Research into representations of intercultural contacts in Czech travelogue texts from the Mediterranean up to 1918, using digital humanities

About the project

Name of the project: Research into representations of intercultural contacts in Czech travelogue texts from the Mediterranean up to 1918, using digital humanities
(acronym: DIGEOCAT & Lib.)

Project solution time: 12/2022 – 12/2025

The project is funded by EU programme “Cooperation partnership in higher education Erasmus+” (2022-1-CZ01-KA220-HED-000085765)

Applicant organisation: Palacký University Olomouc (Faculty of Arts / Faculty of Science)

Partner organisations: Universita degli Studi di Udine, Universidad de Granada, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, Moravská zemská knihovna v Brně

The main objective of the project is to create an innovative digital humanities tool, specifically a digital library of travelogue texts accessible online, which will be interactively connected with a digital multi-thematic atlas via themes focusing on intercultural contact.

Planned outputs

The main project outcome will be a multi-thematic atlas accessible online, connected via themes focusing on intercultural contact with a digital library consisting of the selected body of travelogues – DIGEOCAT & Lib. Other outcomes will use the created digital humanities tool, capable of processing a large volume of data: academic studies, specialised maps, reports and other dissemination activities essential for presenting the usability of the tool in education and research.

News

Online workshop on researching Czech travelogues from the Mediterranean

On Friday, 2 November 2024, the first of a series of four online workshops on the topic “Researching Czech travelogues from the Mediterranean from the 15th century to 1918 using digital humanities” took place, with the participation of students and researchers from Palacký University in Olomouc and our project partner universities in Zagreb, Udine, and Granada. The four-hour introductory workshop “How to understand travel texts and how to ‘read’ them using digital humanities?”, led by Jiří Hrabal (Faculty of Arts, UP) and Radek Barvíř (Faculty of Science, UP), was attended by 33 participants. The next workshop will follow on 15 November, this time focused on “Czech Travel Texts from the Levant”, led by Dr. Jana Kolářová and Dr. David Jirsa from the Department of Czech Studies of the Faculty of Arts of UP.

EU Projects Day in Zagreb

On 17 October 2024, the “EU Projects Day” took place at the Faculty of Arts in Zagreb, Croatia. Five major projects in which the Faculty of Arts in Zagreb is involved were presented, including ours, which was presented by the coordinator of the Croatian team Matija Ivačić. The event, which was opened by the Dean of the Faculty of Arts in Zagreb, Domagoj Tončinić, was held on the occasion of the Open Day of the Croatian Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds.

International Conference Universität trifft Museum: Kunst, Geschichte und jüdisches Leben in Europa

Dr. Ivana Cahová, member of the project team and the head of the Centre for Judaic Studies in Olomouc, presented our project in Vienna and Eisenstadt at the international conference “Universität trifft Museum: Kunst, Geschichte und jüdisches Leben in Europa”, which took place on 23–25 September 2024.

International Scientific Conference in Czech Studies in Zagreb

During the International Scientific Conference in Czech Studies – Migrations (Faculty of Arts in Zagreb, 26–27 September 2024), the project investigator Jiří Hrabal presented his contribution “What do Czech travelogues from the Dalmatian Kingdom say about the immigration of Czechs to Dalmatia?”.

International conference supported by our project

The conference “The Mediterranean in Travelogue Literature” will take place in Udine, where the members of our project team will present their contributions.

Our project at the 8th Croatian Slavonic Congress

The project investigator Jiří Hrabal presented our project at the 8th Croatian Slavonic Congress in Slavonski Brod (11–⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠14 September 2024) with his paper “Istraživanje prezentacije alteriteta u češkim putopisnim tekstovima iz Dalmacije do 1918. godine: od književne kulture do digitalne humanistike i natrag”. More than 100 researchers from 13 countries participated in the Congress. Thanks to this experience, the relations between the countries cooperating on the project within the “cooperation partnership” framework are growing stronger.

Theses written within the framework of the Digeocat & Lib. project

The first two theses written within the framework of our project were successfully defended at the Faculty of Arts of UP in June 2024. The first one, a Master’s thesis called “Cestopis Šimona Aloise Tudecia de Monte Galea”, was written by Vladan Marenčík under the supervision of doc. Radmila Prchal Pavlíčková at the Department of History. The Bachelor’s thesis “Venezia nella letteratura di viaggio ceca della prima età moderna” was written by Markéta Kurucová (student of Italian and Czech Philology) under the supervision of Dr. Eva Skříčková and defended at the Department of Romance Studies.

Translation of Karel Liebscher’s travel diary into Croatian

As part of the educational activities of our project, a translation into Croatian of Karel Liebscher’s short travelogue “On the Coast of Istria” from 1888 was published in the Croatian literary magazine Artikulacije (17/2024, pp. 121-134). The translation was made within the framework of the three-part workshop “Czech Travel Texts in Translation: challenges and specificities” at the Faculty of Arts in Zagreb. The travelogue was translated by Jana Perutka, Franka Radetić, Josipa Teskera and Lara Varjačić under the supervision of Matija Ivačić.

Workshop at the University of Warsaw

On Tuesday 4 June 2024, Jiří Hrabal, the principal investigator of the Digeocat & Lib. project, presented the work on this project to Polish students at the University of Warsaw during a four-hour workshop.

Lecture and meeting of the project team in Zagreb

On 6 May, Jiří Hrabal presented his work on the Digeocat & Lib. project in a lecture on the specifics of travel literature to the students of Bohemian Studies at the University of Zagreb. Subsequently, our three-member Croatian project team (FFZG) met for a work meeting with the head of the project (FFUP). Among other things, they discussed the relationship between the modes of transport of the narrative self in travel texts and the constitution of the narrated space.

Research team

Palacký University Olomouc (UPOL) is in the position of the project applicant and shall incorporate the following into the project:

  • a team of specialists in Czech literary culture from the 15th century up to 1918 and in cultural aspects of narrative texts from the Department of Czech Studies (UPOL),
  • a team of specialists in digital mapping and geoinformatics from the Department of Geoinformatics (UPOL),
  • the experienced university Project Service of UPOL (https://psup.cz/), which provides complex services for project activities, including project consultation and administrative and financial project management;

the Czech partner in the project is the prestigious CZ institution:

  • the Moravian Library in Brno (MLB) is providing a team of specialists in digitisation of literary monuments, including technical support.

Teams from partner universities abroad: The University of Granada, University of Udine and University of Zagreb have been incorporated into the project because the cultural and historical realms they represent come within the European region of the Mediterranean, thus the areas the Czech travel writers primarily visited. The teams from these partner institutions are composed of specialists in literary culture, linguistics, anthropology, history and geography.

Only the synergy of the research teams of these partner institutions can facilitate the project realisation, in which it is necessary to interlink a number of specialisations and several cultural and historical realms.


Palacký University Olomouc · Faculty of Arts

  • Jiří Hrabal

    head of the project

    Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Czech Studies, Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc

    – principal project investigator and author of the idea of creating a digital multi-thematic atlas (with digital library) of Czech travelogue texts focusing on the Mediterranean region;

    – specialist in the field of narratology, history of literary theory and literary culture of Central Europe and the Western Balkans;

    – founder and chief co-ordinator of the “Centre for Research into Travelogues and History of Written Representations of Intercultural Contacts” (www.cvc.upol.cz);

    – chief organiser of 9 international academic interdisciplinary symposia “Central European Arts and Culture” (2011–2019);

    – another accomplished scientific project: „Czech adaptations of Robinson Crusoe and their role in Czech culture and society since the end of the 18th century“ (2020–2023, individual grant project, GA ČR 20-03868S), principal investigator

    – important research outputs in the last 5 years:

    • Hrabal, J. (eds.) (2023). Eduard Griez de Ronse a jeho úřední deníky z let 1841 a 1842. Olomouc, Vydavatelství Filozofické fakulty UP.
    • Hrabal, J. (2022). Češki putopisni tekstovi iz Kraljevine Dalmacije. Književna smotra 54, 204(2), 53–64.
    • Hrabal, J. (2022). “Český příběh” o Robinsonu Crusoeovi v 19. století v kontextu tehdejší cestopisné literatury. Slovo a smysl 19, 40, 46–64.
    • Hrabal, J. (2022). Siegfried Kapper and the South Slavic Literary Culture of the Western Balkans. In Hrabal, J. – Trojková, N. (eds.) Jewish Literature and Culture in Central Europe. Slovo a smysl 19, 39 (Special issue), 39–58.
    • Hrabal, J. (2020). Ostrov Robinsona Crusoe v české literární kultuře. In Hrabal, J. (eds.) Ostrov v literaturách a kulturách střední Evropy. Olomouc, Vydavatelství Filozofické fakulty UP, 11–33.
  • Sarah Lemmen

    member of the research team

    Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Modern and Contemporary History, Faculty of Geography and History, Universidad Complutense de Madrid

    – specialist in the cultural history of East Central Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries, with an interest in the history of travel and tourism, migration and exile, cross-border workers, transborder radio broadcasting and other transnational and global phenomena. A long-time research focus has been on Czech travelogues to South European and non-European regions from the 19th century to the Second World War;

    – co-founder and main coordinator of REIECO, the Spanish Network for Research on Central and Eastern Europe [Red española de Investigación sobre Europa Central y Oriental];

    – member of the editorial team of the academic journal Cuadernos de Historia Contemporánea;

    – another accomplished scientific project: “Cross-border workers in Europe during the Cold War: A microhistory of temporary migrations” (Comunidad de Madrid, PR 65/19-22442), 2020-2023, principal Investigator;

    – important research outputs in the last 5 years:

    • Lemmen, S. (2023). Who’s speaking? Eastern European Exile in Franco’s Spain and the Cold War propaganda battle. In Bravo, G. G. – Faraldo, J. M. (eds.) Interacting Francoism. Entanglement, Comparison and Transfer between Dictaturships in the 20th Century. London, Routledge, 179–199.
    • Lemmen, S. (2023). Travelling second class. Czech tourists between national identity and Europeanness in Cairo, 1890s–1930s. Journal of Tourism History 15/1., 3–19.
    • Lemmen, S. a Le Normand, B. (eds.) (2021). Ports in State Socialism – or why the Cold War Matters to Maritime History. International Journal of Maritime History 33/1 (speciální vydání).
    • Lemmen, S. (2020). Beyond the League of Nations: Public Debates on International Relations in Czechoslovakia during the Interwar Period. In Becker, P. – Wheatley, N. (eds.). Remaking Central Europe: The League of Nations and the Former Habsburg Lands. Oxford, Oxford University Press (The history and theory of international law), 343–362.
    • Lemmen, S. (2018). Tschechen auf Reisen. Repräsentationen der außereuropäischen Welt und nationale Identität in Ostmitteleuropa 1890–1938 [Travelling Czechs. Representations of the non-European world and national identity in East Central Europe, 1890–1938]. Köln-Wien, Böhlau
  • David Jirsa

    member of the research team

    Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Czech Studies, Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc

    – teacher, editor, translator and popularizer of science (educational podcast with over 50 000 subscribers);

    – specialist in the history of spiritual/Christian literature and literary theory of postmodern era (post-structuralism, Frankfurt School and critical theory);

    – long-time co-organizer and national coordinator of the EU-funded Erasmus+ program „YIA-IYC“ (Youth in Action – International Youth Camp);

    – important publications in the last 5 years:

    • Jirsa, D. (2018). Od tvaru k poezii: Jan Strakoš ve Tvaru. In Kubíček, T. – Wiendl., J. Obrazy kultury a společnosti v období první republiky. Brno, Moravská zemská knihovna, 91–98.
    • Jirsa, D. (2018). Pozice Timothea Vodičky při tažení olomouckých dominikánů proti Karlu Schulzovi. In Jirsa, D. – Trojková, N. (ed.) Je to s tím akordem velký kříž. Olomouc, Vydavatelství Filozofické fakulty UP.
    • Jirsa, D. (2020). Literární eseje Timothea Vodičky v kontextu katolického myšlení o literatuře v první polovině 20. století. In Jirsa, D. – Trojková, N. (ed.) Timotheus Vodička, Tvůrce a tradice – Eseje o české literatuře 19. století. Olomouc, Vydavatelství Filozofické fakulty UP.
    • Jirsa, D. (2020). Světová literatura po roce 1989. In Adámková, P. (eds.) Nová literatura 3 pro střední školy. Brno, Didaktis, 196–215.
    • Jirsa D. (2022). Doslov – Přínos Petra Hory české literární historie. In Hrabal, J. – Jirsa, D. –Trojková, N. (ed.) Odpovědnost a dobrodružství. Řemeslo recenzentovo.
  • Jana Vrajová

    member of the research team

    Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Czech Studies, Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc

    – specialist in the field of literary history of the 19th century, focused on woman writing and and ancient influences in Czech literature;

    – another accomplished scientific project: grant of Faculty of Arts, Palacký University (FPVC2013/18): Tvorba Sofie Podlipské v kontextech a souřadnicích české literatury 2. poloviny 19. století (The work of Sofie Podlipská in the contexts and coordinates of Czech literature of the second half of the 19th century)

    – important research outputs in the last 5 years:

    • Vrajová, J. (2023). Realismus a dekadence jako „nákaza” v dobové řeči o literatuře 19. století. Slavica Wratislaviensia CLXXVII, 177, 149–155.
    • Vrajová, J. (2023). Ideál v hávu dokumentarity. Česká literatura 70, 4, 429–457.
    • Vrajová, J. (2022). Paměťová stopa židovství v memoárové literatuře autorů konce 19. století. In Hrabal, J. – Trojková, N. (eds.) Židovská literatura a kultura ve střední Evropě. Slovo a smysl 19, 39 (Special issue), 39–58.
    • Vrajová, J. (2020). Parnasistní variace na středověké putování svatého Brandana (Julius Zeyer, Kronika o svatém Brandanu). In Hrabal, J. (ed.). Ostrov v literaturách a kulturách střední Evropy. Olomouc, Vydavatelství Filozofické fakulty UP, 61–69.
    • Vrajová, J. (2020). Pozdní dílo Terézy Novákové v doteku s modernistickými tendencemi. V Gilk, E. (ed.). Impresionismus v české kultuře (1880–1920). Vydavatelství Filozofické fakulty UP, 113–122.
  • Ivana Cahová

    member of the research team

    Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Head of the Kurt and Ursula Schubert Center for Jewish Studies, Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc

    – specialist in the field of Czech and German Jewish literature, German Jewish literature in Israel, image and legacy of the Shoah in literature and film, history of Jewish communities in Bohemia and Moravia

    – another accomplished scientific project: “Jewish Cultural and Intellectual history of Olomouc II – Specialized Printed Map The development of the Jewish settlement of Olomouc: Geographical and socio-economic structure of the Jewish population in the period 1180–2021” (IGA_FF_2021_026, MŠMT)

    – chief organiser of the international summer school Schismatics, Heretics, and Religious Crisis: Frankism and the Turbulent 18th Century in East Central European Jewry. EAJS. 11. – 21. 8. 2022, Palacký University Olomouc.

    chief organiser of the international online workshop Olomouc – Jerusalem Week 2021, Kurt and Ursula Schubert Center for Jewish Studies, Palacký University Olomouc and Mandel Institute of Jewish Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 24. – 27. 5. 2021, ONLINE

    – co-organiser of the regular popular science multi-genre festival Days of Jewish Culture Olomouc – Palacký University Olomouc, Museum of Arts Olomouc, Jewish Community of Olomouc (16 volumes)

    – important research outputs in the last 5 years:

    • Cahová, I. (ed.) – Barvíř, R. – Chalupný, V. – Jeništa A. – Lapiszová, K. – Niklová, P. –Papoušek, M. – Pospíšil, J. – Řezníčková, A. – Svobodníková, N. (2022). Vývoj židovského osídlení v Olomouci: geografická a socioekonomická struktura židovského obyvatelstva v období 1180–2021. Specializovaná tištěná mapa. Olomouc, Univerzita Palackého.
    • Cahová, I. – Jeništa, A. – Barvíř, R. (eds.) (2022). Židovské kulturní a intelektuální dějiny Olomouce. Specializovaná tištěná mapa. Olomouc, Muzeum umění.
    • Cahová, I. (2021). Dramatik Max Zweig – prorok nového humanismu (dramatik Max Zweig – Prorok nového humanismu). Olomouc, Univerzita Palackého.
    • Cahová, I. (2020). „‚Inteligence je tu – pro krmení prasat.‘ Engelmannův kruh a kulturní prostředí olomouckých Židů v prvních desetiletích 20. století“. In Crhová, M. (ed.). Přerámování židovského života: moravské židovstvo v moderní době. Olomouc, Univerzita Palackého, 95–112.
    • Cahová, I. (2018). „Max Zweig: Apoštol nového humanismu. Politické perspektivy Maxe Zweiga“. In Wakounig, M. – Kühnel, F. (eds.) East Central Europe at a Glance. Lidé. Kultury. Developments, Europa Orientalis, Institut für Osteuropäische Geschichte an der Universität Wien, (18), 251–272.
  • Jana Kolářová

    member of the research team

    Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Czech Studies, Faculty of Arts, Palacký University Olomouc 

    – specialist in the field of medieval and early modern literature, focused on Latin literature of renaissance humanism 

    – another accomplished scientific project: grant of Faculty of Arts, Palacký University (FPVČ 2014/452100601): Dílo Jiřího Bartholda Pontana v kontextu latinské humanistické literatury katolické provenience [The work of Jiří Barthold in the context of Latin humanist literature of catholic provenance]

    – important research outputs in the last 5 years: 

    • Kolářová, J. (2022). On the Image of Jews in Latin Humanist Poetry. Slovo a smysl (19), 39 (speciální vydání), 109–122. 
    • Kolářová, J. (2021). Balbínovo Examen melissaeum mezi humanistickou a barokní poetikou [Examen melissaeum of Bohuslav Balbín between renaissance and baroque poetics]. In Bobková-Valentová, K. – Havlík, J. M. – Viták, K. (eds.): BB 400. Ó kráso Země české, vlastenče náš. Sborník příspěvků. E-publication, 285–219. 
    • Kolářová, J. (2020). Básnické dílo Jiřího Bartholda Pontana. [Poetic Works of Georgius Bartholdus Pontanus]. Olomouc, Vydavatelství Filozofické fakulty UP. 
    • Kolářová, J. (2019). Saints and Patrons in the Works of Jiří Bartholdus Pontanus of Breitenberk. In Škarpová, Marie a kol. (eds.). Patron Saints and Saintly Patronage in Early Modern Central Europe. Praha, Karolinum, 158–168. 
    • Kolářová, J. (2019). K ediční práci Eduarda Petrů [To the Editorial Work of Eduard Petrů]. Bohemica Olomucensia 11 (3), 92–102. 
  • Markéta Stejskalová

    member of the research team

     junior researcher


Palacký University Olomouc · Faculty of Science

  • Vít Voženílek

    project coordinator

    prof. Dr., Professor, Department of Geoinformatics, Faculty of Science, Palacký University Olomouc 

    – specialist in geovisualization, thematic and atlas cartography; 

    – founder and head of the Department of Geoinformatics, Faculty of Science, Palacký University Olomouc (www.geoinformatics.upol.cz); 

    – chief organiser of annual „Cartographic Days in Olomouc” (https://kartografickyden.upol.cz/) (since 2007); 

    – vice-president of the International Cartographic Association (https://www.icaci.org/) (since 2015); 

    – vice-president of the Czech Cartographic Society (https://www.cartography.cz/) (since 2013); 

    – selected scientific project: NAKI – MINISTRY OF CULTURE, reg. no. DG20P020VV029, “Czech dialects in an interactive view. Documentation and ways to accessibility of the disappearing linguistic heritage as integral part of regional identities“ (20202022); 

    – important research outputs in the last 5 years: 

    • Ireinová, M. – Voženílek, V. – Vondráková, A. – Koníček, J. (2021). Mapping, synthesis and visualization of Czech dialects. International Journal of Cartography. DOI: 10.1080/23729333.2021.1978039. 
    • Barvíř, R. – Voženílek, V. (2020). Developing Versatile Graphic Map Load Metrics. ISPRS Int. Journal of Geo-Information, 9(12), 705. DOI: 10.3390/ijgi912070, 5www.mdpi.com/journal/ijgi. 
    • Pour, T. – Voženílek, V. (2020). Thermal data analysis for urban climate research: A case study of Olomouc, Czechia. GEOGRAPHIA CASSOVIENSIS. 14 (1), 77–91. 
    • Ireinová, M. – Voženílek, V. – Koníček, J. et al. (2022). Atlas nářečí českého jazyka: instrumentál plurálu. Olomouc, Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci. M.A.P.S. 
    • Ireinová, M. – Voženílek, V. – Koníček, J. et al. (2022). Atlas nářečí českého jazyka: deklinace substantiv. Olomouc, Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci. M.A.P.S. 
  • Radek Barvíř

    MEMBER OF THE RESEARCH TEAM

    Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Geoinformatics, Faculty of Science, Palacký University Olomouc 

    – organization of Cartographic days in Olomouc; 

    – project: TAČR TL03000679 Redukce informačního deficitu a rozvoj osob se zrakovým postižením prostřednictvím 3D modelů s auditivními prvky; 

    – important research outputs in the last 5 years: 

    • Lázna, R. – Barvíř, R. – Vondráková, A. – Brus, J. (2022). Creating a Haptic 3D Model of Wenceslas Hill in Olomouc. Applied Sciences, 12(21). DOI: doi.org/10.3390/app122110817. 
    • Cahová, I. – Barvíř, R. – Jeništa, A. a kol. (2022). Vývoj židovského osídlení Olomouce: Geografická a socioekonomická struktura židovské populace v období 1180–2021. Olomouc, Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci. 
    • Barvíř, R. – Voženílek, V. (2021). Graphic Map Load Measuring Tool – development and verification. International Journal of Cartography, 7(3), 285–303. DOI: doi.org/10.1080/23729333.2021.1972907. 
    • Vondráková, A. – Růžičková, V. – Kroupová, K. – Barvíř, R. – Brus, J. – Voženílek, V. (2020). Tyflomapy-tyflografika-tyflokartografie: Percepce prostoru prostřednictvím audio-taktilních 3D map. Olomouc, Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci. 
    • Barvíř, R. – Voženílek, V. (2020). Developing Versatile Graphic Map Load Metrics. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information, 9(12), 705. DOI: doi.org/10.3390/ijgi9120705. 
  • Jakub Koníček

    MEMBER OF THE RESEARCH TEAM

    Ph.D. candidate, researcher, Department of Geoinformatics, Faculty of Science, Palacký University Olomouc 

    – graphic designer and webmaster at Faculty of Science, Palacký University Olomouc; 

    – lecturer at Czechitas & freelancer; 

    – research project: NAKI III – Atlas of the Czech Language 2027: 50 years of nationwide research on the dialects of the Czech language; 

    – important research outputs in the last 5 years: 

    • Ireinová, M. – Voženílek, V. – Koníček, J. et al. (2022). Atlas nářečí českého jazyka: deklinace substantiv. Olomouc, Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci. M.A.P.S. 
    • Ireinová, M. – Voženílek, V. – Koníček, J. et al. (2022). Atlas nářečí českého jazyka: instrumentál plurálu. Olomouc, Univerzita Palackého v Olomouci. M.A.P.S. 
    • Koníček, J. – Rocha, M. F. D. (2022). Visual comparison of differences in understanding to spatially oriented infographics, Abstr. Int. Cartogr. Assoc., 5, 108. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/ica-abs-5-108-2022. 
    • Pánek, J. – Barvíř, R. – Koníček, J. – Brlík, M. (2021). The emotional map of Prague – data on what locals think about the Czech capital?, Data in Brief, Volume 39. DOI: 10.1016/j.dib.2021.107649. 
    • Burian, J. – Šťastný, S. – Voženílek, V. – Barvíř R. – Koníček, J. – Vondráková, A. (2021). Atlas Moravskoslezského kraje: lidé, podnikání, prostředí. Olomouc, Urban Planner, s. r. o. pro Moravskoslezský kraj. 89. 

Universita degli studi di Udine 

  • Anna Maria Perissutti

    Project coordinator

    Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, University of Udine 

    – DIGEOCAT Italian team co-ordinator; 

    – specialist in the field linguistics, semantics and syntax of Czech, acquisition of Czech as a second language, translation; 

    – founder and chief co-ordinator of the European Project Wrilab2 Online Reading and Writing Laboratory for Czech, German, Italian and Slovenian as L2, 2013-2016, agreement number 2013-3701/001-001; project number 543551-LLP-1-2013-1-IT-KA2-KA2MP (www.wrilab2.eu); 

    – founder and chief co-ordinator of the Departmental Project Translab, Multilanguage Translation Laboratory, 20172019, (www.translab-project.eu); 

    member of the international project „The Humanities and the historical and cultural context of Central and Eastern Europe in the XXth century“, (20192020), coordinated by prof. Annalisa Cosentino from Sapienza University, Rome; 

    – important research outputs in the last 5 years: 

    • Perissutti, A. M. (2023). Osservazioni sulle traduzioni italiane dello Švejk. Teoria Testo Traduzione 18, https://teseo.unitn.it/ticontre/article/view/2418. 
    • Perissutti, A. M. (2022). Classi di verbi cechi tra semantica e sintassi. Azionalità e aspetto in un modello semantico scalare. Řím, Aracne. 
    • Perissutti, A. M. (2021). About Truth and Possible Worlds: Pavel Tichý and His Logical and Philosophical Research. Slovo a Smysl 18, 38, 111–124. 
    • Perissutti, A. M. – Kuri, S. (eds.) (2019). Un progetto didattico per la traduzione specializzata. Udine, Forum Editrice. 
    • Esvan, F. – Perissutti A. M. – Trovesi A. (2019). Grammatica ceca, Fonetica, morfologia e sintassi con esercizi e soluzioni. Milán, Hoepli. 
  • Francesco Visentin

    member of the research team

    PhD., Associate Professor, Department of Languages and Literature, Communication Education and Society; University of Udine 

    – cultural geographer, teaches Human geography and Geographies of Central and Eastern Europe; 

    – his research focuses on water-land-scapes changes especially in Italy, UK, Netherland and Spain and he is currently involved in several projects concerning cultural heritage, landscape evolution and the tourism imaginaries; 

    – member of the EUWATHER project a JPI – Cultural Heritage funded project – concerning the re-evaluating European Minor Rivers and Canals as Cultural Landscapes with the University of Brighton (UK), the University of Leiden (NL) and the University of Girona (ES) – (2015 / 2017); 

    – he is interested in the relationship between art, literature and geography, the narrative of heritagisation processes and the mundane landscapes; 

    – important research outputs in the last 5 years: 

    • Cavallo F. – Vallerani F. – Visentin F. (ed.) (2023). Arcipelago delle maree. Esplorare gli incerti confini della Venezia Anfibia. Benátky, Cafoscarina. 
    • Kaaristo M. – Visentin F. (2023). Absence as an affordance: thinking with(out) water on the inland waterways, Cultural Geographies, 30 (1), 87–102. 
    • Visentin F. – Venturini F. (2022). River Contracts in north-east Italy: Water management or participatory processes?. The Geographical Journal, early view. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/geoj.12473; 
    • Cavallo F. – Vallerani F. – Visentin F. (2021). Heart of Wetness: Living, narrating, and representing ancient memories and new water rhythms in the Venetian Lagoon, Shima, 15 (1), 1–17. 
    • Visentin F. – Vallerani F. (eds.) (2018). Waterways and the Cultural Landscape. Londýn, Routledge. 
  • Gaia Seminara

    member of the research team

    PhD., Contract Professor, Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Social Studies, University of Udine & Department of Literary Studies, Linguistics and Comparatistics, University of Naples L’Orientale

    – specialist in the field of literary history, 20th century Czech literary culture, literary criticism, translation;

    – an accomplished scientific project: “Culture beyond the official circuits: an archive research” [orig. title “La cultura oltre i circuiti ufficiali: una ricerca d’archivio”] (2019–2021, individual research grant n. 0000002/07.01.2020, Department of European, American and Intercultural Studies, Sapienza University of Rome);

    – important research outputs in the last 5 years:

    • Seminara, G. (ed., přel.) (2023, prosinec). Václav Havel. La voce per il cambiamento . Macerata, Edizioni Università di Macerata.
    • Seminara, G. (2022). Mladí lidé a mládežnické organizace z Itálie do Československa na 1. světovém festivalu demokratické mládeže (1947). [vložený článek]. Příspěvek prezentovaný na „Mezinárodní konferenci Beyond Language 2022“: https://bl2022.epi.uj.edu.pl/;
    • Seminara, G. (2019). Redefinování literární skutečnosti: příklad Bohumila Hrabala. Sedmihradská revue XXVIII, 77–85;
    • Seminara, G. (2018). Pár slov k italskému překladu Příliš hlučná samota. Slovo a smysl 29, 137–149.
  • Martina Mecco

    Doctoral student in German and Slavic Studies, Sapienza University of Rome, Charles University of Prague
    • specialist in the fields of literary and linguistic history, Czech and Russian literature from 1920s1930s, Russian Formalism and Czech Structuralism, relationships between Czech, Russian and German cultures; 
    • her dissertation analyses Roman Jakobson’s activity in Czech interwar press; 
    • translator from Russian, Czech, Slovak; 
    • important research outputs in the last years: 
    • Mecco, M. (2024). “Il verso ceco ricorda il suono di una raganella” Roman Jakobson rivoluzionario della prosodia ceca, Slavia. Rivista trimestrale di cultura 3, 147156. 
    • Mecco, M. (2023). I legami di Roman Jakobson con la stampa tedesca praghese. Il caso “Prager Presse”, Ricerche Slavistiche 6, 109133. 
    • Mecco, M. (2022). Language and Stylistic Aspects of Karel Čapek’s Journalistic Writing: An Analysis of Hovory s T. G. Masarykem through the Method of Textual Linguistics, Academic Journal of Modern Philology 18, 121130. 

Univesidad de Granada 

  • Miriam Fernández-Santiago

    Project coordinator

    U-CHASS: Centre for Computational Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Granada

    Ph.D. Full Professor, Head of the English and German Department, University of Granada

  • Jiří Měsíc

    member of the research team

    Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of English and German Philology, Faculty of Arts, University of Granada 

    – specialist in English and American literature and culture intertwining his studies with folkloric traditions of the Iberian Peninsula, especially with the religious substratum of Andalusian customs (corridas de toros, holy pilgrimages, Easter celebrations and other feasts); 

    – between 2018 and 2019 he disseminated his research on Andalusian culture in Listy Filozofické Fakulty Ostravské Univerzity (magazine of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Ostrava); 

    – translator from English, Spanish and French into Czech; beneficiary of various Czech Literary Foundation subventions for his translations and book editions; 

    – between 2015 and 2016 he was the principal researcher in the project “Leonard Cohen, the Modern Troubadour” (IGA_FF_2015_007) funded by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic for specific university research carried out at Palacký University in Olomouc; 

    – member of the “Czech and Slovak Association for American Studies” and of the “Spanish Association for American Studies”; 

    – important research outputs in the last 5 years: 

    • Měsíc, J. (2021). Las huellas del Mesías en la corrida de toros. Revista de Estudios Taurinos, 47, 251–275. 
    • Měsíc, J. (2021). Leonard Cohen, the ‘Sufi’ Mystic. In G. Gregory, & M. Dines (Eds.), Exploring the Spiritual in Popular Music: Beatified Beats (pp. 29–47). Londýn, Bloomsbury. 
    • Měsíc, J. (2021). Gertruda Steinová: Mluvit a naslouchat (2 ed. & trans.). Praha, Éditions Fra. 
    • Měsíc, J. (2020). Leonard Cohen, the Modern Troubadour. Olomouc, Vydavatelství UP. 
    • Měsíc, J. (2020). John Pass: Větrná zvonkohra (ed. & přel.). Ostrava, Protimluv. 
  • José Alejandro Calero Díaz

    member of the research team

    Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Greek and Slavic Philology, Faculty of Arts, University of Granada 

    – specialist in the field of Bohemistics with more than two decades of teaching experience in the field of acquisition of Czech as a foreign language; 

    – his research interests include the interrelation between semantics and syntax applied to lexicography, the lexicography of expressive variants in the Czech language and the representation of “metalinguistics” in Czech language; 

    – at the end of 2012 he was a visiting researcher at Columbia University investigating Linguistic Iconicity and Linguistic Phonosymbolism; 

    – important research outputs related to Czech language: 

    • Calero, D. J. A. (2011). La Fuerza Ilocutiva Socialmente Reprochable en el Léxico. Analysis Contrastivo Checo-Español. Jazykově-kulturní kompetence a frazeologická motivace. Kapela. 
    • Calero, D. J. A. (2011.) Lexikální Šablony Role And Reference Grammar (Příspěvek k výzkumu českých sloves mluvení). Studie z Korpusové Lingvistiky. str. 166–173. 
    • Calero, D. J. A. (2012). “La valoración de lo metalingüístico a través de verbos de habla checos.” Eslavística Complutense. 12, s. 105–116. 
    • Calero, D. J. A. (2012). “Los verbos zoomorficos de habla como representacion lexica de la fuerza ilocutiva en checo.” Eslavistica Complutense. 2012. 
    • Calero, D. J. A. (2013). “La expresividad y la ironía verbální. (studio sobre la valoracion negativa en el verbo checo).“ Tonos Digital, Nº24. 

Sveučilište u Zagrebu 

  • Matija Ivačić

    project coordinator

    Dr. sc., Assistant Professor, Department of Bohemistics, Faculty of Arts, University of Zagreb 

    – specialist in the field of Czech post-war literature, contemporary Czech literature, literary translation, Czech-Croatian literary relations; 

    – membership in the organizational and programme committee of The International Scientific Conference on the Occasion of the 55th Anniversary of the Independent Study Programme in Czech Language and Literature in Zagreb (17.18. 9. 2021); 

    – member of the editorial board of the scientific journal Književna smotra: Časopis za svjetsku književnost; 

    – project manager of the project Contemporary Czech Prose II (19902000) (2022, institutional project, 11-933-1024); 

    – coordinator of the project A Game-Changing Year: Czechoslovakia and Europe in 1968 (20182020, Europe for Citizens Programme); 

    – important research outputs in the last 5 years: 

    • Ivačić, M. (2023). Žert před Žertem. Nad novelou Pršelo jim štěstí Jana Trefulky. In Ivačić, M. – Ivanković, K. – kos, S. – Novosad, A. – Vuković, P. (eds.) Zbornik radova s međunarodnog znanstvenog skupa povodom 55 godina samostalnog studija češkog jezika i književnosti u Zagrebu. Záhřeb, FF Press, 37–49. 
    • Ivačić, M. (2021). On Milan Kundera – In a Problematic Manner (On Jan Novák’s Book Milan Kundera. Český život a doba, Argo & Paseka, Praha 2020). Umjetnost riječi LXV, 3–4, 277–282. 
    • Ivačić, M. (2020). Naracija u službi zamagljivanja: Zgoda policijskog prefekta Ladislava Fuksa. Književna smotra LII, 198 (4), 75–82. 
    • Ivačić, M. (2020). Češka kriminalistička proza 1958–1969: refleksija, reprezentacija. Záhřeb, Hrvatska sveučilišna naklada. 
    • Ivačić, M. (2020). Prague Spring in Croatian Daily Newspapers and Newspapers and Testimonies from Northwestern Croatia. In Matejko, L. – Ivančík, M. (eds.) Narratives of Remembrance. 1968: the Past Present and the Present Past. Proceedings of the international symposium „Culture of Remembrance and Remembrance of Culture“ held in Forlì on 14th–15th of November 2019. Bratislava, Comenius University in Bratislava, Bratislava, 104–117. 
  • Suzana Kos

    member of the research team

    Dr. sc., Izvanredna profesorica, Department of Bohemistics, Faculty Arts, University of Zagreb 

    – specialist in the field of contemporary Czech literature, feminist/gender literary criticism, Czech popular literature, Czech 19th century literature; 

    – participant in the EACEA project (Europe for Citizens Programme of the EU) A Game Changing Year: Czechoslovakia and Europe in 1968 (20182020); 

    – chief organiser of the first Croatian conference on Czech Studies, comemorating 55 years of independent study program in Czech language and literature at the University of Zagreb (2021); 

    – important research outputs in the last 5 years: 

    • Kos, S. (2021). Ženski identiteti u tranziciji: češke autorice na prijelazu u 21 stoljeće, Záhřeb, Hrvatska sveučilišna naklada. 
    • Kos, S. (2020). Život na margini – stranac/Drugi u prozama Petre Hůlove. Književna smotra 198 (4), 95–102. 
    • Kos, S. (2019). Dětská realita v prózách Petry Soukupové. Słowiańszczyzna dawniej i dziś – język, literatura, kultura. Monografia ze studiów slawistycznych IV / Kołodziej, Agnieszka, Tyszkowskiej-Kasprzak, Elżbieta, Ślawskiej, Magdalena, Ursulenko, Anna (ur.). Wroclaw: Oficyna Wydawnicza ATUT – Wrocławskie Wydawnictwo Oświatowe, 411–416. 
    • Kos, S. – Željeznjak, A. (2018). Tradicionalne i netradicionalne ženske uloge u romanu Krakatit Karela Čapeka. Književna smotra 187 (1), 53–61. 
  • Nives Ratković

    member of the research team

    junior researcher


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