Science in Text and Culture in Latin America

研究科学技术与文学和艺术的相互作用，虽然在欧洲和北美的学术背景下是一个既定的领域，但在拉丁美洲的研究中并没有得到广泛的追寻。这在一定程度上是因为人们认为拉丁美洲不是科学生产的中心，因此缺乏一种能够接受这种创新的审美文化，特别是在十九世纪及以后的科学和技术突破的狂热时期。“拉丁美洲文本和文化中的科学”网络将通过召集一批学者研究拉丁美洲作家和艺术家对十九世纪至今在当地和全球范围内发生的科学和技术创新的不同反应方式来纠正这一假设。我们将对最近发表并正在进行的研究做出回应，该研究开始揭示这两个明显不同的领域之间存在的丰富的历史、方法论和对话解释。为了加强这种对话，该网络包括来自拉丁美洲的当代作家、电影导演和剧作家，他们的作品受到科学技术进步的启发，他们利用科学来想象他们所在地区的不同历史或观点。我们在两年的时间里计划了一些活动，以最大限度地发挥网络的潜力。首先，我们将在牛津、布宜诺斯艾利斯、圣胡安(波多黎各)和剑桥举办四个国际研讨会，每个研讨会都将围绕不同的历史、文化和美学问题，涉及科学与艺术的关系。所有四次会面都将以研究人员和创意实践者之间的对话为特色，他们的作品跨越了这两个领域的界限。我们特别热衷于为研究生和博士后提供旅行奖学金，让他们积极参与这些国际接触。在牛津大学主办的第一次研讨会上，我们将重点讨论当我们在创造性实践和研究中跨越科学和艺术之间的边界时会发生什么，并提高人们对跨学科方法的价值的认识。第二次研讨会将在圣胡安举行，将专门讨论该地区的科幻现象。第三次研讨会将在布宜诺斯艾利斯举行，将探讨拉丁美洲科学和文学之间的历史对话，以及这些对话如何产生现代意味着什么的理论。在剑桥大学的上一次研讨会上，我们将问，最近的创造力和进化论理论可以给我们对科学和创造性写作(或其他形式的叙事艺术)创新的理解带来什么启发。除了将拉丁美洲的知名艺术家，如阿根廷剧作家拉斐尔·斯普雷格尔堡带到英国外，这两个总部位于英国的研讨会还将通过欧洲和英美文学和科学方面的学者的演讲来发展比较视角。除国际研讨会外，还将在网络期间开展一些其他活动，将该项目的影响扩大到普通公众。其中包括在剑桥和伦敦放映拉丁美洲科幻电影，在牛津科学史博物馆展出从19世纪到现在的墨西哥、阿根廷和巴西的文本和文物，以及一个将定期更新的网络网站。该网络将出版两本编辑过的书籍和一些文章，标志着该网络对拉丁美洲和跨学科研究的干预。该网络在其两年运行期之外有许多令人兴奋的可能性，并将为申请关于这一主题的重大研究拨款铺平道路。

The study of science and technology's interactions with literature and the arts, while an established field in European and North American academic contexts, has not been widely pursued within Latin American studies. This is due in part to the perception that Latin America has not been a hub of scientific production and thus has lacked a receptive aesthetic culture that reacts to news of such innovations, particularly in the frenzied period of scientific and technological breakthroughs during the nineteenth century and beyond. The 'Science in Text and Culture in Latin America' network will seek to rectify this assumption by bringing together a group of scholars to study the diverse ways in which Latin American writers and artists have responded to scientific and technological innovations occurring both locally and globally, from the nineteenth century to the present day. We will respond to research, recently published and in progress, that is starting to reveal a wealth of histories, methodologies and interpretations of the dialogues that existed between these two apparently distinct realms. To enhance this conversation, the network includes contemporary writers, film directors and dramatists from Latin America whose work is informed by advances in science and technology, and who employ science to imagine alternative histories or views of their region. We have planned a number of activities over the course of two years to maximize the potential of the network. Firstly, we will organize four international symposia in Oxford, Buenos Aires, San Juan (Puerto Rico) and Cambridge, each of which will be structured around different historical, cultural and aesthetic questions concerning the relationship between science and the arts. All four encounters will feature conversations between researchers and creative practitioners whose works cross the boundaries between these two realms. We are especially keen to offer travel bursaries to postgraduate and postdoctoral students, to allow them to participate actively in these international encounters. In the first symposium, hosted by the University of Oxford, we will focus on what happens when we cross the boundaries between science and art, both in creative practice and in research, and raise awareness of the value of interdisciplinary approaches. The second symposium, to be held in San Juan, will focus specifically on the phenomenon of science fiction in the region. The third symposium, to be held in Buenos Aires, will explore the historical conversations between science and literature in Latin America, and how these in turn yield theories of what it means to be modern. In the last symposium, at the University of Cambridge, we will ask what light recent theories of creativity and evolution can throw on our understanding of innovation both in science and in creative writing (or other forms of narrative art). Aside from bringing renowned artists from Latin America to the UK, such as the Argentine dramatist Rafael Spregelburd, the two UK-based symposia will develop comparative perspectives by featuring talks by scholars working on European and Anglo-American literature and science. Beyond the international symposia, a number of other activities will also take place within the network period to extend the impact of the project to the general public. These include screenings of Latin American science fiction films in Cambridge and London, and an exhibition of Mexican, Argentine and Brazilian texts and artifacts from the nineteenth century to the present in Oxford's History of Science Museum, as well as a network website, which will be regularly updated. Two edited books and a number of articles will come out of the network, marking its intervention in Latin American and interdisciplinary studies. The network harbours a number of exciting possibilities beyond its two-year period of operation, and will pave the way for applications for a major research grant on this theme.