Joint research project Mainz-Coimbra: “Incisions. Violence in Modern Literature and Film”

Project directors: Prof. Dagmar von Hoff – Prof. António Sousa Ribeiro

The purpose of this joint research project (funded term 2014-2015) was to examine the history of violence within German and Portuguese culture based on examples from literature and film and to determine its relevance within the global context of European Modernism. The research emphasized two aspects:
In 'Verdrängung und Schatten' [Suppression and Shadows], we considered the subject of violence, a topic that still plays a role in artistic expression in Europe to this day, from a historical perspective. In 'Gewalt und Entfremdung' [Violence and Alienation], we were looking at aesthetic processes, such as the use of multiple voices and ambivalence, to express the structural function of conflict and violence and examined selected examples to see how these processes are transformed into literature and film.

The research project 'Einschnitte. Gewalt in Literatur und Film der Moderne' was part of the 'Projektbezogener Personenaustausch Portugal' (PPP) of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in which the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz was cooperating with the Universidade de Coimbra (Portugal). The project was sponsored by the German Academic Exchange Service from funds provided by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) on the German side and by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) on the Portuguese side.

The results of the project were published in 2016 in a detailed publication entitled “Einschnitte. Signaturen der Gewalt in textorientierten Medien“.

Participating researchers and young academics

Joint symposiums