Project Details
Description
THE POWER OF LOVE: Contemporary Narratives of Care, Hope and Commitment
Funded by the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI), Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain. € 65087.50 (AUD 115,650)
In the last decade, the world has witnessed the escalation of military conflicts in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, with their subsequent population displacements, the polarisation of political discourse, the intensification of the culture-war debates, the rise of the far-right in Europe, the increasing concerns about the dangerous potential of artificial intelligence and the undeniable effects of climate change. Literature and popular culture have been quick to respond to these increasingly darker realities in the form of narratives which predict social collapse, depict dystopian scenarios and engage imaginatively with our collective anger, our increasing sense of fear and insecurity and the generalised uncertainty about humanity’s future. Significantly, though, literature and media narratives have also travelled in the opposite direction, offering comforting stories of love and hope which foresee optimistic endings and validate the value of commitment – for self and mutual care, for social justice and environmental causes – which mobilise positive affects and provide fictional safe spaces for readers amidst these upsetting and uncertain times.
This project builds on our previous work on the evolving discourses on romantic love, the global impact of romance as one of the central cultural narratives of our time, and the reparative value of diverse and inclusive popular romantic narratives. We will explore the ethical and political value of love, care and commitment in relation to two interrelated strands:
1. Love as commitment and community: In this group, we include narratives that foreground love as a form of commitment and bonding in the face of injustices and/or violence which might be inflicted on individuals or communities –in the form of structural violence, racism, inequalities- or to non-human beings, such as the environment. Placing and emphasis on love as a strategy to foster the sense of community is a form of resistance to power and care for others since, as bell hooks argues: “capitalism and patriarchy together, as structures of domination, has worked overtime to undermine and destroy this larger unit of extended kin” (2000: 130)
2. Love as hope and healing: In this group, we include narratives that present love as a source of hope and healing after processes of suffering, trauma or loss. The corpus includes narratives that envision comforting or optimistic futures through characters who commit to personal and socio-political change through more ethical relations of care and love. As bell hooks argues: “no matter what has happened in our past, when we open our hearts to love we can live as if born again, not forgetting the past but seeing it in a new way, letting it live inside us in a new way” (2000: 209)
Funded by the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI), Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain. € 65087.50 (AUD 115,650)
In the last decade, the world has witnessed the escalation of military conflicts in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, with their subsequent population displacements, the polarisation of political discourse, the intensification of the culture-war debates, the rise of the far-right in Europe, the increasing concerns about the dangerous potential of artificial intelligence and the undeniable effects of climate change. Literature and popular culture have been quick to respond to these increasingly darker realities in the form of narratives which predict social collapse, depict dystopian scenarios and engage imaginatively with our collective anger, our increasing sense of fear and insecurity and the generalised uncertainty about humanity’s future. Significantly, though, literature and media narratives have also travelled in the opposite direction, offering comforting stories of love and hope which foresee optimistic endings and validate the value of commitment – for self and mutual care, for social justice and environmental causes – which mobilise positive affects and provide fictional safe spaces for readers amidst these upsetting and uncertain times.
This project builds on our previous work on the evolving discourses on romantic love, the global impact of romance as one of the central cultural narratives of our time, and the reparative value of diverse and inclusive popular romantic narratives. We will explore the ethical and political value of love, care and commitment in relation to two interrelated strands:
1. Love as commitment and community: In this group, we include narratives that foreground love as a form of commitment and bonding in the face of injustices and/or violence which might be inflicted on individuals or communities –in the form of structural violence, racism, inequalities- or to non-human beings, such as the environment. Placing and emphasis on love as a strategy to foster the sense of community is a form of resistance to power and care for others since, as bell hooks argues: “capitalism and patriarchy together, as structures of domination, has worked overtime to undermine and destroy this larger unit of extended kin” (2000: 130)
2. Love as hope and healing: In this group, we include narratives that present love as a source of hope and healing after processes of suffering, trauma or loss. The corpus includes narratives that envision comforting or optimistic futures through characters who commit to personal and socio-political change through more ethical relations of care and love. As bell hooks argues: “no matter what has happened in our past, when we open our hearts to love we can live as if born again, not forgetting the past but seeing it in a new way, letting it live inside us in a new way” (2000: 209)
| Short title | The Power of Love |
|---|---|
| Status | Active |
| Effective start/end date | 1/09/25 → 31/08/28 |