Description

In this research group we focus on books, films and other cultural products (like comics or television) from a transnational perspective. We consider for example how US culture is affected by transnational trends and how US literature, culture and films have had an impact on the culture of other countries like Spain (in the project about "Transnational Post-Westerns"). We also investigate the impact that Spanish literature has had on other countries, and pay particular attention to globalization, gender and border studies.

Portal del personal investigador UC

Research Group Members

Jesús Ángel González, PI (CV, Publications, Google Scholar, Personal Website)
Alfredo Moro (ResearchGate)
Macarena García-Avello (Publications, Google Scholar)
Eduardo Obradó (Publications)
Eva Pelayo (Publications, ResearchGate)

Richard Jorge (ResearchGate)

RESEARCH LINES

American Literature, Film and Culture and its transnational impact: JESÚS ÁNGEL GONZÁLEZ

Transnational Post-Westerns: JESÚS ÁNGEL GONZÁLEZ

Transnational Crime Fiction: EDUARDO OBRADÓ

Transnational Gender Perspectives: MACARENA GARCÍA-AVELLO

Italian-American Literature and Culture: EVA PELAYO

Spanish Literature from a Transnational Perspective: ALFREDO MORO                        

Irish-American Literature: RICHARD JORGE

Transnational Gothic: RICHARD JORGE

FUNDED PROJECTS

"Transnational Post-Westerns: Global Impact of a Regional Myth" (SODERCAN/FEDER, 13.JU21.64661) (2018- 2019)

This project deals with the analysis of a contemporary subgenre that combines two categories that are helping us reconceptualize the traditional view about film genres. The first category, transnational cinema, intimately related to the phenomenon of globalization, is already well established in academic jargon to make up for the inadequacies of the concept of national cinemas. The second, the Post-Western, is used to refer to films revising both the Western genre and the spatial and ideological implications of the West of the USA in this genre.

The main objective of this project is then to review these two concepts in order to propose a new line of research, and to propose and analyze a new generic category combining both: Transnational Post-Westerns. Based on Neil Campbell's definition of Post-Westerns as films produced after World War II, "coming after and going beyond the traditional Western while engaging with and commenting on its deeply haunting assumptions and values" (Post-Westerns, 131), this project intends to analyze films made outside the United States which make references to the Western genre and which establish a dialogue with the original genre in order to achieve two goals. First, to analyze and question the values and tenets of the original genre from the point of view or race, politics and gender. And, secondly, to investigate the identity and national conflicts of the country in which these films are produced and set. In a preliminary analysis, several examples have already been studied in Spain and Ireland (in two articles published as Transnational Post-Westerns in Irish Cinema in The Journal of Transnational American Studies, and "A genre auteur ?: Enrique Urbizu's Post-Western films" in Hispanic Research Journal). A corpus of films has been located in countries such as France, Mexico, Italy, Russia and Turkey, and the objective will be to analyze these films to define the characteristics of the subgenre.

Along with this main objective, four secondary objectives have been set to help us understand better the features of Post-Westerns and the transnational phenomenon. The first secondary objective is to inquire about the existence of the Post-Western category in other popular genres such as television, contrasting "NeoWesterns" (like Deadwood) with specifically Post-Western products (which make references to the genre but propose a radically different discourse, away from the time and space of classical Westerns) like Justified or Westworld. The second goal is to study the predecessors of the Western genre from a transnational point of view (Transnational PreWesterns), that is to say, to investigate the relation of the myth of the West with the foundational myths of European countries and the structures and characters of Westerns with classic literary archetypes. Thirdly, we intend to study the importance of translation in the "transnationalization" of Westerns and, finally, to consider the West of the USA as a "transnational space" in which, far from the stereotypes of the Western genre, new identities are developed. The research team of this project is made up of researchers of the Department of Philology of the University of Cantabria with specific training in these fields.

NEW WESTS: EL OESTE AMERICANO EN LA LITERATURA, EL CINE Y LA CULTURA DEL SIGLO XXI: UN ENFOQUE TRANSNACIONAL Y TRANSDISCIPLINAR, Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, PGC2018-094659-B-C21 
(IP: Amaia Ibarraran Vigalondo)