Not so long ago, the links between Romanticism and vexed issues such as class, gender, or race, were barely explored within Romantic studies, despite that some Romantics embraced very eagerly what today sound like very unacceptable ideas such as the division of humankind into two primary racial groups:  the “culturally superior and beautiful Europeans” on the one hand, and the “Mongols”, namely “the ugly and inferior” Asians, Africans and Americans on the other.[1]

The impact of racial theories, the so-called Romantic sciences and colonialist gazes on the depiction of landscapes, nature and people of distant lands by Romantic artists is a topic largely neglected. Inspired by the title of Walter Mignolo’s book The Darker Side of Western Modernity, this project invites to reappraise and debate on the development of Romanticism beyond Europe from a critical perspective incorporating feminism, decolonial thinking, Marxism, LGBTI studies, Queer theory, among others, in the analysis and interpretation of paintings, drawings and any other visual media produced by European Romantic artists in Africa, Asia, America and Oceania throughout the nineteenth century. 

This is a call for any scholar and early career researcher interested in taking part in a project whose final aim is to publish an edited book about these topics. This project is in an early stage. Therefore, it is expected that those selected to participate in this undertaking demonstrate commitment and willingness to discuss the different matters related to the romantic movement and its impact on non-European nations. The idea is to set a group work to elaborate a publication proposal to be submitted to different editorial houses and apply to the various funding available. 

If you are interested, please submit a 250-word abstract and a short bio and affiliation to magc500@york.ac.uk by June 15th 2021.

Any queries can be addressed to Dr Miguel Angel Gaete magc500@york.ac.uk

https://www.linkedin.com/in/miguel-gaete/

https://york.academia.edu/MiguelGaeteCaceres

[1] Zantop, ‘The Beautiful, the Ugly, and the German: Race, Gender, and Nationality in Eighteenth-Century Anthopological Discourse’, 22.