CONICYT Network Grant awarded to "Converging Horizons"

ICOG members Gonzalo Albornoz, MA, Dr Konstantin Mierau, and Prof. Dr Pablo Valdivia of the Chair group of European Culture and Literature have played an instrumental role in obtaining a prestigious network grant for international collaboration from the Chilean National Research Funding Agency CONICYT. The project is entitled Converging Horizons: Production, Mediation, Reception and Effects of Representations of Marginality. It is a collaboration between senior and junior researchers from Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Spain, and the Netherlands, which aims to further and expand upon academic collaborations initiated during the H2020 European Commission Marie-Curie RISE project Cultural Narratives of Crisis and Renewal, presided by Prof. Dr Pablo Valdivia.

Converging Horizons centers on the study of representations of marginal groups such as prisoners, ethnic minorities, LGBTQIA communities, and immigrants. The researchers aim to identify the role of cultural representation in marginalisation, as well as investigating the potential for reconnection and reintegration of marginalised groups. Dr Carlos del Valle from the University of La Frontera – who stayed in Groningen as visiting research fellow in February 2018 – will be the managing director; Dr Konstantin Mierau will act as director of the academic advisory board; and Gonzalo Albornoz, MA – currently a CONICYT-funded PhD candidate with the Graduate School for the Humanities – will coordinate the outreach activities.