Mission statement

Research in the University of Lisbon Centre for English Studies (ULICES/CEAUL) is focused on the multidisciplinary study of English(es), understood both as language and as all the literatures and cultures of the English-speaking world, in connection with other languages and cultures, especially the Portuguese. The literary framework includes additional multimodal communication processes, requiring a contextually-informed reading only possible by the combination of different disciplinary, theoretical and methodological approaches. Therefore ULICES hosts researchers specializing in the fields of literature, culture, linguistics, translation, reception, inter-art studies, among others. It encompasses both fundamental and applied research with social impact, envisaging hermeneutical practices where interpersonal/intercultural relationships are crucial (e.g. translation, Diaspora, post-colonial studies, medical care, tourism studies).

The Unit is structured into 6 research groups engaged in individual and collective projects: RG1.English Studies:Literature; RG2.English Studies:Culture; RG3.American Studies; RG4. Other English-speaking Literatures and Cultures; RG5.Linguistics: Language, Culture, Society; RG6.Reception and Translation Studies.

The following areas are privileged: (1) Interdisciplinary studies of literatures and cultures; (2) Historical and cultural transformations, power relations and questions of cultural politics, including concepts such as tolerance, liberty, rights, democracy; (3) Digital Humanities, aiming at understanding and exploring the impact of new tools and promoting the integration of new media in literary and cultural studies; (4) Cities and identities, belonging in societies marked by a history of colonization, migration and Diaspora; (5) Inter-arts relations – literature, cinema, visual arts, theatre and music; (6) Translation and Reception Studies in Portugal; (7) (Creative) Writing applied to academic research and criticism; (8) Medical Humanities, with an emphasis on researching and exploring inter- and transdisciplinary uses of literature, as currently developed in the Anglo-American context; (9) Science Fiction and Fantasy, highlighting the critical dimension stimulated by the creation of alternative worlds; (10) Interliterary | Cultural Tourisms in English/Portuguese.