan to be hosted by a non-national institution cannot be greater than 24 months.
3. SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
Doctoral Research Scholarships are awarded to candidates who are either enrolled or who meet the requirements to enrol in the Doctoral Programme in Culture Studies at FCH/UCP and who seek to develop research leading to a doctoral degree at the Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Cultura – CECC (UIDB2021.2/00126/2020) – or in its associated host institutions.
Portuguese citizens or citizens of other European Union member states;
Citizens from other states;
Stateless persons;
Citizens holding political refugee status.
In order to apply for a Doctoral Research Scholarship, applicants must:
• hold an undergraduate or Master’s degree in the fields of Culture Studies, Literature Studies or in other areas deemed relevant both to the programme and to the project development;
• reside in Portugal on a permanent and regular basis, whenever the work plan associated with the scholarship takes place partially or in totality in international institutions (mixed or abroad scholarships), a requirement applicable to both national and international candidates.
• not have previously been the recipient of a doctoral scholarship or an in-company doctoral degree financed by FCT, irrespective of its length.
• not hold a PhD degree.
4.2 Application Eligibility Requirements
The following documents, without exception, must be included in the application, on penalty of exclusion from the tender:
The details stated on the identity card, citizen’s card or passport;
The candidate’s CV;
Certificates for each academic qualification held, which must specify the final classification and, whenever possible, the marks received in each subject studied or, alternatively, a declaration upon honour that the candidate completed their undergraduate or Master’s degree studies prior to the application deadline;
Records of the awarding of academic titles by international higher education institutions alongside a record of the conversion of the respective final classification to the scale applied in the Portuguese classification system or, alternatively, a declaration upon honour that the candidate completed the respective international equivalent to a Master’s degree prior to the application deadline;
Letter of motivation;
Preliminary PhD project within the scope of one of the following research groups at CECC: a) Culture, Art and Conflict, b) Literature and the Global Contemporary, c) Cognition and Translatability or d) Media Narratives and Cultural Change (max. 2,000 words).
As regards the aforementioned eligibility requirements, the following should be noted:
In the case of academic qualifications awarded by non-national higher education institutions, and in order to ensure the principle of equal treatment of candidates with national and non-national academic degrees, the recognition of all academic qualifications and the conversion of their final classification grades to the Portuguese classification scale is mandatory.
The recognition of non-national academic titles and diplomas as well as the conversion of final classifications to the Portuguese classification scale may be requested at any public higher education institution or from DGES – the General Directorate of Higher Education (only for cases of automatic recognition). On this matter, we would suggest consulting the DGES website at the following address: http://www.dges.gov.pt.
Candidates will only be considered if they have completed the cycle of studies leading to undergraduate or Master’s degrees by the deadline of the tender. Should they not have the certificates testifying to attaining the necessary qualifications for the submission of their applications by the tender deadline, then a declaration upon honour shall be provisionally accepted. However, the awarding of the scholarship shall remain contingent on the submission of the certificates attesting to the attainment of the academic qualifications necessary for the awarding of the scholarship.
5. WORK PLANS AND SCIENTIFIC SUPERVISION OF SCHOLARSHIP HOLDERS
• The scholarship holder’s work plan must be developed within the framework of one of the following Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Cultura (CECC) research groups: a) Culture, Art and Conflict, b) Literature and the Global Contemporary, c) Cognition and Translatability or d) Media Narratives and Cultural Change.
6. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA AND METHODS
The assessment takes into account the academic merit and the potential of each candidate (as expressed in the letter of motivation, the preliminary PhD project and the interview).
Candidates deemed eligible are assessed on a scale of 1 to 20 in each of the following assessment criteria:
• Criterion A – Candidate merit, with a weighting of 55%; o Sub-criterion A1 – Relevance and quality of academic training, with a weighting of 40% o Sub-criterion A2 – Other relevant experience, with a weighting of 15%
• Criterion B – Candidate potential, with a weighting of 45%; o Sub-criterion B1 – Letter of motivation, with a weighting of 10% o Sub-criterion B2 – Preliminary PhD project, with a weighting of 20% o Sub-criterion B3 – Interview, with a weighting of 15%
For the purposes of the scholarship awarding decision, candidates are ranked based on the weighted classification obtained in each of the two criteria (and the respective five sub-criteria), as set out in the following formula:
𝑭𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝑪𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 = (𝟎. 𝟓𝟓 × 𝑨) + (𝟎. 𝟒𝟓 × 𝑩)
In the case of a tie, the ranking of candidates will be made based on the classifications awarded in each assessment sub-criterion, in the following order: sub-criterion A1, sub-criterion B2, sub-criterion B3, sub- criterion A2 and sub-criterion B1.
Important advice for candidates holding diplomas issued by non-national higher education institutions:
Candidates holding diplomas issued by non-national higher education institutions may apply and be subject to the same assessment criteria as candidates holding diplomas issued by Portuguese institutions whenever their respective applications contain duly recognized academic title(s) as well as the conversion of the final classification to the Portuguese classification scale, in accordance with the terms of the applicable legislation.
Candidates with non-national diplomas who fail to submit evidence of conversion of their final classification to the Portuguese classification scale shall be awarded the minimum classification (10 points) in sub-criterion A1.
In all cases, scholarship contracts with candidates holding diplomas issued by non-national higher education institutions shall only be signed after submission of the evidence of their academic titles and the conversion of their final classification as detailed above.
7. ASSESSMENT
The candidate assessment panel is composed of the following members:
Isabel Capeloa Gil, CECC, UCP (Chair)
Peter Hanenberg, CECC, UCP
Alexandra Lopes, CECC, UCP
Diana Gonçalves, CECC, UCP (stand-in)
Nelson Costa Ribeiro, CECC, UCP (stand-in)
The assessment panel shall evaluate each application in accordance with the assessment criteria set out in the present Notice of Tender Opening, taking into consideration the respective assessment elements.
Every panel member, including the Chair, shall commit to respecting a set of core responsibilities in this assessment process, such as the duties of impartiality, the disclosure of any potential conflicts of interest, and confidentiality. In every stage of the assessment process, confidentiality is entirely protected and ensured so as to guarantee the independence of all determinations issued.
Members of the panel, including the Chair, may not act as supervisors or co-supervisors to candidates applying within the scope of this tender.
For each candidate, the panel shall produce a final assessment file that clearly, coherently and consistently sets out the arguments leading to the classifications awarded across each of the assessment criteria and sub-criteria.
The assessment panel meetings shall be recorded in minutes that must be signed off by every serving member. The minutes and their annexes must include the following information:
Name and affiliation of all assessment panel members;
Identification of all excluded applications alongside the respective reasons;
Methodology adopted by the panel for any special cases;
Final Assessment Files for each of the applications accepted;
Provisional list with the classification and ranking of candidates, in descending order of final classifications, for all applications assessed by the panel;
COI Statements from every panel member;
Any cases of vote or assignment of roles by proxy on grounds of the justified absence of panel members.
8. PUBLICATION OF RESULTS
The assessment results shall be released via e-mail, and sent to the address disclosed by the candidate on their scholarship application.
9. DEADLINES AND PROCEDURES FOR PRIOR AUDIENCES, COMPLAINTS AND APPEALS
Following the release of the provisional assessment results list, candidates have a period of ten working days in which, should they wish it, they may express their response at a prior audience of interested parties under the terms of Articles 121 and subsequent of the Code of Administrative Procedures.
The final decision shall be issued following analysis of the responses submitted under the auspices of the prior audience of interested parties. The final decision may be subject to a complaint within a period of 15 working days or, alternatively, of an appeal within a period of thirty working days, with both durations beginning on the date of the initial notification. Candidates who opt to submit a complaint or an appeal should address this to the Rector’s Office (Reitoria) of Universidade Católica Portuguesa.
10. SCHOLARSHIP AWARD REQUIREMENTS
The research scholarship contracts are signed directly with FCT.
The following documentation must be submitted should a scholarship be awarded, for the purposes of signing the respective contract:
a) Copy of each civil and fiscal identification document and, whenever applicable, of social security1;
b) Copy of certificates for each of the academic degrees held;
c) Submission of records of non-national academic qualifications and conversion of the respective final classifications to the Portuguese classification scale whenever applicable;
d) Document attesting to enrolment and registration for the Doctoral Degree Program in Culture Studies at FCH/UCP;
e) Declaration from supervisor(s) expressing their acceptance of responsibility for the supervision of the work plan under the terms of Article 5-A of the Research Grant Statute (term of declaration to be provided by FCT);
f) Document attesting to the acceptance of the candidate by the institution hosting the respective research, guaranteeing the conditions necessary for their efficient development, as well as complying with the obligations stipulated under Article 13 of the Research Grant Statute;
g) An updated document demonstrating compliance with the exclusive dedication regime.
The awarding of the scholarship is also contingent on:
compliance with the requirements stipulated by the present Tender Notice;
the results of the scientific evaluation;
the non-existence of any unjustified non-compliance with the duties of scholarship holders within the framework of any prior awarding of a financial grant contract, whether directly or indirectly, by FCT;
FCT’s budgetary capacity.
Failure to submit any of the documentation necessary to comply with the scholarship contractual process within a period of six months beginning on the date of communication of the conditional award of the scholarship shall result in the annulment of the aforementioned award and the closure of the respective file.
11. FINANCING
The disbursement of the scholarship shall begin after the candidate has returned the duly signed research scholarship contract, which must take place within a maximum period of 15 working days beginning on the date of its receipt.
Scholarships awarded under the auspices of the current tender shall be financed by FCT with funding from the State Budget and, whenever eligible, with funding from the European Social Fund provided within the framework of PORTUGAL2020, namely through the Operational Program for the Norte Region (NORTE 2020), the Operational Program for the Centro Region (Centro 2020) and the Operational Program for the Alentejo Region (Alentejo 2020), in accordance with the regulatory stipulations defined to this end.
12. SCHOLARSHIP COMPONENTS
Scholarship holders are awarded a monthly maintenance stipend in accordance with the terms of the table in RBI Annex I.
The scholarship may also include other components in pursuant to Article 18 of the RBI and the values established in its Annex II.
All scholarship recipients benefit from researcher’s personal accident insurance, whose cost shall be covered by FCT.
All scholarship recipients who are not otherwise covered by any social protection regime may take up the right to social security by registering with the social security voluntary regime, under the terms of the Contributory Regimes Code for the Social Security Welfare System, with CECC meeting any costs resulting from the respective contributions, in accordance with the terms and limits stipulated in Article 10 of the EBI.
13. SCHOLARSHIP COMPONENT PAYMENTS
Disbursements to scholarship holders are made via bank transfer to the account number they have provided. The monthly maintenance stipend is paid on the first working day of each month.
Payment of registration, enrolment or other fees are made directly by FCT to the respective national institution where the scholarship holder is registered/enrolled in a PhD program.
14. TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR THE RENEWAL OF SCHOLARSHIPS
Scholarship renewal is invariably contingent on the submission of a request by the scholarship holder within sixty working days prior to the date of renewal, accompanied by the following documents:
a) opinions issued by the candidate’s supervisor(s) and by their host institution(s) resulting from the monitoring of the scholarship holder’s work and assessing their activity;
b) anupdateddocumentdemonstratingcompliancewiththeexclusivededicationregime; c) a document demonstrating renewal of enrolment in the PhD study cycle.
15. INFORMATION AND DISSEMINATION OF THE SCHOLARSHIP
In all R&D activities, whether directly or indirectly financed by the scholarship, namely conference participations, publications and any scientific output, as well as the resulting theses, carried out with scholarship-related support, scholarship holders must explicitly mention the financial support received from FCT and the European Social Fund (ESF), namely through the Operational Program for the Norte Region (NORTE 2020), the Operational Program for the Centro Region (Centro 2020) and the Operational Program for the Alentejo Region (Alentejo 2020). To this end, any relevant documents must include references to the acronyms of FCT, MCTES, of ESF and the EU according to the norms in effect for each operational program.
The dissemination of research results financed under the auspices of the RBI must follow all the norms for open access to data, publications and other research results in effect at FCT.
Every scholarship, in particular in the case of projects receiving EU support, specifically from the ESF, may be subject to monitoring and control undertaken on behalf of national and European organs in accordance with the legislation applicable. Scholarship holders in receipt of support must cooperate and provide the information requested, which shall include the completion of evaluation surveys and studies in this area, including after the expiry of the scholarship.
16. NON-DISCRIMINATION AND EQUAL ACCESS POLICY
UCP promotes a policy of non-discrimination and equal access. Accordingly, no candidate may be favoured, advantaged, disadvantaged or deprived of any right or exempted from any duty, namely as a result of their parentage, age, gender, sexual orientation, civil status, family situation, economic situation, education, social origin or condition, genetic heritage, reduced working capacity, disability, chronic illness, nationality, ethnic or racial background, territory of origin, language, religion, political or ideological beliefs and trade union membership.
17. APPLICABLE LEGISLATION AND REGULATIONS
The Tender falls under the auspices of the regulations of the current Notice of Tender Opening, the Regulations for FCT Research Grants, as approved by Regulation no. 950/2019, published in the 2nd Series of Diário da República on 16 December 2019, the Research Grant Holder Statute approved by Law no. 40/2004, of 18 August, in accordance with the version in effect, as well as any further applicable national and EU legislation.
1 The submission of these documents may be replaced, should the candidate so wish, by their in-person appearance at the financing entity, which shall then record the documentation details required for the validity and execution of the contract, including the civil, fiscal and social security identification numbers, as well as the expiry date of the respective documents.
The 11th Lisbon Summer School for the Study of Culture “Convivial Cultures” will be held by The Lisbon Consortium and the European Cooperation Project 4Cs – From Conflict to Conviviality through Creativity and Culture, between June 28th and July 3rd, 2021.
The Summer School will be a hybrid event, broadcast online in full as well as partly held onsite, at the Universidade Católica Portuguesa and at the Trienal de Arquitectura de Lisboa.
The 11th LSSSC will gather invited speakers, artists, curators, cultural stakeholders and thinkers, M.A. and Ph.D. students from all over the world to discuss the topic of “Convivial Cultures” and how cultural and artistic institutions and practices can contribute to conviviality.
If you wish to attend the Summer School online and/or onsite, please register HERE. Deadline for registration: June 23rd.
The 11th LSSSC is part of the 4Cs Project’s programme, co-financed by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. As such, this year (2021), exceptionally, registration to participate in the LSSSC is free.
The quality of Master’s Program in Culture Studies (Lisbon Consortium/Faculty of Human Sciences) was recognized once again by the prestigious Eduniversal ranking.
The Master in Culture Studies now ranks #3 in the “Cultural Management / Creative Industries Management” category.
The international agency Eduniversal, which annually evaluates thousands of programs in 30 fields of knowledge, prepares the ranking based on the reputation of the courses, the level of employability and the degree of student satisfaction.
The Master’s Program in Culture Studies is aimed at students interested in a structured discussion of cultural phenomena in the global world. The program is divided into three different specializations: Management of the Arts and Culture, Performance and Creativity, and Literary Cultures.
Adopting the Deleuzian idea of the fold as a desire of change (1993), The Fold(s) is a curatorial project composed of four books operating as four individual exhibitions by Carolina Grilo Santos, Joana Patrão, Mónica de Miranda, and Rouzbeh Akhbari. Under the artistic direction of Luísa Santos, The Fold(s) was developed in the context of the Seminar in Curatorship by the MA and PhD students in Culture Studies of The Lisbon Consortium, Faculty of Human Sciences, Universidade Católica Portuguesa.
The first public presentation will take place on April 22nd at Hangar.
Project produced in the frame of the European cooperation project 4Cs – From Conflict to Conviviality through Creativity and Culture, co-financed by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.
The 11th Graduate Conference in Culture Studies will focus on the concept of hope, its politics, poetics, and temporalities, and how it emerges, impinges and circulates. The conference will take place in Lisbon on the 2nd, 3rd of December and the morning of the 4th of December, 2021. The conference is organized by PhD students and researchers of the Research Centre for Communication and Culture (CECC) at the Lisbon Consortium, Universidade Católica Portuguesa – Lisbon.
The concept of hope has recently been re-emerging in philosophical and political discussions, as well as in literary criticism. However, how does hope relate to the present moment, when we are faced with worldwide climate and health emergencies, economic crises, increasing poverty, failed leaderships, and the rise of both old and new forms of authoritarianism? The future of democracies and equal rights are at stake, as is our own survival as individuals and as a species, prompting fear and hopelessness. Does critical thought forfeit the possibility of hope or can it produce a hope that is able to bring about change?
Often pitted as the opposite of each other, fear and hope share the assumption that the future is neither knowable nor based on knowledge and probabilities (Rorty, 1999). Unlike the certainty of a positive or negative outcome that underpins confidence and despair, fear and hope are expectant emotions grounded in doubt and therefore always part of each other (Spinoza, 2000 [1677]). Bloch’s ‘political hope’ is what, at any given moment, we are able to consciously wish for beyond a disappointing present and the pragmatic determinism of predictions. Hope can therefore rise from desperation, grief, indignation, or anger and then “result in a specific type of mutuality based on a trust for life” (Bloch, 1996 [1959]; Anderson, 2006). Is the act of hoping positive, or is it an uncomfortable assemblage of emotions that can overlap and interact with optimism and resilience, but also with fear, suspicion, and a permanent sense of precariousness? Is hope always only projected towards the future, or can hopeful memories be a form of counter-historical practice (Rigney, 2018) that questions its linear futurity? And does not hope always-already imply eternal postponement and unattainability (Berlant, 2011), despite its ability to fuel cultural work as well as activism and resistance?
During the conference, we want to discuss how culture interacts with the concept and the taking place of hope. How can cultural works claiming or responding to political and societal change be hopeful? To what extent can the recent positive turn in the humanities contribute to the emergence of hope, as well as to different concepts of hope? How does hope emerge during crises and times of socio-political disenchantment and to what extent does it challenge power and hegemony? What can happen when hope not only points towards a better future but changes and improves the now or the ways we remember and celebrate the past? How does hope affect groups and movements, and how does it circulate in times of fear, depression, revolt, and pandemic?
We welcome paper proposals from all research areas that address, but are not limited to, the following topics:
● Social hope ● The temporalities of hope ● Hope – affect, feeling, emotion, attitude ● The poetics of hope ● Hope and simulacrum/phantasm ● Hopeful memories and memories of hope ● Hope, science and technology ● Hope, spirituality and transcendence ● Digitalities of hope ● Hope and resilience ● Hope as a critical disposition
● Objects of hope ● Vulnerability and resistance in hope ● Hope and its neighboring concepts ● Hope and disappointment ● Queer hope – queer futurity ● Hope and imagination ● The translatability of hope ● Artistic representations of hope ● Literature and hope ● Hopeful bodies ● Hope and (post)colonialism ● Decolonial hope
References
Ahmed, Sara. 2010. The Promise Of Happiness. Durham [NC]: Duke University Press.
Anderson, Ben. “Becoming and Being Hopeful: Towards a Theory of Affect.” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 24, no. 5 (October 2006): 733–52. https://doi.org/10.1068/d393t.
Benjamin, Andrew E. 1997. Present Hope: Philosophy, Architecture, Judaism. London: Routledge.
Bloch, Ernst. 1995. The Principle Of Hope. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
Castiglia, Christopher. 2017. The Practices Of Hope: Literary Criticism In Disenchanted Times. New York: NYU Press.
Lear, Jonathan. 2006. Radical Hope: Ethics In The Face Of Cultural Devastation. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Rorty, Richard. 1999. Philosophy And Social Hope. New York: Penguin Books.
Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. 2003. Touching Feeling: Affect, Pedagogy, Performativity. Durham: Duke University Press.
Spinoza, Benedictus de, R. H. M Elwes, and Benedictus de Spinoza. 1989. Ethics. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books.
Zournazi, Mary. 2003. Hope: New Philosophies For Change. New York: Routledge.
Keynote Speakers
Ben Anderson, Durham University, UK
Jennifer Wenzel, Columbia University, USA
Leticia Sabsay, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK
Mónica Dias, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Portugal
Ilios Willemars (University of Amsterdam, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, University of Copenhagen)
Luísa Santos (Universidade Católica Portuguesa)
Matthew Mason (Universidade Católica Portuguesa)
Nina Danilova (Universidade Católica Portuguesa)
Paulo de Medeiros (University of Warwick)
Practicalities
We invite abstracts for individual or joint presentations using hope as a lens for the analysis of cultural objects or conceptualizing/problematizing hope.
We also welcome abstracts for presentations and interventions that disrupt the formal academic ways of thinking and doing including but not limited to artistic interventions, co-creative workshops, reading groups and more.
Abstracts should be approximately 250 words long and be sent by email to hopeconference2021@gmail.com not later than 17th of May 2021. Notification of acceptance will be sent until the 31st of July at the latest.
After having been accepted, you will be asked to register at the conference and provide some personal details to that purpose. You will be able to do so on our website www.culturalpoliticsofhope.wordpress.com, which is under construction.
The conference will take place on site on the 2nd, 3rd and the morning of the 4th of December 2021 at Universidade Católica Portuguesa. Online hosting of the conference will be considered as a supplement or alternative, should any sanitary restrictions be enforced at the time of the conference.
Costs
Registration fee: 70€ – includes coffee breaks on all days and conference materials.
The Organizing Committee considers reducing or waiving a limited number of registration fees in cases of documented financial difficulties. Students of the Lisbon Consortium and FCH-PhD and CECC researchers are exempted from the registration fee.
Organizing Committee
Vera Herold (Universidade Católica Portuguesa)
Sarah Nagaty (Universidade Católica Portuguesa)
Victoria Page (Universidade Católica Portuguesa)
Contact
For more information please email: hopeconference2021@gmail.com
Main Editors: Patrícia Anzini & Eduardo Prado Cardoso
The next issue of Diffractions pursues an interdisciplinary reflection on the relationship(s) between digitalized identities, arts, and politics in Latin America. Digitalities became famous with Nicholas Negroponte’s 1995 bestseller Being Digital. Used to refer to the condition of living in a digital culture, the concept has since been broadly framed within techno-(dis)utopian contexts and revolves around the idea that everything can be rendered in numeric, encoded, and computable form, including the notion of identity. The fingerprint (digital in Portuguese, huella in Spanish) would, in this context, emerge at the intersection of computer graphics, human communications, and interactive media.
Going beyond the techy ridges and loops of the fingerprint, we read digitalities as modes of social intervention and cultural transformation that impact the conceptualization, translation, materialization, and performance of identities of Latin American countries. The notion of identity in those formerly colonized territories has been up for fruitful debate in and out of academia, much as it has become the main subject in the arts, mass communication, and popular culture. These young democracies have always had to negotiate their cartographies, singularities, and the very idea of Latin America itself (Walter Mignolo) with Europe and USA, thereby facing the challenges proper to a certain cultural periphery (Nelly Richard). Particularly after the 1980s, they likewise gave way to modes of consumption and urbanization that blend in what Beatriz Sarlo aptly describes as “abundance and poverty”. In this sense, technology and the performative potential behind the use of computers have made inequalities in those countries even more visible while helping to spur, subvert, spread, and claim back discussions concerning the fingerprint.
Considering how globalization has challenged Latin American nation states in the way they translate cultural identities (Renato Ortiz), one could think of the horizon of possibilities (Ronaldo Munck) that new media and digital practices have brought to the cultural, social, political and “fingerprint” realms. Have they facilitated a sort of autonomy (Ana Cecilia Dinerstein)? How are the several concepts of identity changing in late modernity, particularly in regard to the use of digital technology and/or interactive media? Are digitalities widening the cultural and political gaps among many Latin American cities? Are they working as alternatives to these ever more difficult times?
We welcome articles that investigate cultural practices of/in Latin American regions and/or have strong connections to Latin American individuals, artists, and collectives. We are interested in assessing how the use or impact of technologies in artistic, informational, political and/or social spheres articulate notions of identity, geographies, hybridizations (Néstor García Canclini), gender, ethnicity, globalization, authoritarianism, etc., particularly from the 1980s on. We value contributions that reflect the linguistic and political disparities encountered in the Latin American space, as well as reflections that might shape the consolidation of a literature and further debates around the idea of digitalities we are proposing here.
We look forward to receiving contributions addressing these or related questions. Topics include but are not limited to:
● Digitalities as theory, method, and concept;
● Globalization and modernity in Latin America;
● Performing digitalities;
● Digitalities in conflict, violence, and peace negotiations in Latin America;
● Digital technology, virtual reality, and computational practices in Latin America;
● Mass media and social media in Latin America;
● Digitalities in Latin American art – literature, film, music, fine arts, video-games, graffiti and street art, photography, graphic novels;
● Exile and migration in a digitalized Latin America;
● Digitalized fingerprints: genders, ethnicities, and races in Latin America;
● Digitalized queerness and transgender;
● Digitalities in folklore and indigenous studies and/or practices;
● Life-writing digitalities;
● The digitalities of translation;
● Digitalized religions, spirituality, and Afro-Latin American ritual practices;
● Education in a digitalized Latin America: pedagogies, methodologies, philosophies.
Submissions and review process
Abstracts will be received and reviewed by the Diffractions editorial board who will decide on the pertinence of proposals for the upcoming issue. After submission, we will get in touch with the authors of accepted abstracts in order to invite them to submit a full article. However, this does not imply that these papers will be automatically published. Rather, they will go through a peer-review process that will determine whether papers are publishable with minor or major changes, or they do not fulfill the criteria for publication.
Please send abstracts of 150 to 200 words, and 5-8 keywords by MAY 31st, 2021 to info.diffractions@gmail.com with the subject “Diffractions 5”, followed by your last name.
Every issue of Diffractions has a thematic focus but also contains special sections for non-thematic articles. If you are interested in submitting an article that is not related to the topic of this particular issue, please consult the general guidelines available at the Diffractions website at https://revistas.ucp.pt/index.php/diffractions/about/submissions. The submission and review process for non-thematic articles is the same as for the general thematic issue. All research areas of the humanities are welcome.
Dinerstein, Ana. The politics of autonomy in Latin America: The art of organising hope. Springer, 2014
Mignolo, Walter. The idea of latin america. John Wiley & Sons, 2009.
Munck, Ronaldo. “Afterword: Postmodernism, politics and culture in Latin America.” Cultural Politics in Latin America. Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2000. 185-205.
Ortiz, Renato. “A problemática cultural no mundo contemporâneo.” Política & Sociedade 16.35 (2017): 17-66.
Richard, Nelly. La insubordinación de los signos: cambio político, transformaciones culturales y poéticas de la crisis. Editorial Cuarto Propio, 1994.
Sarlo, Beatriz. Escenas de la vida posmoderna: intelectuales, arte y videocultura en la Argentina. Siglo XXI Editores, 2019.
Deadline for submissions: February 21st, 2021 March 21, 2021
The XI Lisbon Summer School for the Study of Culture, under the topic “Convivial Cultures”, is the final public activity of the 4Cs: From Conflict to Conviviality through Creativity and Culture. The 4Cs is a European Cooperation Project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. Founded in 2017 and ending in 2021, the 4Cs aims at responding to a series of emerging social and cultural challenges such as migration, securitization, and freedom of expression by raising awareness about the role of creative and cultural work in the strengthening of European responsibility and European citizenship in a project of peace and conviviality.
Based on the Latin roots for “with” and “living”, the term “conviviality” has long been associated with sociable and festive forms of coexistence. Across numerous disciplines, conviviality conveys a concern with the conditions for human togetherness in times of multicultural difference, inequality and conflict. At the very moment that this call for papers is being written, the term “conviviality” gains a whole new relevance. The current pandemic reality of the Covid-19, and its divergent effects, rewires the challenge of living together in a multicultural and transnational present under the threat of viral contamination, uneven exposure to risk and consequent vulnerability to illness and death. In face of such a challenge, the presence of others is simultaneously feared and longed for. As the novelist Arundhati Roy has pointed out, the widespread lockdowns “worked like a chemical experiment that suddenly illuminated hidden things” (Roy, 2020), laying bare the social disparities that have existed all along. While some are asked to shelter in place, others face the risk of daily exposure in order to keep societies afloat through their labour. For those who can afford to shelter, the imposed confinement has also exacerbated the vulnerabilities and inequalities inherent to the household (Grewal, 2020). Meanwhile, borders all over the world are being closed to contain the spread of the virus, strengthening already problematic border regimes. At the same time, people all over the planet are finding different ways of being together and to cultivate social proximity while keeping with “physical distancing”, often through digital technologies that are not exempt from risks (Chun 2020). Conviviality – as a concept and as lived experience – is then undergoing a major transformation.
Under these conditions, we also witness numerous forms of collective solidarity – people pledge for unity, for solidarity with the elderly, the chronically ill, independent workers, health professionals, underpaid service workers, migrants, refugees and asylum seekers With the establishment of new networks of relief, fear is navigated through care and creativity. Arundhati Roy further suggests that pandemics can be a “gateway between one world and the next”, forcing humans to break with the past and imagine the world anew (Roy, 2020). Cultural agents and scholars across the planet claim that this is a time for artistic, cultural, and educational institutions to reassess the ways in which they operate within and contribute to social disparities, as well as a chance to rethink the ways their activities constitute a space for generative public encounters. Such transformations are systemic and entail a collective endeavour of pushing and pulling in many different directions at once. They imply, therefore, a balancing of forces that can speed things up, slow things down or make things change direction or change shape, i.e., they imply the creation of new dynamics and articulations. In other words, these transformations will require new cultures of conviviality.
Conviviality fosters everyday processes of coming together, mutual recognition, negotiation of difference, and shared transformation for the development of a new cosmopolitan dimension to European culture, namely one of “radical openness” to its colonial past and postcolonial present (Gilroy 2004). For Gilroy, recognising conviviality does not do away with inequality and conflict; rather, understanding how these tensions are lived out in everyday encounters calls for writing “counter-histories of cultural relations”. In her writings on disability, Jasbir Puar sees conviviality as a modest but also radical ethico-political project, emphasizing how the self is destabilized through openness towards the other, seeing their difference not as a threat but as a cause to question one’s own position in the world (Puar 2009). Initially introduced into the humanities’ vocabulary by Ivan Illich in his book Tools for Conviviality (1973), the term conviviality demonstrates that these processes of “radical openness” unfold not only between humans but also between humans and “their environment; and this in contrast with the conditioned response of persons to the demands made upon them by others, and by a man-made environment” (Illich, 1973:11). Nowadays, the interdependence between living beings is brought to the forefront in a particular way, under the current global pandemic, but also within the long and worrying planetary environmental crisis. At these levels, the stakes of interdependence are quite high and intricate: in a planetary network where all members and each individual member rely on one another, responsibilities are simultaneously objectively shared and subjectively tossed aside back and forth. Within this framework, tension and conflict are integral parts of the convivial relations between all members of the network (human and non-human), on which depend the existence and healthy maintenance of the multileveled interdependencies in existence, be it in nature, be it within urban scapes. In urban geography, the concept of living cities asserts that cities are multispecies entanglements (Houston et al., 2018), shared by human and non-human living beings, which live interdependently.
One of the key goals of the XI Lisbon Summer School for the Study of Culture is to track the notions of conviviality in terms of the narratives of their theoretical productions as well as the conditions of their applications in multiple art forms and across different creative and cultural contexts. Such tracking aims at, on the one hand, reflecting upon the different notions and how they have been used to address the same idea of “living-with-difference”. On the other hand, it serves as a reminder of how ideas across different disciplinary fields move and interact across time and contexts.
In literature, the works of several contemporary authors show attempts towards the redefinition of convivial spaces. Examples include Bernardine Evaristo’s novel Soul Tourists (2005), a journey revealing the intricate historical links between Europe and Africa; Donato Ndongo-Bidyogo’s El metro (2007), a realistic portrait of an illegal Black African immigrant in Spain; and Au pays (2009), in which Ben Jelloun explores the Muslim identities through the complex familiar struggles of a Moroccan-French retiree. Miriam Makeba’s memoir Makeba, My Story (1988), written during her stay in Guinea, is an interesting example in the ways it looks at the links between conviviality and music. Makeba’s life story shows her strategies as a black South African performer in exile embedded in the conviviality that shaped jazz performance culture during its emergence in urban South Africa.
Examples of the mutual dependences and struggles between living beings are also found in the field of visual culture(s) and performance where there has been a multiplicity of translations of convivial relations in art history since the 1960s, with the main aim of testing art’s capacity for resistance within the social field as a whole (Bourriaud, 1998). In exploring the socio-professional aspect of conviviality, many artists develop their practices in the context of a culture of literal partaking (for example with artist Rirkrit Tiravanija transforming the main exhibition space of the 303 Gallery in New York into a restaurant, cooking curries for visitors), and of friendship (as in the parties organised by Philippe Parreno, or in Franz West’s Passtücke, which would only become activated as artworks when physically or cognitively engaged by a human), while others reflect upon the inherent conflict of conviviality within species (an example would be Cai Guo-Qiang with his ephemeral performative explosions exploring humanity’s place in the universe and our responsibilities on Earth), and others ask for cultures of solidarity (such as Artists at Risk, an organization offering temporary safe haven residencies for artists who face persecution or imprisonment for exercising their right to freedom of expression), remindful of Durkheim’s (1933/1964) work on the division of labour which focused on the nature of “positive solidarity” in different social forms.
Welcoming contributions from the fields of Cultural, Literary, Translation, Visual Arts, Music, and Performance Studies, the 11th edition of the Summer School intends to reflect on the interrelation between different notions and applications of conviviality, to examine the growing awareness of the need for new cultures of conviviality, and to discuss the necessity to rethink, reconceptualize, and redefine the relationship between humans and between humans and the world they live in.
The Lisbon Summer School invites proposals by doctoral students and post-docs that address, though may not be strictly limited to, the topics below:
Creativity and conflict/conviviality
Conviviality/conflict in/and the arts
Representations of conviviality
Conviviality/Friendship/Solidarity/Commons
Social change and planetarity
Multispecies entanglements
Multi- / Inter- / Trans- Culturalities
Participatory and relational practices
Conviviality and digitally-mediated networks
Cultures of conviviality and interdependence
Translation and Conviviality
Artistic and cultural convivial practices
The Summer School will take place at several cultural institutions in Lisbon and will gather outstanding doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers from around the world. In the morning there will be lectures and master classes by invited keynote speakers. In the afternoon there will be paper presentations by doctoral and post-doctoral researchers.
Paper proposals
Proposals should be sent to lxsummerschool@gmail.com no later than February 21st 2021March 21st, 2021 and include paper title, abstract in English (max. 200 words), name, e-mail address, institutional affiliation, and a brief bio (max. 100 words) mentioning ongoing research.
Applicants will be informed of the result of their submissions by March 21st, 2021April 21st, 2021.
Rules for presentation
The organizing committee shall place presenters in small groups according to the research focus of their papers. They are advised to stay in these groups for the duration of the Summer School, so a structured exchange of ideas may be developed to its full potential.
Full papers submission
Presenters are required to send in full papers by May 30th, 2021.
The papers will then be circulated amongst the members of each research group, and in the slot allotted to each participant (30’) only 10’ may be used for a brief summary of the research piece. The Summer School is a place of networked exchange of ideas and organizers wish to have as much time as possible for a structured discussion between participants. Ideally, in each slot, 10’ will be used for presentation, and 20’ for discussion.
Registration fees
Participants with paper – 290€ for the entire week (includes lectures, master classes, doctoral sessions, lunches, and closing dinner)
Participants without paper – 60€ per session/day | 190€ for the entire week
Fee waivers
For The Lisbon Consortium students, there is no registration fee.
For students from Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Universities affiliated with the European Summer School in Cultural Studies and members of the PhD Net in Literary and Cultural Studies the registration fee is 60€.
Organizing Committee
Isabel Capeloa Gil
Peter Hanenberg
Alexandra Lopes
Diana Gonçalves
Paulo de Campos Pinto
Ana Fabíola Maurício
Luísa Santos
Adriana Martins
Rita Faria
4Cs Lisbon Team
Isabel Capeloa Gil
Luísa Santos
Peter Hanenberg
Ana Fabíola Maurício
Inês Espada Vieira
Adriana Martins
Ana Cristina Cachola
Daniela Agostinho
Maria Eduarda Duarte
4Cs Steering Committee
Isabel Capeloa Gil – Universidade Católica Portuguesa (PT)
Luísa Santos – Universidade Católica Portuguesa (PT)
Cecilia Widenheim – Tensta Konsthall (SE)
Bonaventure Ndikung – Savvy Contemporary (DE)
Michaela Crimmin – Royal College of Art (UK)
Anna Saurí – Fundació Antoni Tàpies (ES)
Egija Inzule– Vilnius Academy of Arts (LT)
Birgitte Kirkhoff Eriksen – Museet for Samtidskunst (DK)
The XI Lisbon Summer School for the Study of Culture, under the topic “Convivial Cultures”, is the final public activity of the 4Cs: From Conflict to Conviviality through Creativity and Culture. The 4Cs is a European Cooperation Project co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. Founded in 2017 and ending in 2021, the 4Cs aims at responding to a series of emerging social and cultural challenges such as migration, securitization, and freedom of expression by raising awareness about the role of creative and cultural work in the strengthening of European responsibility and European citizenship in a project of peace and conviviality.
Based on the Latin roots for “with” and “living”, the term “conviviality” has long been associated with sociable and festive forms of coexistence. Across numerous disciplines, conviviality conveys a concern with the conditions for human togetherness in times of multicultural difference, inequality and conflict. At the very moment that this call for papers is being written, the term “conviviality” gains a whole new relevance. The current pandemic reality of the Covid-19, and its divergent effects, rewires the challenge of living together in a multicultural and transnational present under the threat of viral contamination, uneven exposure to risk and consequent vulnerability to illness and death. In face of such a challenge, the presence of others is simultaneously feared and longed for. As the novelist Arundhati Roy has pointed out, the widespread lockdowns “worked like a chemical experiment that suddenly illuminated hidden things” (Roy, 2020), laying bare the social disparities that have existed all along. While some are asked to shelter in place, others face the risk of daily exposure in order to keep societies afloat through their labour. For those who can afford to shelter, the imposed confinement has also exacerbated the vulnerabilities and inequalities inherent to the household (Grewal, 2020). Meanwhile, borders all over the world are being closed to contain the spread of the virus, strengthening already problematic border regimes. At the same time, people all over the planet are finding different ways of being together and to cultivate social proximity while keeping with “physical distancing”, often through digital technologies that are not exempt from risks (Chun 2020). Conviviality – as a concept and as lived experience – is then undergoing a major transformation.
Under these conditions, we also witness numerous forms of collective solidarity – people pledge for unity, for solidarity with the elderly, the chronically ill, independent workers, health professionals, underpaid service workers, migrants, refugees and asylum seekers With the establishment of new networks of relief, fear is navigated through care and creativity. Arundhati Roy further suggests that pandemics can be a “gateway between one world and the next”, forcing humans to break with the past and imagine the world anew (Roy, 2020). Cultural agents and scholars across the planet claim that this is a time for artistic, cultural, and educational institutions to reassess the ways in which they operate within and contribute to social disparities, as well as a chance to rethink the ways their activities constitute a space for generative public encounters. Such transformations are systemic and entail a collective endeavour of pushing and pulling in many different directions at once. They imply, therefore, a balancing of forces that can speed things up, slow things down or make things change direction or change shape, i.e., they imply the creation of new dynamics and articulations. In other words, these transformations will require new cultures of conviviality.
Conviviality fosters everyday processes of coming together, mutual recognition, negotiation of difference, and shared transformation for the development of a new cosmopolitan dimension to European culture, namely one of “radical openness” to its colonial past and postcolonial present (Gilroy 2004). For Gilroy, recognising conviviality does not do away with inequality and conflict; rather, understanding how these tensions are lived out in everyday encounters calls for writing “counter-histories of cultural relations”. In her writings on disability, Jasbir Puar sees conviviality as a modest but also radical ethico-political project, emphasizing how the self is destabilized through openness towards the other, seeing their difference not as a threat but as a cause to question one’s own position in the world (Puar 2009). Initially introduced into the humanities’ vocabulary by Ivan Illich in his book Tools for Conviviality (1973), the term conviviality demonstrates that these processes of “radical openness” unfold not only between humans but also between humans and “their environment; and this in contrast with the conditioned response of persons to the demands made upon them by others, and by a man-made environment” (Illich, 1973:11). Nowadays, the interdependence between living beings is brought to the forefront in a particular way, under the current global pandemic, but also within the long and worrying planetary environmental crisis. At these levels, the stakes of interdependence are quite high and intricate: in a planetary network where all members and each individual member rely on one another, responsibilities are simultaneously objectively shared and subjectively tossed aside back and forth. Within this framework, tension and conflict are integral parts of the convivial relations between all members of the network (human and non-human), on which depend the existence and healthy maintenance of the multileveled interdependencies in existence, be it in nature, be it within urban scapes. In urban geography, the concept of living cities asserts that cities are multispecies entanglements (Houston et al., 2018), shared by human and non-human living beings, which live interdependently.
One of the key goals of the XI Lisbon Summer School for the Study of Culture is to track the notions of conviviality in terms of the narratives of their theoretical productions as well as the conditions of their applications in multiple art forms and across different creative and cultural contexts. Such tracking aims at, on the one hand, reflecting upon the different notions and how they have been used to address the same idea of “living-with-difference”. On the other hand, it serves as a reminder of how ideas across different disciplinary fields move and interact across time and contexts.
In literature, the works of several contemporary authors show attempts towards the redefinition of convivial spaces. Examples include Bernardine Evaristo’s novel Soul Tourists (2005), a journey revealing the intricate historical links between Europe and Africa; Donato Ndongo-Bidyogo’s El metro (2007), a realistic portrait of an illegal Black African immigrant in Spain; and Au pays (2009), in which Ben Jelloun explores the Muslim identities through the complex familiar struggles of a Moroccan-French retiree. Miriam Makeba’s memoir Makeba, My Story (1988), written during her stay in Guinea, is an interesting example in the ways it looks at the links between conviviality and music. Makeba’s life story shows her strategies as a black South African performer in exile embedded in the conviviality that shaped jazz performance culture during its emergence in urban South Africa.
Examples of the mutual dependences and struggles between living beings are also found in the field of visual culture(s) and performance where there has been a multiplicity of translations of convivial relations in art history since the 1960s, with the main aim of testing art’s capacity for resistance within the social field as a whole (Bourriaud, 1998). In exploring the socio-professional aspect of conviviality, many artists develop their practices in the context of a culture of literal partaking (for example with artist Rirkrit Tiravanija transforming the main exhibition space of the 303 Gallery in New York into a restaurant, cooking curries for visitors), and of friendship (as in the parties organised by Philippe Parreno, or in Franz West’s Passtücke, which would only become activated as artworks when physically or cognitively engaged by a human), while others reflect upon the inherent conflict of conviviality within species (an example would be Cai Guo-Qiang with his ephemeral performative explosions exploring humanity’s place in the universe and our responsibilities on Earth), and others ask for cultures of solidarity (such as Artists at Risk, an organization offering temporary safe haven residencies for artists who face persecution or imprisonment for exercising their right to freedom of expression), remindful of Durkheim’s (1933/1964) work on the division of labour which focused on the nature of “positive solidarity” in different social forms.
Welcoming contributions from the fields of Cultural, Literary, Translation, Visual Arts, Music, and Performance Studies, the 11th edition of the Summer School intends to reflect on the interrelation between different notions and applications of conviviality, to examine the growing awareness of the need for new cultures of conviviality, and to discuss the necessity to rethink, reconceptualize, and redefine the relationship between humans and between humans and the world they live in.
The Lisbon Summer School invites proposals by doctoral students and post-docs that address, though may not be strictly limited to, the topics below:
Creativity and conflict/conviviality
Conviviality/conflict in/and the arts
Representations of conviviality
Conviviality/Friendship/Solidarity/Commons
Social change and planetarity
Multispecies entanglements
Multi- / Inter- / Trans- Culturalities
Participatory and relational practices
Conviviality and digitally-mediated networks
Cultures of conviviality and interdependence
Translation and Conviviality
Artistic and cultural convivial practices
The Summer School will take place at several cultural institutions in Lisbon and will gather outstanding doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers from around the world. In the morning there will be lectures and master classes by invited keynote speakers. In the afternoon there will be paper presentations by doctoral and post-doctoral researchers.
Paper proposals
Proposals should be sent to lxsummerschool@gmail.com no later than February 21st 2021 and include paper title, abstract in English (max. 200 words), name, e-mail address, institutional affiliation, and a brief bio (max. 100 words) mentioning ongoing research.
Applicants will be informed of the result of their submissions by March 21st, 2021.
Rules for presentation
The organizing committee shall place presenters in small groups according to the research focus of their papers. They are advised to stay in these groups for the duration of the Summer School, so a structured exchange of ideas may be developed to its full potential.
Full papers submission
Presenters are required to send in full papers by May 30th, 2021.
The papers will then be circulated amongst the members of each research group, and in the slot allotted to each participant (30’) only 10’ may be used for a brief summary of the research piece. The Summer School is a place of networked exchange of ideas and organizers wish to have as much time as possible for a structured discussion between participants. Ideally, in each slot, 10’ will be used for presentation, and 20’ for discussion.
Registration fees
Participants with paper – 290€ for the entire week (includes lectures, master classes, doctoral sessions, lunches, and closing dinner)
Participants without paper – 60€ per session/day | 190€ for the entire week
Fee waivers
For The Lisbon Consortium students, there is no registration fee.
For students from Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Universities affiliated with the European Summer School in Cultural Studies and members of the PhD Net in Literary and Cultural Studies the registration fee is 60€.
Organizing Committee
Isabel Capeloa Gil
Peter Hanenberg
Alexandra Lopes
Diana Gonçalves
Paulo de Campos Pinto
Ana Fabíola Maurício
Luísa Santos
Adriana Martins
Rita Faria
4Cs Lisbon Team
Isabel Capeloa Gil
Luísa Santos
Peter Hanenberg
Ana Fabíola Maurício
Inês Espada Vieira
Adriana Martins
Ana Cristina Cachola
Daniela Agostinho
Maria Eduarda Duarte
4Cs Steering Committee
Isabel Capeloa Gil – Universidade Católica Portuguesa (PT)
Luísa Santos – Universidade Católica Portuguesa (PT)
Cecilia Widenheim – Tensta Konsthall (SE)
Bonaventure Ndikung – Savvy Contemporary (DE)
Michaela Crimmin – Royal College of Art (UK)
Anna Saurí – Fundació Antoni Tàpies (ES)
Egija Inzule– Vilnius Academy of Arts (LT)
Birgitte Kirkhoff Eriksen – Museet for Samtidskunst (DK)
Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP hereafter) hereby opens a tender for the awarding of 1 (one) research grant, subsequently referred to as Doctoral Research Grant, in the field of Culture Studies, under the auspices of the FCT Research Grant Regulation and the Research Grant Holder Statute (RBI and EBI respectively hereafter). These grants are financed by CECC – the Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Cultura within the framework of FCT financing reference no. UIDB/00126/2020.
1. SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS
The tender remains open from the 1st of September 2020 to 5pm (Lisbon time) September 15th 2020. The applications and the candidate’s support documents stipulated in this current Tender Opening Notification are to be submitted via email and sent to concursos.cecc@fch.lisboa.ucp.pt. Each candidate may submit only one application or face having every application annulled. The submission of false declarations or undertaking acts of plagiarism on behalf of the candidates represents the grounds for annulment of the application irrespective of any other punitive type measures.
2. TYPE AND DURATION OF GRANTS
This doctoral research grant is provided to finance the research activities of the holder within the scope of obtaining the doctoral degree academic qualification in the Doctoral Program in Culture Studies at Universidade Católica Portuguesa. The research activities leading to the obtaining of the doctoral degree title are to take place at CECC (UIDB/00126/2020), which thus becomes the host institution of the grant holder irrespective of any other works that may be undertaken with more than one institution. The research activities leading to the obtaining of the doctoral degree academic title by the grant holder selected fall within CECC’S strategy framework and activities plan (UIDB/00126/2020) and undergo development under the auspices of the Doctoral Degree Program in Culture Studies at the Faculdade de Ciências Humanas (FCH), of the UCP. The duration of the grant is, as a rule, annual and renewable for a maximum period of four years (48 months) with grants not being eligible for periods of less than three consecutive months.
3. GRANT RECIPIENTS
The Doctoral Degree Research Grant is awarded to candidates who are enrolled in the Doctoral Program in Culture Studies at the FCH/UCP and who are seeking to develop research activities leading to the obtaining of the doctoral degree academic title in CECC – (UIDB/00126/2020).
4. ELIGIBILITY
4.1 Candidate eligibility requirements
Eligible to submit applications to this tender are: Portuguese citizens or citizens of other European Union member states; Citizens from other states; Stateless persons; Citizens holding political refugee status. In order to apply for a Doctoral Degree Research Grant, applicants need to: Hold a master’s degree in the field of Culture Studies, Literary Studies or other areas relevant to the program and for the development of the project; Reside in Portugal on a permanent and regular basis, a requirement applicable both to national and to international candidates. Be enrolled in in the Doctoral Program in Culture Studies at the FCH/UCP. Not to have already benefitted from a doctoral degree grant or an in-company doctoral degree financed by the FCT irrespective of the respective duration of time.
4.2 Application Eligibility Requirements
The following documents are all to be annexed to any respective application on penalty of exclusion from the tender: The details stated on an identity or citizen’s card or a passport; The candidate’s curriculum vitae; Certificates for each academic qualification held, necessarily specifying the final classification and, whenever possible, the classifications received in each subject studied or, alternatively, a declaration of honour by the candidate as to having completed their master’s degree studies prior to the closure of the applications period; Records of the awarding of academic titles by international higher education institutions alongside a record of the conversion of the respective final classification to the scale applied to the Portuguese classification system or, alternatively, a declaration of honour by the candidate as to having completed the respective international equivalent to that of the Portuguese undergraduate or master’s degrees prior to the closure of the applications period; Letter of motivation; Doctoral degree pre-project within the scope of one of the following research group at CECC: a) Culture, Art and Conflict, b) Literature and the Global Contemporary or c) Cognition and Translatabilty (max. 2,000 words).
There are the following notes as regards the aforementioned eligibility requirements: In the case of academic qualifications awarded by non-national higher education institutions, and in order to ensure the principle of equality in evaluating candidates with national and non-national academic degrees, the recognition of all academic qualifications and the conversion of their final classification grades to the Portuguese classification scale are both obligatory. The recognition of non-national academic titles and diplomas as well as the conversion of their final classification to the Portuguese classification scale may be requested in any public higher education institution or from the DGES – the General Directorate of Higher Education (only for cases of automatic recognition). Further to this issue, we would suggest consulting the DGES website at the following address: http://www.dges.gov.pt. Candidate applications are only accepted on having completed the cycle of studies leading to undergraduate or master’s degree titles through to the end of the tender period. Should they not yet have the certificates testifying to attaining the necessary qualifications for the submission of their applications through to the end of the tender period, then a declaration of honour is accepted in the meanwhile. However, the receipt of the grant shall always remain dependent on presenting the certificates demonstrating the awarding of the academic qualifications necessary to taking receipt of the grant.
5. WORKING PLANS AND SCIENTIFIC SUPERVISION OF THE GRANT HOLDERS
The working plan of the grant holder is to be developed within the framework of one of the following CECC research groups: a) Culture, Art and Conflict, b) Literature and the Global Contemporary or c) Cognition and Translatabilty.
6. CRITERIA AND METHODS OF EVALUATION
The evaluation takes into account the merit of the respective candidate (as expressed in the letter of motivation, the doctoral degree pre-project and the interview). Candidates deemed eligible are evaluated according to a scale of 1-20 across each of the following evaluation criteria:
Criterion A – Candidate merit, with a weighting of 50%; Sub-criterion A1 – Academic relevance and excellence, with a weighting of 35% Sub-criterion A2 – Other relevant experiences, with a weighting of 15%
Criterion B – Candidate potential, with a weighting of 50%; Sub-criterion B1 – Letter of motivation, with a weighting of 10% Sub-criterion B2 – Doctoral degree pre-project, with a weighting of 25% Sub-criterion B3 – Interviews, with a weighting of 15%
For the purposes of the decision on awarding the grants, the candidates are ranked according to the weighted classification grade obtained in each of the two criteria (and the respective five sub-criteria), as set out in the following formula: + Final Classification =(0.50×A)+(0.50×B)
In the case of ties, the ranking of candidates takes place according to the classifications awarded in each evaluation sub-criterion in keeping with the following order of preference: sub-criterion A1, sub-criterion B2, sub-criterion B3, sub-criterion A2, sub-criterion B1.
Important advice for candidates holding diplomas issued by non-national higher education institutions: Candidates holding diplomas issued by non-national higher education institutions may apply and be subject to the same evaluation criteria as candidates holding diplomas issued by Portuguese institutions whenever their respective applications duly contain recognition of the academic title(s) and the conversion of the final classification to the Portuguese classification scale in accordance with the applicable terms of legislation. Candidates with non-national diplomas who fail to submit this proof of conversion of their final classification to the Portuguese classification scale are awarded a minimum classification (10 points) in sub-criterion A1. In whatever the case, the grant contracts are only signed with candidates after having duly presented the proof of recognition of their academic titles and the conversion of their final classification as detailed above.
7. EVALUATION
The candidate evaluation panel contains the following members: Isabel Capeloa Gil, CECC, UCP (panel chair) Peter Hanenberg, CECC, UCP Maria Alexandra Lopes, CECC, UCP Diana Gonçalves, CECC, UCP (alternate)
The evaluation panel is to undertake its work in accordance with the evaluation criteria set out in this present Notification of Tender Opening, weighting the respective contents of candidate applications. Every panel member, including the chair, commits to respecting a set of core responsibilities in this evaluation process, such as the duties of impartiality, the declaration of any potential conflicts of interest and due confidentiality. In every stage of the evaluation process, confidentiality is entirely protected and ensured to guarantee the independence of all opinions/evaluations issued. For each candidate, the panel produces a final evaluation file that clearly, coherently and consistently sets out the arguments that led to the classifications awarded across each one of the evaluation criteria and sub-criteria. The evaluation panel meetings result in the writing of minutes that are signed off by every serving member. The minutes and their annexes are to necessarily include the following information: Name and affiliation of all evaluation panel members; Identification of all excluded applications alongside the respective justification; Methodology adopted by the panel for cases holding particular characteristics; Final Evaluation Files for each of the applications accepted; Provisional list of the classification and ranking of the candidates in the descending order of the final classifications attributed to all applications evaluated by the panel; CDI Declarations from every panel member; Eventual delegation of voting and other competences on the grounds of the justified absence of panel members.
8. PUBLICATION OF RESULTS
The evaluation results are released via e-mail sent to the respective address used by the candidate on the occasion of submitting their application to the tender.
9. DEADLINES AND PROCEDURES FOR PRIOR AUDIENCES, COMPLAINTS AND APPEALS
Following communication of the provisional list of evaluation results, the candidates have available a period of ten working days so that, should they wish, they may express their respective position at a prior audience of interested parties under the terms of articles 121 and subsequent in the Code of Administrative Procedures. The final decision is handed down following analysis of the positions submitted under the auspices of the prior audience of interested parties. The final decision may be subject to complaint throughout a period of fifteen working days or, alternatively, submitting an appeal within a thirty working day period, with both durations beginning on the date of the respective notification. Candidates who opt to submit complaints or appeals are to address them to the Rectory’s Office of Universidade Católica Portuguesa.
10. GRANT CONCESSION REQUIREMENTS
The research grant contract is signed directly with Universidade Católica Portuguesa The following documents are necessary to the process of any eventual awarding of a grant and the respective contract signing: Copy of each civil and fiscal identification document and, whenever applicable, that for social security ; Copy of the certificates received for the academic titles held; Presentation of the registration of recognition for non-national academic qualifications and the conversion of their respective final classifications to the Portuguese classification scale whenever so applicable; Document demonstrating enrolment and registration for the Doctoral Degree Program in Culture Studies at the Faculdade de Ciências Humanas, Universidade Católica Portuguesa; Declaration from the supervisor(s) expressing their acceptance of responsibility for the supervision of the working plan in accordance with the terms stipulated by article 5-A of the Research Grant Statute (term of declaration provided by the FCT< this document may be replaced by a statement by the program director as long as no advisor has been assigned); Document demonstrating the acceptance of the candidate by the institution hosting the respective research activities and guaranteeing the terms and conditions necessary for their smooth development while duly complying with that stipulated under article 13 of the Research Grant Statute; An updated document demonstrating compliance with the exclusive dedication regime. The awarding of the grant also remains dependent on: compliance with the requirements stipulated by this present Tender Notification; the results of the scientific evaluation; the non-existence of any unjustified non-compliance in terms of the duties of grant holders within the framework of any prior awarding of a financial grant contract, whether directly or indirectly, by the FCT; the budgetary capacity of CECC. The failure to deliver any of the documents necessary to complying with the grant contractual process within a period of six months beginning on the data of communicating the conditional awarding of the grant implies the expiry of the aforementioned concession and the closure of the respective process.
11. FINANCING
The payment of the grants begins following the candidate returning the duly signed research grant contract, which is to take place within a maximum period of fifteen working days beginning on the date of its receipt. The grants awarded under the auspices of the current tender are financed by CECC through recourse to funding provided by the FCT.
12. GRANT COMPONENTS
Grant holder is awarded a monthly living allowance according to the terms of the table to be found in RBI Annex I. All grant holders who are not otherwise covered by any social protection regime may take up the right to social security through means of registering with the social security voluntary regime, under the terms of the Contributory Regimes Codes for the Social Security Welfare System, with the FCT meeting any charges resulting from the respective contributions made in accordance with the terms and limits stipulated in EBI article 10.
13. GRANT COMPONENT PAYMENTS
The payments due to grant holder are made via bank transfer to the account number provided.
14. TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR RENEWING GRANTS
The renewing of the grant always depends on the submission of a request by the grant holder with a period of not less than sixty working days prior to the date of renewal and accompanied by the following documents: opinions issued by their supervisor(s) and by their host institution(s) resulting from the monitoring of the grant holder’s works and evaluating their activities; an updated document demonstrating compliance with the exclusive dedication regime; a document demonstrating renewal of the registration in the doctoral degree study cycle.
15. INFORMING AND HIGHLIGHTING THE FINANCING GRANTED
In all of its R&D activities, whether directly or indirectly grant financed, specifically in every communication, publication and scientific output, as well as the resulting theses, carried out with grant related support, grant holders are to explicitly mention the financial support received from CECC and the FCT. To this end, such documents are to include references to these actions and the acronyms of FCT, MCTES and CECC. The publication of research results financed under the auspices of the RBI is to follow all the norms for open data access, publication and other research results in effect at the FCT.
16. POLICY OF NON-DISCRIMINATION AND EQUALITY OF ACCESS
UCP implements a policy of non-discrimination and equality of access and correspondingly no candidate may be favoured, benefitted, harmed or deprived of any right or exempted from any duty especially as a result of their ascendancy, age, gender, sexual orientation, civil status, family situation, economic position, social origins or conditions, genetic heritage, reduced working capacity, disability, chronic illness, nationality, ethnic or racial origin, territory of origin, language, religion, political or ideological convictions and/or trade union membership.
17. APPLICABLE LEGISLATION AND REGULATIONS
This Tender falls under the auspices of the regulations of this current Opening Notification, the Regulations for FCT Research Grants, as approved by Regulation no. 950/2019, published in the 2nd DR Series on 16 December 2019, the Research Grant Holder Statute approved by Law no. 40/2004, of 18 August, according to the version in effect in conjunction with any other applicable national and community legislation.
Organization/institute: Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Cultura, Universidade Católica Portuguesa – Faculdade de Ciências Humanas
Two alumni of the MA program in Culture Studies, Raquel Pinhão and Teresa Pinheiro, have come together for a new project, #garanteolugar, that will bridge venues and brands with the aim of ensuring the sustainability of regular cultural programming and maintaining income levels for the artistic community. The idea is to create contracts through which companies and brands may acquire seats that will remain empty as a result of the rules imposed by the national strategy of pandemic control.
See what has been said about the project in the newspaper Público.
Those interested in the initiative may request further information through https://garanteolugar.pt.
Universidade Católica Portuguesa (UCP hereafter) hereby opens a tender for the awarding of 2 (two) research grants, subsequently referred to as Doctoral Research Grants, in the Culture Studies field, under the auspices of the FCT Research Grant Regulation and the Research Grant Holder Statute (RBI and EBI respectively hereafter).
These grants are financed by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) under the auspices of the Collaboration Protocol for the Pluriannual Financing Plan for Doctoral Degree Research Student Grants, signed between the FCT and CECC – the Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Cultura (UIDB/00126/2020).
1. SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS
The tender remains open from 4 June 2020 to 22 June 2020, 5pm (Lisbon time).
The applications and the candidate support documents stipulated in this current Tender Opening Notification are to be submitted via email and sent to concursos.cecc@fch.lisboa.ucp.pt.
Each candidate may submit only one application or face having every application annulled.
The submission of false declarations or undertaking acts of plagiarism on behalf of the candidates represents the grounds for annulment of the application irrespective of any other punitive type measures.
The research activities leading to the obtaining of the doctoral degree title are to take place at CECC (UIDB/00126/2020), which thus becomes the host institution of the grant holder irrespective of any other works that may be undertaken with more than one institution.
The research activities leading to the obtaining of the doctoral degree academic title by the grant holders selected fall within the framework of the strategic activities plan of CECC (UIDB/00126/2020) and undergo development under the auspices of the Doctoral Degree Program in Culture Studies, the Faculdade de Ciências Humanas (FCH hereafter), of UCP.
The working plan should take place entirely or partially in a national institution (national grant or mixed grant, respectively). One national and one mixed grant will be awarded.
The duration of the grants is, as a rule, annual and renewable for a maximum period of four years (48 months) with grants not eligible for periods of less than three consecutive months.
In the case of mixed grants, the period stipulated by the working plan to be hosted by a non-national institution may never be greater than 24 months.
The Doctoral Degree Research Grants are awarded to candidates either who are registered or who meet the requirements in effect to enrol in the Doctoral Program in Culture Studies at the FCH/UCP and who are seeking to develop research activities leading to the obtaining of the doctoral degree academic title in CECC – (UIDB/00126/2020) or in its associated host institutions.
Records of the awarding of academic titles by international higher education institutions alongside a record of the conversion of the respective final classification to the scale applied to the Portuguese classification system or, alternatively, a declaration of honour by the candidate as to having completed the respective international equivalent to that of the Portuguese undergraduate or master’s degrees prior to the closure of the applications period;
Letter of motivation;
Doctoral degree pre-project within the scope of one of the following research group at CECC: a) Culture, Art and Conflict, b) Literature and the Global Contemporary, c) Cognition and Translatability or d) Media Narratives and Cultural Change (max. 2,000 words).
There are the following notes as regards the aforementioned eligibility requirements:
In the case of academic qualifications awarded by non-national higher education institutions, and in order to ensure the principle of equality in evaluating candidates with national and non-national academic degrees, the recognition of all academic qualifications and the conversion of their final classification grades to the Portuguese classification scale.
The recognition of non-national academic titles and diplomas as well as the conversion of their final classification to the Portuguese classification scale may be requested in any public higher education institution or from the DGES – the General Directorate of Higher Education (only for cases of automatic recognition). Further to this issue, we would suggest consulting the DGES website at the following address: http://www.dges.gov.pt.
Candidate applications are only accepted on having completed the cycle of studies leading to undergraduate or master’s degree titles through to the end of the tender period. Should they not yet have the certificates testifying to their attaining the necessary qualifications for the submission of their applications through to the end of the tender period, then a declaration of honour is accepted in the meanwhile. However, the receipt of the grant shall always remain dependent on presenting the certificates demonstrating the awarding of the academic qualifications necessary to taking receipt of the grant.
5. WORKING PLANS AND SCIENTIFIC SUPERVISION OF THE GRANT HOLDERS
The evaluation takes into account the merit of the respective candidate (as expressed in the letter of motivation, the doctoral degree pre-project and the interview).
Candidates deemed eligible are evaluated according to a scale of 1-20 across each of the following evaluation criteria:
Criterion A – Candidate merit, with a weighting of 55%;
Sub-criterion A1 – Academic relevance and excellence, with a weighting of 40%
Sub-criterion A2 – Other relevant experiences, with a weighting of 15%
Criterion B – Candidate potential, with a weighting of 45%;
Sub-criterion B1 – Letter of motivation, with a weighting of 10%
Sub-criterion B2 – Doctoral degree pre-project, with a weighting of 15%
Sub-criterion B3 – Interviews, with a weighting of 15%
For the purposes of the decision on awarding the grants, the candidates are ranked according to the weighted classification grade obtained in each of the two criteria (and the respective five sub-criteria), as set out in the following formula:
In the case of ties, the ranking of candidate takes place according to the classifications awarded in each evaluation sub-criterion in keeping with the following order of preference: sub-criterion A1, sub-criterion B2, sub-criterion B3, sub-criterion A2, sub-criterion B1.
The candidate evaluation panel contains the following members:
Isabel Capeloa Gil, CECC, UCP (panel chair)
Peter Hanenberg, CECC, UCP
Maria Alexandra Lopes, CECC, UCP
Diana Gonçalves, CECC, UCP (alternate)
Nelson Costa Ribeiro, CECC, UCP (alternate)
The evaluation panel is to undertake its work in accordance with the evaluation criteria set out in this present Notification of Tender Opening, weighting the respective contents of candidate applications.
Every panel member, including the chair, commits to respecting a set of core responsibilities in this evaluation process, such as the duties of impartiality, the declaration of any potential conflicts of interest and due confidentiality. In every stage of the evaluation process, confidentiality is entirely protected and ensured to guarantee the independence of all opinions/evaluations issued.
The panel members, including the chair, may not act as supervisors or co-supervisors to candidates making applications within the scope of this tender.
For each candidate, the panel produces a final evaluation file that clearly, coherently and consistently sets out the arguments that led to the classifications awarded across each one of the evaluation criteria and sub-criteria.
The evaluation panel meetings result in the writing of minutes that are signed off by every serving member.
The minutes and their annexes are to necessarily include the following information:
Name and affiliation of all evaluation panel members;
Identification of all excluded applications alongside the respective justification;
Methodology adopted by the panel for cases holding particular characteristics;
Provisional list of the classification and ranking of the candidates in the descending order of the final classifications attributed to all applications evaluated by the panel;
CDI Declarations from every panel member;
Eventual delegation of voting and other competences on the grounds of the justified absence of panel members.
8. PUBLICATION OF RESULTS
The evaluation results are released via e-mail sent to the respective address used by the candidate on the occasion of submitting their application to the tender.
9. DEADLINES AND PROCEDURES FOR PRIOR AUDIENCES, COMPLAINTS AND APPEALS
Following communication of the provisional list of evaluation results, the candidates have available a period of ten working days so that, should they wish, they may express their respective position at a prior audience of interested parties under the terms of articles 121 and subsequent in the Code of Administrative Procedures.
The final decision is handed down following analysis of the positions submitted under the auspices of the prior audience of interested parties. The final decision may be subject to complaint throughout a period of fifteen working days or, alternatively, submitting an appeal within a thirty working day period, with both durations beginning on the date of the respective notification. Candidates who opt to submit complaints are to address them to the member of the FCT Governing Board with competences for such matters. Candidate opting to submit appeals should address them to the FCT Governing Board.
10. GRANT CONCESSION REQUIREMENTS
The research grant contracts are signed directly with the FCT
The following document are necessary to the process of any eventual awarding of a grant and the respective contract signing:
Copy of each civil and fiscal identification document and, whenever applicable, that for social security[1];
Copy of the certificates received for the academic titles held;
Presentation of the registration of recognition for non-national academic qualifications and the conversion of their respective final classifications to the Portuguese classification scale whenever so applicable;
Document demonstrating enrolment and registration for the Doctoral Degree Program in Culture Studies at the FCH/UCP;
Declaration from the supervisor(s) expressing their acceptance of responsibility for the supervision of the working plan in accordance with the terms stipulated by article 5-A of the Research Grant Statute (term of declaration provided by the FCT);
Document demonstrating the acceptance of the candidate by the institution hosting the respective research activities and guarantee the terms and conditions necessary for their smooth development while duly complying with that stipulated under article 13 of the Research Grant Statute;
An updated document demonstrating compliance with the exclusive dedication regime.
The awarding of the grant also remains dependent on:
compliance with the requirements stipulated by this present Tender Notification;
the results of the scientific evaluation;
the non-existence of any unjustified non-compliance in terms of the duties of grant holders within the framework of any prior awarding of a financial grant contract, whether directly or indirectly, by the FCT;
the budgetary capacity of the FCT.
The failure to deliver any of the documents necessary to complying with the grant contractual process within a period of six months beginning on the data of communicating the conditional awarding of the grant implies the expiry of the aforementioned concession and the closure of the respective process.
11. FINANCING
The payment of the grants begins following the candidate returning the duly signed research grant contract, which is to take place within a maximum period of fifteen working days beginning on the date of its receipt.
The grants awarded under the auspices of this current tender at to be financed by the FCT with funding from the State Budget and, whenever eligible, with funding from the European Social Fund provided within the framework of PORTUGAL2020, in particular and especially through the Operational Program for the Norte Region (NORTE 2020), the Operational Program for the Centro Region (Centro 2020) and the Operational Program for the Alentejo Region (Alentejo 2020), in accordance with the regulatory stipulations defined to this end.
12. GRANT COMPONENTS
Grant holders are awarded a monthly living allowance according to the terms of the table to be found in RBI Annex I.
The grant may also include other components in accordance with that defined in RBI article 18 and the amounts established in its Annex II.
All grant holders benefit from a personal accident insurance policy with the premiums incurred by the FCT.
All grant holders who are not otherwise covered by any social protection regime may take up the right to social security through means of registering with the social security voluntary regime, under the terms of the Contributory Regimes Codes for the Social Security Welfare System, with the FCT meeting any charges resulting from the respective contributions made in accordance with the terms and limits stipulated in EBI article 10.
13. GRANT COMPONENT PAYMENTS
The payments due to grant holders are made via bank transfer to the account number provided. The monthly maintenance allowance is paid on the first working day of each month.
The payment of registration, enrolment or other fees are made directly by the FCT to the respective national institution where the grant holder is registered/enrolled in a doctoral degree program.
14. TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR RENEWING GRANTS
The renewing of the grant always depends on the submission of a request by the grant holder with a period of not less than sixty working days prior to the date of renewal and accompanied by the following documents:
opinions issued by their supervisor(s) and by their host institution(s) resulting from the monitoring of the grant holder’s works and evaluating their activities;
an updated document demonstrating compliance with the exclusive dedication regime;
a document demonstrating renewal of the registration in the doctoral degree study cycle.
15. INFORMING AND HIGHLIGHTING THE FINANCING GRANTED
In all of its R&D activities, whether directly or indirectly grant financed, specifically in every communication, publication and scientific output, as well as the resulting theses, carried out with grant related support, grant holders are to explicitly mention the financial support received from the FCT and the European Social Fund (ESF), especially through the Operational Program for the Norte Region (NORTE 2020), the Operational Program for the Centro Region (Centro 2020) and the Operational Program for the Alentejo Region (Alentejo 2020). To this end, such documents are to include references to these actions and the acronyms of FCT, MCTES, of ESF and the EU according to the norms in effect for each operational program.
The dissemination of the research results financed under the auspices of the RBI is to follow all the norms for open data access, publication and other research results in effect at the FCT.
Every grant awarded, in particular in the case of actions receiving EU support, specifically from the ESF, may be subject to monitor and control actions undertaken on behalf of national and European organisms in accordance with the legislation applicable and with grant holders in receipt of support obliged to cooperate and provide the information requested, which shall include the completion of evaluation surveys and studies even after the duration of the grant has expired.
16. POLICY OF NON-DISCRIMINATION AND EQUALITY OF ACCESS
UCP implements a policy of non-discrimination and equality of access and correspondingly no candidate may be favoured, benefitted, harmed or deprived of any right or exempted from any duty especially as a result of their ascendancy, age, gender, sexual orientation, civil status, family situation, economic position, social origins or conditions, genetic heritage, reduced working capacity, disability, chronic illness, nationality, ethnic or racial origin, territory of origin, language, religion, political or ideological convictions and/or trade union membership.
17. APPLICABLE LEGISLATION AND REGULATIONS
This Tender falls under the auspices of the regulations of this current Opening Notification, the Regulations for FCT Research Grants, as approved by Regulation no. 950/2019, published in the 2nd DR Series on 16 December 2019, the Research Grant Holder Statute approved by Law no. 40/2004, of 18 August, according to the version in effect in conjunction with any other applicable national and community legislation.
Applications to MA and PhD Programs in Culture Studies at the Lisbon Consortium are open!
The 1st phase of applications will run from April 21 until May 22.
The 2nd phase of application will run from June 4 until July 10.
Last Round > Applications: August 31 (starting at 00:00:00) to September 4 (until 23:59:59) > Interviews: on a rolling basis > Results: September 9 > Registration: September 10 and 11
With approximately one-fifth of the world’s population currently in lockdown, the novel coronavirus (COVID–19) pandemic has drastically changed many of our lives. According to official statistics, the virus has now infected over 700,000 individuals across 192 countries, and such draconian measures are likely to have saved countless lives. But, the effects of the virus reach far beyond its biological capacity to cause illness. Originating in Wuhan, China, its rapid spread across national boundaries has drawn attention to the porous and interconnected world that we live in. The resulting economic consequences of the lockdown measures highlight the volatility of the global economy and the precarity of those whose labour sustains it. At the same time, it has transformed the way we interact with one another and understand ourselves, as new forms of creativity and solidarity emerge. In the time of coronavirus, both critical cultural analysis and sustained personal reflection are needed more than ever to put these emerging new realities into perspective.
Several leading intellectuals have already published their views on the coronavirus pandemic. Judith Butler, for one, has considered how the pandemic lays bare the radical inequalities inherent to global capitalism, drawing particular attention to the fraught politics of healthcare in the United States. Elsewhere, David Harvey has examined the broader repercussions for the dynamics of global capital accumulation; modes of consumerism that have long underpinned Western economies are now crashing before our very eyes, he says, and with potentially devastating consequences. On the other hand, philosopher Giorgio Agamben has come under criticism for his dismissal of the pandemic as a manufactured “state of exception,” aimed at facilitating a project of total control by governments and corporations, while denying the harsh reality of contagion altogether.
For the duration of the coronavirus pandemic, students and faculty at The Lisbon Consortium are encouraged to reflect further on the multifarious impacts of this bewildering new reality. To facilitate this, our PhD students are launching a new website, Culture in Quarantine, through which they hope to publish critical writing, visual essays and other creative responses over the coming weeks. When the pandemic is over, the website will remain online to serve as an archive of our collective thoughts and experiences.
Contributions of any length in the following formats are welcome:
★ Essays
Personal reflections, cultural critique and analysis, adaptations or excerpts of larger research projects. Please write for a general audience and avoid too much academic jargon.
★ Fiction
Creative responses to the coronavirus pandemic, including prose and poetry of all genres.
★ Visual essays
All combinations of photography (or other visual material) and text are welcome. Please indicate any specific layout requirements and we will try to accommodate.
Please also include a short biography of no more than 100 words.
Deadline for submissions: February 20, 2020March 5, 2020
Recent years have been marked by an alarming escalation of
environmental crises, turning climate change, pollution, the depletion of
natural resources and mass extinction into some of the most urgent concerns of
contemporary society. The X Lisbon Summer School for the Study of Culture,
under the topic “Ecoculture”, intends to reflect on the interrelation between
culture and the environment, to examine the growing awareness of the negative
impact of human activities and to discuss the necessity to rethink,
reconceptualize and redefine the relationship between humans and the non-human
world.
The term environment inspires varied meanings and interpretations.
Going back to its French roots, environ, the environment is,
essentially, what surrounds us. It is usually associated with external physical
conditions in which a living organism exists and develops, thus explaining its
common usage as synonymous to nature, i.e. something not human and that can be
affected by human activity. With this narrow conception of environment,
dichotomic assumptions such as man v. environment, culture v. nature,
civilization v. wilderness, where one is more valued than the other, multiply. Given
its etymology, the term environment hints at a separation between humans and the
milieus in which they move, hence spurring the idea of the environment as an
entity that exists ‘out there’ and independent of humans, as a place one
observes from afar or seeks as refuge. Many scholars have, nonetheless, brought
attention to the sense of continuity and interdependence between man and the
environment, claiming that the idea of nature necessarily implies the idea of
man. Others have also underlined its transcendental essence, the fact that it
involves practices and processes, with and without man, that far exceed man’s
comprehension.
The environmental movement emerged in the 1960s, largely influenced
by Rachel Carson’s seminal work Silent
Spring, which critically analyzed the dangers of the misuse of technology
and the risks inherent to humans’ ability to change entire ecosystems. The
discussion over environmental issues has expanded enormously since then, not
only encompassing questions related to natural phenomena and the
interconnectedness of all life but also addressing problems concerning the
finitude of human life on the planet (or at least of the existing way of life),
inequality and injustice in world structures, as well as logics of domination
and oppressive frameworks. What many of these raising questions have in common
is the centrality of man and man’s actions. This anthropocentric perspective,
which has led to the naming of a new geological era marked by human
intervention as Anthropocene, places man, unchallenged, at the center of the
environment and everything that happens to it, thus reinforcing the idea of
man’s supremacy over nature.
The environment and environmental issues have gained space in
academy, both as a discipline and a subject relevant to other areas of
knowledge; it has also become a hot topic for many artists and different forms
of art (photography, painting, cinema, theater, music, among many others). This
fact is corroborated by the proliferation of the ‘eco’ prefix, which has come
to accompany any discussion related to environmental questions. However, the
environment and the increasingly more visible environmental changes have also become
the source of great social, economic and political friction. More and more
movements, sustained by scientific evidence, have gained ground. Fueled by the belief
that saving and bettering what Pope Francis called “Our Common Home” is not
only a necessity but a duty, they aim at raising awareness, changing minds and
altering behaviors. This standpoint is, nevertheless, challenged by the lack of
engagement and consensus in terms of a global response, which fails to integrate
ecological discourses and practices and deal with environmental problems in an
efficient and speedily manner.
The Lisbon
Summer School invites proposals by doctoral students and post-docs that
address, though may not be strictly limited to, the topics below:
Nature/culture
Environment in/and the arts
Representations of
environmental crises and catastrophes
Ecocriticism
The Anthropocene
Climate change and global
warming
Pollution, waste and
rapidification
Extinction of species and
living systems
Sustainability and
ecocitizenship
Ecopolitics
Ecofeminism
Ecojustice
Ecotranslation
Activism, ecotage, ecoterrorism
Landscapes, environments and
ecologies
Urban ecology
Cultural ecology and human
ecology
Human, non-human, post-human
Natural and built environment
Digital environments
Scientific knowledge, skepticism
and manipulation
The Summer School will take place at several cultural institutions in
Lisbon and will gather outstanding doctoral students and post-doctoral
researchers from around the world. In the morning there will be lectures and
master classes by invited keynote speakers. In the afternoon there will be
paper presentations by doctoral and post-doctoral candidates.
Paper proposals
Proposals should be sent to lxsummerschool@gmail.com no later than February 20March 5, 2020 and include paper title, abstract in English (max. 200 words), name, e-mail address, institutional affiliation and a brief bio (max. 100 words) mentioning ongoing research.
Applicants will be informed of the result of their submissions by March 20,
2020 .
Rules for presentation
The organizing committee shall place
presenters in small groups according to the research focus of their papers.
They are advised to stay in these groups for the duration of the Summer School,
so a structured exchange of ideas may be developed to its full potential.
Full papers submission
Presenters are required to send in full
papers by May 30, 2020.
The papers will then be circulated amongst the members of each research
group and in the slot allotted to each participant (30’), only 10’ may be used
for a brief summary of the research piece. The Summer School is a place of
networked exchange of ideas and organizers wish to have as much time as
possible for a structured discussion between participants. Ideally, in each
slot, 10’ will be used for presentation, and 20’ for discussion.
Registration fees
Participants with paper – 290€ for the
entire week (includes lectures, master classes, doctoral sessions, lunches and
closing dinner)
Participants without paper – 60€ per session/day | 190€ for the entire week
Fee waivers
For The Lisbon Consortium students,
there is no registration fee.
For students from Universities affiliated with the European Summer School
in Cultural Studies and members of the Excellence Network in Cultural Studies
the registration fee is 60€.
This will be a two day event that will unite academics, PhD and MA students for paper presentations, round tables and debates related to Film Studies and their place in Academia.
The objective is to bring together and engage people who are passionate about Film Studies and want to share ideas, opinions and gain something for their research or see how this is developing. We will be having key note speakers from various institutions in Portugal as we wish to make a platform for cooperation for scholars from not only UCP Lisboa. We feel there is this necessity for sharing ideas, as many times PhD and MA projects seem as a very solitary work, but they do not have to be this way. Sharing ideas is always fruitful and inspirational.
The workshop is organized by Ekaterina Smirnova and Sara Magno
All students from The Lisbon Consortium are welcome to join the workshop.
The X Lisbon Consortium Graduate Conference in Culture Studies will focus on the concept of FACE as an object of artistic, cultural, biological and technological interest. During a two-day Face off in Lisbon participants will be able to confront their ideas about the subject, take part in intellectually challenging discussions and networking with new colleagues.
FACE is everywhere. It has travelled through a variety of cultural expressions, serving as an object of affection (e.g. photo albums, paintings), lending itself towards obsession (e.g. Narcissus and Dorian Gray), serving as a metaphor (e.g. ‘to lose one’s face’) or giving name to one of the most powerful enterprises in the world – Facebook. It has been a locus of fetishization and power, represented through historical portraiture in sculpture, paintings and photography, from Greta Garbo’s divinity complexion in Queen Christina (Barthes 2007, 74) to the imperial portraits of Majesties and Kings (Mirzoeff 2015). It is also through the face that humans engage in recognition of both themselves as well as the other. The face operates as a sensorial platform for communication and dialogue (Lévinas 1982) for verbal, non-verbal and sign languages.
Faces may also be of a terrifying nature, dysmorphic traits serving as visage for alterity and difference, prompting to a state of conflict and uncertainty through confrontation, such as in the myth of Medusa or in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. We see the face invading our everyday lives, constantly exhibited on social media, as a means of communicating with others, as well as negotiating our own identity online. Digital technologies, in particular, have explored the face in a variety of contexts, promoting, for instance, photo filters and face-tuning apps, or developing facial recognition systems and databases.
FACE can also be understood from a perspective of absence or concealment, leading us towards the usage of digital avatars, masks and veils, many of which are sometimes paralleled with cultural and religious celebrations.
We aim to discuss the different epistemologies created around the concept of “face”, and bring together researchers from around the world for a face off on how face is experienced and thought in their research areas. How does the face dictate how we perform, how all of our five senses are present in the face, how does the face frame one’s individuality, one’s identity traits or the way one thinks and makes meaning out of the world? How does one bestow meaning to the face? Likewise, can its absence become uncanny, and its invisibility connect to the unknown?
We want to encourage discussing the face, in the encounter at the X Graduate Conference in Culture Studies taking place on the 2nd and 3rd of April 2020 at Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Lisbon.
This Graduate Conference Face off is organized by three PhD students of the Lisbon Consortium, the doctoral program in Culture Studies at the School of Human Sciences,Universidade Católica Portuguesa. We are welcoming proposals from all research areas to address and discuss the following and related topics:
* Face in the Arts.
* Face in Literature
* Face representation in Media and Communication
* Face as a Metaphor and Metonymy
* Aesthetics and dysmorphia of the Face
* On Masks, Veils and the absence of face – from the Ritual, through Religion to Carnival.
* Face and identity
* Face of the Other
* Face in Performance, Performativity and Identity
* Face of AI and UFO
* Face and IT
* Face and Politics
* Biology and Emotionality of the Face
Proposals should be sent to thefaceoffxgraduateconference@gmail.com no later than January 5th January 31st, 2020 and include paper title, abstract in English (max. 250 words), name, email address, institutional affiliation and a brief bio (max. 100 words) mentioning ongoing research.
The Organizing Committee,
Ana Flora Machado, Cristina Gil
References
– Barthes, Roland. 2007. “The Face of Garbo.” In Stardom and Celebrity: A Reader, edited by Sean Redmond and Su Holmes, 261-262. London: SAGE Publications.
– Lévinas, Emmanuel. 1982. Ethics and Infinity. Duquesne University Press.- Mirzoeff, Nicholas. 2015. How to See the World. UK: Pelican Books.
The IX Graduate Conference in Culture Studies “Building Narrative: Cultural Interfaces and Spatial Meaning” will take place next Thursday and Friday, 5-6 December 2019, at Universidade Católica Portuguesa.
Julia Kristeva came to the Lisbon Consortium-Universidade Católica Portuguesa in October to give the Inaugural Lecture for the 2019/2020 Academic Year.
The Inaugural Session was also marked by the granting of two Research Awards Lisbon Consortium|Fundação Amélia de Mello. Ana Fabíola Maurício received the award for the best PhD Thesis and Teresa Líbano Monteiro received the award for best MA Dissertation).
Next Wednesday, October 9, the Lisbon Consortium will host the Inaugural Session for the academic year 2019/2020. Prof. Julia Kristeva, from the University of Paris Diderot – Paris 7, will make the Inaugural Lecture.
Two students will also receive this year’s Research Awards Lisbon Consortium | Fundação Amélia de Mello.
Recent years have been marked by an alarming escalation of
environmental crises, turning climate change, pollution, the depletion of
natural resources and mass extinction into some of the most urgent concerns of
contemporary society. The X Lisbon Summer School for the Study of Culture,
under the topic “Ecoculture”, intends to reflect on the interrelation between
culture and the environment, to examine the growing awareness of the negative
impact of human activities and to discuss the necessity to rethink,
reconceptualize and redefine the relationship between humans and the non-human
world.
The term environment inspires varied meanings and interpretations.
Going back to its French roots, environ, the environment is,
essentially, what surrounds us. It is usually associated with external physical
conditions in which a living organism exists and develops, thus explaining its
common usage as synonymous to nature, i.e. something not human and that can be
affected by human activity. With this narrow conception of environment,
dichotomic assumptions such as man v. environment, culture v. nature,
civilization v. wilderness, where one is more valued than the other, multiply. Given
its etymology, the term environment hints at a separation between humans and the
milieus in which they move, hence spurring the idea of the environment as an
entity that exists ‘out there’ and independent of humans, as a place one
observes from afar or seeks as refuge. Many scholars have, nonetheless, brought
attention to the sense of continuity and interdependence between man and the
environment, claiming that the idea of nature necessarily implies the idea of
man. Others have also underlined its transcendental essence, the fact that it
involves practices and processes, with and without man, that far exceed man’s
comprehension.
The environmental movement emerged in the 1960s, largely influenced
by Rachel Carson’s seminal work Silent
Spring, which critically analyzed the dangers of the misuse of technology
and the risks inherent to humans’ ability to change entire ecosystems. The
discussion over environmental issues has expanded enormously since then, not
only encompassing questions related to natural phenomena and the
interconnectedness of all life but also addressing problems concerning the
finitude of human life on the planet (or at least of the existing way of life),
inequality and injustice in world structures, as well as logics of domination
and oppressive frameworks. What many of these raising questions have in common
is the centrality of man and man’s actions. This anthropocentric perspective,
which has led to the naming of a new geological era marked by human
intervention as Anthropocene, places man, unchallenged, at the center of the
environment and everything that happens to it, thus reinforcing the idea of
man’s supremacy over nature.
The environment and environmental issues have gained space in
academy, both as a discipline and a subject relevant to other areas of
knowledge; it has also become a hot topic for many artists and different forms
of art (photography, painting, cinema, theater, music, among many others). This
fact is corroborated by the proliferation of the ‘eco’ prefix, which has come
to accompany any discussion related to environmental questions. However, the
environment and the increasingly more visible environmental changes have also become
the source of great social, economic and political friction. More and more
movements, sustained by scientific evidence, have gained ground. Fueled by the belief
that saving and bettering what Pope Francis called “Our Common Home” is not
only a necessity but a duty, they aim at raising awareness, changing minds and
altering behaviors. This standpoint is, nevertheless, challenged by the lack of
engagement and consensus in terms of a global response, which fails to integrate
ecological discourses and practices and deal with environmental problems in an
efficient and speedily manner.
The Lisbon
Summer School invites proposals by doctoral students and post-docs that
address, though may not be strictly limited to, the topics below:
Nature/culture
Environment in/and the arts
Representations of
environmental crises and catastrophes
Ecocriticism
The Anthropocene
Climate change and global
warming
Pollution, waste and
rapidification
Extinction of species and
living systems
Sustainability and
ecocitizenship
Ecopolitics
Ecofeminism
Ecojustice
Ecotranslation
Activism, ecotage, ecoterrorism
Landscapes, environments and
ecologies
Urban ecology
Cultural ecology and human
ecology
Human, non-human, post-human
Natural and built environment
Digital environments
Scientific knowledge, skepticism
and manipulation
The Summer School will take place at several cultural institutions in
Lisbon and will gather outstanding doctoral students and post-doctoral
researchers from around the world. In the morning there will be lectures and
master classes by invited keynote speakers. In the afternoon there will be
paper presentations by doctoral and post-doctoral candidates.
Paper proposals
Proposals should be sent to lxsummerschool@gmail.com no later than February 20 2020 and include paper title, abstract in English
(max. 200 words), name, e-mail address, institutional affiliation and a brief
bio (max. 100 words) mentioning ongoing research.
Applicants will be informed of the result of their submissions by March 20,
2020 .
Rules for presentation
The organizing committee shall place
presenters in small groups according to the research focus of their papers.
They are advised to stay in these groups for the duration of the Summer School,
so a structured exchange of ideas may be developed to its full potential.
Full papers submission
Presenters are required to send in full
papers by May 30, 2020.
The papers will then be circulated amongst the members of each research
group and in the slot allotted to each participant (30’), only 10’ may be used
for a brief summary of the research piece. The Summer School is a place of
networked exchange of ideas and organizers wish to have as much time as
possible for a structured discussion between participants. Ideally, in each
slot, 10’ will be used for presentation, and 20’ for discussion.
Registration fees
Participants with paper – 290€ for the
entire week (includes lectures, master classes, doctoral sessions, lunches and
closing dinner)
Participants without paper – 60€ per session/day | 190€ for the entire week
Fee waivers
For The Lisbon Consortium students,
there is no registration fee.
For students from Universities affiliated with the European Summer School
in Cultural Studies and members of the Excellence Network in Cultural Studies
the registration fee is 60€.
The launching of the new issue will take place on July 26, at 6 pm, at Rua das Gaivotas, 6, with a round table and a film screening.
This issue gathers conversations with Rita Felski and Margarida Medeiros; contributions by Katrine Dirckinck-Holmfeld, Nanna Rebekka, and Alexandra Grieve-Johnson; reviews by Samuel Mountford, Vera Herold, and Ekaterina Smirnova.
Our Master program in Culture Studies was ranked once again #4 in the World by the Eduniversal Best Masters Ranking in Cultural Management/Creative Industries Management.
The Program congratulates Faculty, Students & Institutional Partners for this outstanding recognition.
Isabel Capeloa Gil, Rector of Universidade Católica Portuguesa and Director of the Lisbon Consortium, received today an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Boston College.
The Lisbon Consortium congratulates Isabel Capeloa Gil for her honorary degree and inspiring Commencement Address.
“Remember, we are the stories we tell. […] Take charge of your narrative” Isabel Capeloa Gil at Boston College’s 143rd Commencement Exercises in Alumni Stadium on May 20
The International Doctoral Program in Culture Studies at the Lisbon Consortium (INTDCS), funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), hereby announces the opening of a call for applications for 6 full scholarships (3 national grants and 3 mixed grants) in the academic year 2019-2020, in accordance with FCT’s Research Fellowship Holder Statute
The Steering Committee of the Program will be responsible for selecting the candidates who will be awarded the grants. Grant Agreements will be signed directly between the selected candidates and FCT.
The program speaks to an innovative approach to the study of culture that works across disciplines in the social sciences and humanities and aims at fostering a collaborative research-intensive environment. As part of a tri-national network, students can benefit from up to two semesters at one of the partner institutions.
SCIENTIFIC FIELD
Culture Studies
APPLICATIONS PERIOD
The period of applications will open on March 1 and run through June 14.
ELIGIBILITY
Applicants are eligible provided they have been accepted into the Doctoral Program in Culture Studies of the Lisbon Consortium and comply with the following:
– National grants: Portuguese citizens or foreign citizens;
– Mixed grants: Portuguese and EU citizens or foreign citizens who are able to prove habitual or permanent residence in Portugal upon application;
– Holders of Master’s degree upon application. Foreign Master’s degrees must be recognized/registered.
– Sufficient undergraduate training to do graduate work in the chosen field or relevant professional experience;
– Have not previously received an identical type of FCT-funded fellowship for the same purpose;
– Competence in English (IELTS 7.0 minimum; TOEFL 100 + minimum 24 in all skills; Cambridge Advanced Certificate B; CEFR C1). Certificate attained in the last 2 years.
GRANT
The grant is awarded for a 12-month period, renewable up to a maximum of 4 years, and includes a monthly maintenance stipend and a tuition fee stipend, in accordance with the current FCT stipend scheme (http://www.fct.pt/apoios/bolsas/valores.phtml.en). It does not include application costs or any other expenses. It cannot be awarded for less than 3 consecutive months.
The performance of duties as a fellowship holder is carried out on an exclusive dedication basis.
Grants awarded within this call cannot start before September 2019.
APPLICATIONS
Applications should be sent by e-mail to lxconsortium@gmail.com or by registered mail to:
International Doctoral Program in Culture Studies
The Lisbon Consortium
Faculdade de Ciências Humanas
Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Palma de Cima
1649-023 Lisboa
Portugal
Applications must include the following documents:
– Master’s degree certified by the awarding institution (foreign Master’s degrees must be recognized/registered);
– Copy of identification document (Passport or ID card);
– Detailed CV;
– A personal statement indicating the student’s motivation and interest in the program (max. 3.000 characters);
– Preliminary research project (max. 15.000 characters);
– Certificate of English proficiency (except for native speakers).
[Please consult the Lisbon Consortium PhD Application Guidelines herefor further information]
EVALUATION
Proceedings for the awarding of scholarships will be based on the following selection criteria:
– Stage 1: Analysis of academic and scientific curriculum;
– Stage 2: Interview (in person or by videoconference) with the international Steering Committee.
The ranking of admissions will be established on a 0-100 points scale, according to the following percentage breakdown:
Academic excellence (track record) – 40%
Academic potential (interview) – 20%
Motivation, innovation and professional skills (research statement) – 25%
English language skills – 15%
INTERNATIONAL STEERING COMMITTEE
– Professor Dr. Isabel Capeloa Gil
– Professor Dr. Frederik Tygstrup
– Professor Dr. Ansgar Nünning
– Professor Dr. Alexandra Lopes
– Professor Dr. Peter Hanenberg
PUBLICATION OF RESULTS
Results will be sent to all candidates by e-mail and will also be available on the Program’s website at https://lisbonconsortium.com/. If the decision is unfavorable, applicants have a period of 10 working days to submit their comments, under the terms established in the Administrative Procedure Code. The final decision can be appealed to the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, within 15 working days of its notification.
FUNDING
The scholarships awarded under this contract will be financed by funds from the State Budget of the MCTES (Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior)/FCT and, when eligible, by funds from the European Social Fund through the Programas Operacionais during the period 2014-2020, from Portugal 2020, namely, the Programa Operacional Temático do Capital Humano, the Programa Operacional Regional do Norte, do Centro e do Alentejo, in accordance with the provisions of their specific regulations.
The awarding of the scholarships depends on the reception of all the required documentation and on FCT’s budgetary availability.
For more information, please contact us at:
International Doctoral Program in Culture Studies
The Lisbon Consortium
Faculdade de Ciências Humanas
Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Palma de Cima
1649-023 Lisboa
Portugal lxconsortium@fch.lisboa.ucp.pt
To analyze the ways in which cultural objects acquire meaning can also be understood as looking at the technologies by which those objects have become enciphered. In this issue of Diffractions we aim to look at the concept of the cipher in its myriad ways of appearing, be they cultural, social, political, technological, linguistic or economic in nature.
To give an example of that last category, one merely needs to point towards Marx’s theory on the fetishization of commodities. There, the process through which the material existence of products of labor can become invisible behind their exchange value, is formulated as a process of hiding what is central to the object; its material existence and its use value. In other words, the Marxist theory of fetishization can be understood as the discovery of a cipher, the cipher of exchange value.
But the concept of the cipher travels easily, and can be situated in many locations. In Adriana Cavarero’s work on the voice, she considers the ways in which the bodily aspects that are associated with the vocal are often hidden behind its semiotic, linguistic, and signifying capacities. That is to say, speech functions as a cipher for the materiality of the vocal. The vocal needs to be deciphered.
But what is a cipher? And how to know if we are dealing with a cipher to begin with? The cipher raises questions. In technologico-linguistic terms, a cipher calls for a key. A password. A way to de-cipher what was first en-ciphered. Perhaps a text that appears as a cipher is a plain text after all. The cipher’s call is not always obvious. Ciphers can conceal their act of concealing; hide not only what they are hiding, but that they are hiding as well; steganography.
Ciphers cut. And, as Jacques Derrida writes, they produce an inside and an outside, insides and outsides. In order to protect what is behind the cipher, the cipher has to function as a passageway, letting some through while excluding others. In order to be allowed to enter, something must already be known. The cipher marks the limits of something hidden. But some measure of knowledge is nevertheless presupposed. It marks the boundaries of a relationship. It conceals and shows at the same time. It covers and uncovers.
If, for someone like Marx, the material manifestation of any object precedes its encipherment, others might submit, instead, that the cipher operates as the occasion for materialization to first take place. Mediation comes first, and materializes the body, someone like Judith Butler would argue. Following such accounts of the performative nature of subjection, one may suggest that the very materiality of the body is a product of a process that relies on cultural, linguistic, affective, and discursive, ciphers. And if the cipher conditions processes of materialization and subjectivation, one can ask if there is anything that escapes its logic. Is there an excess of meaning that remains neither enciphered, nor decipherable? To trace that excess would be to situate the cipher more precisely. It would be an attempt to recognize ciphers where they are, and to isolate those places where they remain absent.
For the upcoming issue of Diffractions we would like to make the cipher speak. To allow it to be heard, perhaps against its will. To ask where the cipher begins, and what exceeds its limits. In doing so, we aim to connect the cipher to objects, to values, to voices, and to the body. Our goal is to investigate the ways in which these concepts can be made useful for the study of cultural objects. How objects of study might help us to make the cipher speak, and how the cipher might engage these objects in return.
We look forward to receiving proposals of 5.000 to 9.000 words (excluding bibliography) and a short bio of about 150 words by October 31st, 2018 to be submitted at our website: https://diffractions.fch.lisboa.ucp.pt/Series2.
Diffractions also accepts book reviews related to the issue’s topic. If you wish to write a book review, please contact us through the e-mail address below.
We aim to be as accessible as possible in our communication. Should you have any questions, remarks, or suggestions, please do not hesitate to contact us through the following address: info.diffractions@gmail.com.
The Lisbon Consortium 