Cartonera production, literary criticism and democracy: speculations

• Grant number: 21/10192-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: February 01, 2022
• End date: October 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Literature Theory
• Principal Investigator: Andrea Saad Hossne
• Grantee: Ariadne Catarine dos Santos
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 23/01503-8 - Methodological development (Trans-Formal Methods) and data collection with participating members of European cartonera publishers about their respective actions and productions, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

This research project aims to study manifestos and some of the literary productions from the following cartoneros collectives: Eloísa Cartonera (Buenos Aires), Dulcineia Catadora (São Paulo), Ganesha Cartonera (Rio de Janeiro), Mandrágora Cartonera (Cochabamba) and Yerba Mala ( La Paz), Yiyi Jambo (Asunción), Animita Cartonera (Santiago). The first collective forementionned was born in the context of an economical crisis in Argentina at the turn of the millennium, its proposal is to produce hand-made books, based on recyclable materials seldom used in arts, essentially the "cartón" - or cardboard in english. With writings that are usually typed, handwritten or even printed by the collective itself, the books are arranged using artisanal binding techniques. Said proposal has spread and other collectives have been founded in several countries of all over the american continent. As stated in the corpus selected for this project, there are now also groups in Europe, Africa and Asia. With this in mind, this investigation intends, as a first movement, to gather data on cartoneras productions, as well as academic works on the subject, which would constitute the Institutional Front of the project. This would be done as a joint work with the Florestan Fernandes Library (FFLCH -USP). From this survey, the investigation will carry out other movements focusing on the problematization of what are the implications of cartonera productions facing the reflection on contemporary literature and criticism in relation to society (democracy, community, etc.), which constitutes the Analytical and methodological Front, as analytical operators are also under debate.