Diffractions - Graduate Journal for the Study of Culture

‼️Call for Papers | Diffractions l Issue 11: Visual Poetics and Gender: Rendering Absence and Error

Deadline for Abstracts: May 31st 2025
Deadline for Papers: August 31st 2025

Editors-in-chief: Emily Marie Passos Duffy, Amadea Kovič

Please send abstracts of 150 to 250 words, and 5-8 keywords by May 31st 2025, to [email protected] with the subject “Diffractions 11”, followed by your last name.

The full papers should be submitted by August 31st 2025, through the journal’s platform: https://revistas.ucp.pt/index.php/diffractions/about/submissions

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the launch of the new issue of Diffractions (series 2, issue 9), titled 'Beyond the Object: Immaterial Pasts, Immaterial Futures' available here
https://revistas.ucp.pt/index.php/diffractions/issue/view/970

Special thanks to our guest editors Federico & Teresa
And to Polido for their sound performance

The event counts on the support of CECC - Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Cultura

The new issue of Diffractions (series 2, issue 9), titled 'Beyond the Object: Immaterial Pasts, Immaterial Futures' is out and available here
https://revistas.ucp.pt/index.php/diffractions/issue/view/970

Guest editors:
Federico Rudari & Teresa Pinheiro
(PhD candidates in Culture Studies The Lisbon Consortium)

The launch will take place on Tuesday, March 11, at 7 p.m. at Hangar - Centro de Investigação Artística (Rua Damasceno Monteiro 12, Lisboa).

The editors will introduce the issue, its themes, and contributions (in Portuguese and English), and a performance by Polido, musician and artist, will follow. The event counts on the support of CECC - Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Cultura

Many thanks to everyone who joined us for the closing of Rita Ravasco’s Tempo Sentido.
A special thanks to the editors of Diffractions issue #8 Amadea Kovič, Emily Passos Duffy, and Miriam Thaler for organizing the Creative Writing Workshop and Open Mic at

Access to Diffractions issue #8 on the topic of Nostalgia can be found here:
https://revistas.ucp.pt/index.php/diffractions/article/view/16683

Guest Artist Highlight l Rita Ravasco
Diffractions #8 - NOSTALGIA

Rita Ravasco , a Portuguese multimedia artist, currently residing in Lisbon, is the Guest Artist of our most recent issue, Nostalgia, edited by Guest Editors Miriam Thaler, Gloria Adu-Kankam, and João Oliveira.

As part of Diffractions issue #8 on the topic of Nostalgia, Ravasco created Tempo Sentido, a multimedia digital and on-site installation, funded by CECC - Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Cultura With her very own interpretation of nostalgia and memory, Ravasco adds to the varied explorations and functions of this affective relationship with the past.

Following the exhibition at FCH-UCP, the piece is currently on display at until December 8th. Come for the closing this Sunday, with the Creative Writing Workshop & Open Mic!

You can read the curatorial piece by Amadea Kovič, Emily Passos Duffy, and Miriam Thaler here:
https://revistas.ucp.pt/index.php/diffractions/article/view/16683

Join us for the closing of Rita Ravasco’s Tempo Sentido: Creative Writing Workshop and Open Mic at (Dec. 8 - 15.00).

Creative Writing Workshop (Bilingual EN/PT)
Dec. 8, 15h-16h
Through a series of generative writing prompts anchored in the photo or object you decide to bring, we will explore different dimensions of nostalgia and the way it interacts with emotions, public and private life.
The workshop prompts will be offered in English and Portuguese. You are free to write in any language.
Workshop participants have the option to share the outcome of this creative writing session in the Open Mic Session that follows after.
Workshop led by: Emily Marie Passos Duffy (Lisbon-based poet, performer and researcher)
Workshop spaces are limited, if you are interested, please register under: [email protected]

Open Mic (Bilingual EN/PT)
Dec. 8, 16:30h-18h
In our Open Mic Session, we invite participants to share with us their thoughts, stories, poems, etc. about a nostalgic object or photograph they choose to bring (ca. 5 mins/participant). Photographs can be brought in analogue or digital form. Feel free to speak in Portuguese or English.

As part of Diffractions issue (8) on the topic of Nostalgia, Ravasco created Tempo Sentido, a multimedia digital and on-site installation, funded by .ucp. With her very own interpretation of nostalgia and memory, Ravasco adds to the varied explorations and functions of this affective relationship with the past.

The exhibition of at kicked off with a vernissage yesterday! Come check out the exhibition until December 8th, and feel free to share with us your memories and nostalgic longing as part of the interactive part of the exhibition. For this viewing of Tempo Sentido, we invite you to relax on the bed, get inspired by the piece, and share with us a memory, a nostalgic sensation. Write/draw in this notebook, and feel free to take a picture and tag

Join the Diffractions team for the vernissage on 13 November at 5pm!
Tempo Sentido is moving from UCP to Casa do Comum from 13 November – 8 December!

Tempo Sentido [Time Sensed] is Ravasco’s multimedia digital and on-site installation, originally developed for the Nostalgia exhibition (Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 2024) as part of the current Diffractions issue 8 on the topic of nostalgia. The work consists of three parts: the digital issue cover in conversation with a video-animation, both accessible online, and the material piece.

The piece has been funded by .ucp - The Research Centre for Communication and Culture.
Curators: Amadea Kovič, Emily Passos Duffy, Miriam Thaler

Diffractions issue (8) “Nostalgia” is out!
https://revistas.ucp.pt/index.php/diffractions

Accompanied by an on-site installation art piece by titled ‘Tempo Sentido’ found in the faculty of Human Sciences at Universidade Católica Portuguesa.
Supported by CECC - Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Cultura

"Nostalgia" by Rita Ravasco. June 28 – July 26, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Faculdade das Ciências Humanas.

Nostalgia is a multimedia digital and on-site installation by the artist . The piece is part of Diffractions issue 8 on the topic of Nostalgia and funded by CECC - Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Cultura. With her very own interpretation of nostalgia and memory, Rita Ravasco adds to the varied explorations and functions of this affective relationship with the past.

As part of the XIV Lisbon Summer School for the Study of Culture, the launch of Diffractions 8 and the Vernissage will take place on June 28, 5 pm, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Faculdade das Ciências Humanas.
Curators: Amadea Kovič, Emily Passos Duffy, Miriam Thaler.

❗️The deadline for Call for Papers for Issue 10 of Diffractions: "‘You are What you Eat’: On Food, Culture(s), and Identity" has been extended.

Guest Editors from the PhD program in culture studies: Rissa L. Miller & Federico Bossone

Please send abstracts of 150 to 250 words and 5-8 keywords as well as a short biography (100 words) by June 5th, 2024, to [email protected] with the subject “Diffractions 10”, followed by your last name.

The full papers should be submitted by SEPTEMBER 30th, 2024, through the journal’s
platform: https://revistas.ucp.pt/index.php/diffractions/about/submissions