Research team
Expertise
Reindert Dhondt lectures on Hispanic literatures. His research focuses on contemporary Latin American literature, with special interests in decolonial thought, material heritage, and intermediality. His expertise lies in discourse analysis, memory studies, and affect theory. His current research deals with the representation of violence in Latin American culture, as well as the complex relationship between the museum and literary fiction. His work engages with the ethics of representation and questions of restitution and reparation, drawing on museum studies, visual studies, and anthropology. His teaching is closely informed by these themes, encouraging students to critically examine cultural narratives and historical legacies. His book Carlos Fuentes y el pensamiento barroco (Iberoamericana Vervuert, 2015) is the first systematic study of the Baroque in the work of Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes. Recent edited works include Afectos y violencias en la cultura latinoamericana (Iberoamericana Vervuert, 2022), Transnacionalidad e hibridez en el ensayo hispánico. Un género sin orillas (Brill, 2016), and a special issue on affective arrangements and violence in Latin America for the Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies (2023).
Latin American Literature and the Museum: Material Heritage Retold.
Abstract
This research project examines how colonial museum objects are represented across various text types: object biographies, necrographies, and imaginary renderings that we call 'fabulographies'. The project asks how these narratives encourage other ways of looking at supposedly lifeless objects, challenging universalizing notions of cultural heritage to bring about a decolonial reckoning or epistemic restitution. The project's main objectives are threefold: (1) to gain an in-depth understanding of the narrative techniques and devices within these texts, drawing on object-oriented narratology and new materialism; (2) to gather essential primary materials and to establish a collaborative network of academic partners across Europe and Latin America, who will be valuable interlocutors for follow-up projects and future grant applications (DOCPRO4, FWO); and (3) to create forums where anthropologists, museum professionals, literary scholars, policy makers and writers can exchange ideas and expertise. These objectives will be achieved through a seminar series, a research stay and field work in Mexico, and an interdisciplinary symposium at the MAS. The project lays the groundwork for a larger investigation into 'museum fictions', in particular by Latin American writers, which will eventually culminate in a book.Researcher(s)
- Promoter: Dhondt Reindert
Research team(s)
Project type(s)
- Research Project