Alces XXI

ALCESXXI was born out of the desire to reclaim and further develop the practice of reflexive, open, plural, and interdisciplinary research, education and criticism.  Participation in ALCESXXI goes beyond the scope of academics. We are a collective of educators, editors, creators, cultural agents, social activist and producers committed to the creation and promotion of a spaces for dialogue.

ALCESXXI responds to the following issues of our time:

• Privatization of the public sphere, which translates to the progressive mercantilization and instrumentalization of culture and the educational system
• Incapacity of cultural agents to self-reflect
• Reduction of the humanities to a decorative aspect of the university system, thus rendering this field one of little influence in the exercise of citizenship.
• Failure to integrate knowledge in a way that makes life and culture more coherent.
• Tunnel vision of the human being, resulting in a myopic or excessively restricted understanding of culture.

In the face of the above issues ALCESXXI proposes:

• To promote social involvement, empowerment, and educative responsibility of all cultural agents.
• To take into consideration the intersection between the various axes of control in our society in order to generate praxis which defends and reclaims social justice.
• To help produce, transmit, and teach texts, images, cultural references, and critical tools that form consciousness and encourage the convergence of action and thinking.
• To facilitate a plural space for dialogue and criticism among creators and analysts of culture.
• To question the conception of culture as a closed circuit of information and to present it, instead, as an open system, linked to real, physical and social information circuits.
• To encourage movement towards a mode of cultural analysis that looks actively for the connections between disparate bodies of knowledge.
• To imagine alternative futures in which we may do more with less.  The defense of the common good will serve as our guide.
• To reaffirm the capacity of culture and education to transform society and politics.  We are more than an association; we are a movement and a civic and ethical commitment.

Belonging to ALCESXXI means making a commitment. ALCESXXI is a participation-based association, to which all members are expected to contribute in the pursuit of our common goals.

In the pursuit of its goals, the Association commits to the following activities:

• International Conferences, hosted twice a year, whose participants include authors, as well as researchers, of culture. The format of these participation-based conferences aims to facilitate constructive criticism, dialogue, and reflection by way of seminars, round-table discussions, exchanges, and debates.
• Publication of Revista de ALCES XXI: Journal of Spanish Literature and Film. Through this open access digital publication the Association aims to promote criticism that is reflexive, plural, open, interdisciplinary, independent, and high quality.  The publication of this journal is made possible by contributions from ALCESXXI partners, and, once published, the journal remains available to the general public.
• Availability of the Association’s website to the public, free of charge. The ALCESXXI site features links to pedagogical activities and materials (book reviews, links to Spanish editorials, course programs, and recommended reading lists). The Association is also committed to making public the knowledge its members acquire through their collective work and meetings with one another. ALCESXXI members are responsible for maintaining the web page, as well as adding to it new, pertinent information, as it becomes available.

Funding

The funding for ALCESXXI does not come from any educative or private entity. The Association sometimes receives grants or public support to finance conferences. The members of the AXCESXXI board do not receive any special compensation for their work. Member fees go towards the activities organized by the ALCESXXI as well upkeep of the Association’s website and Journal.