Diachronic study of the evolution of the forms, contexts and technologies of communication throughout history and in different socio-cultural spheres. The research group starts from the idea that man is a symbolic being, who builds a dense fabric of mediations to organise his coexistence, his ways of relating to others and to the outside world.
Since the invention of writing and through successive techniques and means of communication, human beings have constructed, given expression to, sent and received culture. Some authors, with a certain authority - such as the anthropologist Jack Goody, for example - even affirm that it is relevant to complete the study of the forms and modes of production with that of the forms and modes of communication in order, by relating societies, culture and communication, to ascertain the concrete texture that mediations take on, the relationship of these with social difference, with the construction of different forms of power, with the formulation of identities, with the expressions of conflict, with the constitution of dominant or subordinate ideologies, with the weaving and unweaving of political, cultural and economic hegemony or with the appearance of institutions built to generate imagined communities.
Our group considers that from writing to electronic and digital devices, communication plays a decisive role in history and is omnipresent, but we emphasise the study of mass media, because they are the ones that have accompanied the evolution of the contemporary world and, in this sense, the construction of contemporary history and the history of the present time. The study of the mass media - press, radio, television, cinema, cybermedia - is, always in the diachronic, social and cultural perspective mentioned above, a central objective of the group. This study focuses mainly on the production, distribution and consumption of communication and information. Production is not only concerned with the specific means of communication in charge of disseminating messages, but also and previously with its institutional configuration -whether private or public-, its structure as a productive entity, the materiality of the issuer as such (its economic nature, the social, professional, labour relations, etc., on which it is based, etc.). The study of production also involves understanding the configuration of messages, relating the quality of the sender to what he/she emits and in this sense contextualising the messages and the wefts of meaning that they construct. Distribution deals with the dissemination of messages and the technical formulation of those elements that make it possible. The study of consumption deals with the social and individual reception of messages, the forms of impact of communication and the socio-cultural effects of information. It is a research concern with the dynamic, culturally and historically determined reception that humans make of the symbolic mediations to which they are subjected by degree or through explicit or subtle forms of coercion.
The research group assumes a relational perspective between communication and culture. But not only in the classical sense, according to which communication takes place in a cultural milieu of which it is a product and expression: culture communicates. We also assume another perspective according to which communication modifies culture. In this sense, the relationship between communication and culture is open, does not respond to a predetermined pattern and is intimately linked to the social actors, to the unfolding of their interests and to the actions leading to the maintenance, reform or rupture of the status quo. Aware that the notion of communication is highly transversal and that it can affect several disciplines, rather than seeing this issue as an element of paralysis in its study, we note it in terms of an interdisciplinary opportunity.
This inter-university, international and interdisciplinary research group revolves around a theory and methodology known as "critique as sabotage" (cs). The starting point for this critical modality is to be found both in the work that M. Asensi has been publishing since 2007 (culminating in the 2011 book, Crítica y sabotaje, Barcelona, Anthropos/Siglo XXI), and in the group that came together in the monographic issue of the journal Anthropos. Cuadernos de cultura crítica y conocimiento, no. 237 of 2013, dedicated to this theory.
In fact, it can be said that it was the latter event that consolidated the research group that we present. Before describing the group, it should be remembered that this group has its origins in a previous one, already registered at the University, called "Grupo de investigación Literatura Comparada", with the number UV751. A key activity at that time was the holding at the Universitat of the 1st International Congress of Comparative Literature, directed by M. Asensi and B. Ferrús, with the participation of E. Peláez, M. Richart, N. Calafell and M. Zabalgoitia on the scientific committee. Practically most of the research group we are proposing today took part in that congress, one of the panels of which dealt with "cs". One of the most notable events that took place during that congress, which was to determine the future composition of this group, was the participation of professors from Latin American and North American universities. The conference ended with the publication of the proceedings, which can be found on the website of the Asociación Valenciana de Literatura Comparada (Valencian Association of Comparative Literature).
It can be said that the panel focusing on "cs" attracted the attention of many of the attendees, who proposed their participation in the project. Among them were people from the fields of literary theory and comparative literature, philosophy, anthropology, psychology, as well as history of literature. This initiated a series of scientific activities, seminars and conferences, which can be summarised as follows:
- In June 2011 M.Asensi, B.Ferrús and M.Zabalgoitia carried out a research stay in Peru, at the Univ. Cat. de Lima and the Univ. de S. Marcos. At the former, M. Asensi gave the lecture: "Criticism as sabotage". In the second, the three professors participated as speakers at the "Congreso Internacional José María Arguedas: Los universos literarios", making applications of the theoretical foundations of "cs".
- In November 2011, coinciding with the publication of the book Crítica y sabotaje, these three professors travelled to Mexico to present the text at the FIL (Guadalajara International Book Fair), considered the most important in Latin America and one of the largest in the world. At the University of Guadalajara, Dr Asensi gave the lecture "Criticism and sabotage", as part of the seminar "Surroundings and Interiors of Literary Criticism". Also, at the Benemérita Univ. Autónoma de Puebla, at the invitation of Dr Felipe Ríos, Professor M. Asensi gave a postgraduate course on the dialogue between "cs" and deconstruction.
M. Asensi's book was also presented at this university, with new examples. A similar activity, involving a conference, presentation of the book and examples, took place at the University of Guanajuato.
This same format of lectures and presentations was repeated in the framework of the Doctorate in Humanities programme at the Colegio de México. At the ITESO in Guadalajara, M. Asensi gave a two-day seminar for professors and postgraduates, where B. Ferrús and M. Zabalgoitia presented other examples. Dr. M. Asensi also participated as a guest at the openly organised ITESO Scientific Café, where his talk "Why deconstruct, why sabotage?" received a large audience and great recognition.
