Dr Cornelia Gr?bner
Senior Lecturer in Hispanic Studies and Comparative LiteratureAdditional Information
My research explores poetics and narratives of the social and the political from the 1950s to the present day, in Europe and the Americas, especially Latin America. Methodologically I draw on Cultural Analysis and Comparative Literature. My work focuses on three broad subject areas: poetry-in-performance, committed writing, and imaginaries of acquiescence versus critical hope.
Poetry in Performance. I've published widely and continue to research on the intermediality of poetry in performance, the intersections of poetry and theory, and the relationship between poetry and emancipatory politics. I've looked at the performance of poetry within social movements, have argued that the sensorial plenitude of the poetry performance is an antidote to the attritional dynamics of austerity politics and necropolitics, investigated poetry as a resistance to ideological constructs such as anti-communism, and analysed specific poetry events as intersections of critical thinking and poetry. Beyond writing, I've curated events on the organization of poetry scenes in port cities and on poetry from the edgelands in collaboration with the poetry organisation ó Bhéal in 2022 and 2023.
Committed writing. I'm interested in how political and ethical commitments are expressed in, or inform, poetry and prose writing. Committed writing is an important intervention into public debates in democratic societies, and a practice of survival and resistance under non-democratic regimes. I have published on the representation of 1970s armed movement in the Mexican novel, on writing from within the Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity in Mexico, on writing from within cataclysmic historical movements and, most recently, on the poetry and the memoirs of Carolyn Forché and Margaret Randall.
Imaginaries of Acquiescence versus Stories of Critical Hope in the 21st century. What are the psychosocial obstacles to social and political transformation? My research explores imaginaries of acquiescence as a feature of the cultures of contemporary low-intensity democracies, visibilizes such imaginaries by decoding 'hidden transcripts' (James C. Scott) of acquiescence and suppression. Imaginaries of acquiescence can be countered by stories of 'critical hope' (Paulo Freire). Currently I'm writing stories of critical hope based on the holdings of the CAMeNA in Mexico City.
See the blog series The Aliveness of Memory, published in collaboration with the Latin America Bureau: https://lab.org.uk/series/camena-blog/
Projects:
Collaborative: Contemporary poetry and politics: social conflict and poetic dialogisms (POEPOLIT II)
As a direct continuation of three previous research projects, researchers involved in the project Contemporary poetry and politics: social conflict and poetic dialogisms (POEPOLIT II, PID2019-105709RB-I00) explore the relationships between poetics and politics, and their impact in contemporary western societies. With three projects since 2010, the work of a stable group of international researchers has expanded poetics analyses theoretically and in practice, as well as their interfaces with politics. The project is of a comparative and relational nature and focuses on poetry in several languages and from a range of regions and territories.
Duration of the project: 2020-2023. Funding entity: Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (Spain). See https://poepolit.blogspot.nl/p/poepolit.html
Individual: Cultural Imaginaries of Acquiescence in Contemporary Low-Intensity Democracies, funded by The Leverhulme Trust from September 2017 until May 2019.
Stories of Critical Hope from the Centro Académico de la Memoria de Nuestra América (CAMeNA), funded by the British Academy.
Research Overview
Cornelia's research focuses on poetry in performance, committed writing, and cultural imaginaries of acquiescence and stories of critical hope, especially but not only in Latin America.
She explores the interplay of emancipation and experimentality in performance poetry, engages with committed writing as a practice of high-intensity democracy, picks apart cultural imaginaries of acquiescence and counters these with narratives of critical hope. Her research includes Europe and the Spanish-speaking Americas, and literatures in Spanish, English, and German.
Cornelia's research draws on the methodologies of literary and cultural analysis. She has been involved in several international research projects on contemporary poetry.
PhD Supervision Interests
performance poetry; literature, social movements and the public sphere; comparative literary studies; contemporary Latin American literature Proposals may take a comparative approach or may focus on the literature of particular countries.
Selected Publications
Gr?bner, C. 1/10/2024 In: Cahiers de Littérature Orale. 95-96, 24 p.
Journal article
Gr?bner, C. 31/10/2024 In: Comparative Critical Studies. 21, 2-3, p. 267-280. 14 p.
Journal article
Gr?bner, C. 08/2015 In: Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies. 11, 3, 26 p.
Journal article
Gr?bner, C. 2014 In: Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies. 20, 1, p. 51-74. 24 p.
Journal article
All Publications
-
01/12/2023 → 31/12/2024
Research
-
01/05/2023 → 31/08/2025
Research
-
01/06/2020 → 31/05/2024
Research
-
01/01/2017 → 31/12/2019
Other
-
01/01/2013 → 31/12/2015
Research
-
01/01/2013 → 31/12/2015
Other
-
01/01/2010 → 31/12/2011
Other
-
01/10/2007 → …
Other
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Oral presentation
Invited talk
Oral presentation
Oral presentation
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
Participation in conference - Academic
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Oral presentation
Participation in conference - Academic
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Invited talk
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
Visiting an external academic institution
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Invited talk
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Festival/Exhibition/Concert
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Invited talk
Invited talk
Invited talk
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Invited talk
Visiting an external academic institution
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Oral presentation
Invited talk
Invited talk
Publication peer-review
Invited talk
Visiting an external academic institution
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Member of an organisation
Publication peer-review
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Member of Advisory Panel
Editorial activity
Invited talk
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Publication peer-review
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Participation in conference -Mixed Audience
Invited talk
Invited talk
Invited talk
Invited talk
Invited talk
Invited talk
Invited talk
- Latin America Research Cluster
- Poetics of Resistance
- Transcultural Writing, Practice and Research Network