The Peripheral Identities project is concerned with issues related to the relationship between centre and periphery, and the conflict between memory and modernisation. The focus is on cultural production with special attention to literature, language and the arts.

For further information on the background to the project and the research interests of its founders please click here.

The first major event connected with the project was a conference on Peripheral Identities in the Iberian Context which was held at Lancaster on 30th & 31st March 2001. The proceedings from this conference form a special edition of the journal National Identities (volume 4, no. 3, November 2002). The editorial contains the philosophy and goals of the colloquium.

On 3rd July 2004, we hosted three special guest speakers, Lucia Graves, Matthew Tree and Miquel Berga. The theme of the event was the reciprocal exploration of Iberian and British cultures through memoirs. Further details of this event can be found here. Articles based on the papers given by Lucia Graves and Matthew Tree were published in the International Journal of Iberian Studies, vol. 18/1 (2005).

It is also our intention to broaden the project beyond the Iberian Peninsula, by establishing collaborative links with other active researchers throughout Europe who are also working on subjects relating to minority cultures and cultures in contact. Through further conferences and publications, we aim to bring new perspectives to issues surrounding cultural production and identity.

Guest Lecture Series
RECIPROCAL GAZES ON CATALONIA

The study of the interplay of literature, cultural tradition and identity forms the basis of this guest lecture series running from 2009 to 2011, which focuses on the narratives of multicultural writers. This has been organized as a series of papers to be given at Lancaster, starting 9 February 2009 with J-L Marfany (Liverpool), 'A Cuckoo in the Nest? Castilian in Catalonia, 1500-1870', and continuing on 10 March with Francesco Ardolino (Barcelona), 'Salvatore Quasimodo in Post-War Barcelona'. This new initiative is in part a follow-up to the colloquium "Reciprocal Gazes on the Iberian/British Other", successfully organized by F Barberà and K Crameri at Lancaster in 2004. As was the case with the 2001 and 2004 conferences, an anticipated outcome of the 2009 series will be the publication of the research papers as a collective volume.

DELC, Lancaster University as the ideal setting

DELC has provided an ideal setting for this new development, as new interdisciplinary initiatives have had a direct impact on teaching and recruitment. Thus Barberà was also able to incorporate a comparative focus on his courses on the representation of the Spanish Civil War and Franco’s dictatorship, both studied from within and without Catalonia and Spain. Other courses have also been lauched with colleagues from various disciplines taking a comparative approach to European literary Modernism, European Identity, and world representations of war. Recruitment has also been increased by means of the international links and exchanges launched, and the new research areas incorporated, where Barberà also acts as supervisor of research students and has recently examined our first PhD, on Post-War novels.

For further information about the Peripheral Identities project or associated conferences you can write to:

Peripheral Identities
Department of European Languages and Cultures
Lancaster University
Lancaster
LA1 4YN

Email: f.barbera@lancaster.ac.uk (Dr Frederic Barberà)

You can join our email discussion list by consulting our Jiscmail website at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/peripheral-identities.html.