Perceptions of Latin America in European Literature, Film and Advertising

This project is focused on investigating reciprocal processes of perception and reception with regard to the representation of the experience of otherness in literature, film and advertising. It will also analyze the repercussions of these foreign images for self-perception and the discursive construction of cultural identities. 

In July 2004 the IAI invited literary agents, literary scholars, directors of cultural institutions, editors and translators to take part in the symposium “Die Rezeption lateinamerikanischer Literatur in Deutschland: aktuelles Stand und Perspektiven” (“The Reception of Latin American Literature in Germany: Current Status and Perspectives”). The proceedings were published in 2007 in the work Lateinamerikanische Literatur im deutschsprachigen Raum (Latin American Literature in German-Speaking Regions, edited by Diana Römer and Friedhelm Schmidt-Welle). An interdisciplinary collection of articles on the reciprocal perception of Germany and Latin America in the twentieth century was also published in 2007: Wechselseitige Rezeptionsprozesse Deutschlands und Lateinamerikas im 20. Jahrhundert (Reciprocal Processes of Reception in Germany and Latin America in the Twentieth Century, edited by Peter Birle and Friedhelm Schmidt-Welle). In 2008 took place the symposium "La revolución mexicana en la literatura y el cine" in cooperation with the University of Guadalajara, the DAAD and the Cátedra Guillermo y Alejandro de Humboldt. Furthermore, in 2011 the project coordinator published a book on perceptions of Mexico in European and US literature and the mass media.