STARTING FROM AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THE CRITICAL DIALOGUE BETWEEN ETHICS, TRAUMA STUDIES, AFFECT THEORY AND TRANSMODERNITY CARRIED OUT IN OUR EARLIER PROJECTS, THE PRESENT PROPOSAL AIMS TO FURTHER ELABORATE ON THIS BY CASTING LIGHT ON THE WAYS IN WHICH A RENEWED CULTURAL POLITICS CAN BE ENACTED ON THE BASIS OF THE IDEOLOGICAL CROSS-ROADS OF OUR PRESENT OR ¿TRANSMODERN¿ AGE AS ARGUED BY RODRIGUEZ MAGDA. AS COINED AND DEVELOPED BY ENRIQUE DUSSEL (2001), THE CONCEPT OF TRANSMODERNITY OFFERS AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE EUROCENTRIC VISION OF MODERNITY AND POSTMODERNITY BY CLAIMING THAT A NEW UNIVERSAL PROJECT CAN BE GENERATED BY GATHERING TOGETHER A MULTIPLICITY OF EPISTEMIC RESPONSES FROM SUBALTERN PRACTICES. UNDOUBTEDLY, WE ARE LIVING IN A GLOBALISED ERA, SUBJECT TO MULTIPLE THREATS AND TYPES OF VIOLENCE. LIKEWISE, THE INTERNATIONALISATION OF FINANCIAL ECONOMY, FREE MARKET, GLOBAL GEOPOLITICS AND THE NEW COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES HAVE OPENED UP UNEXPECTED WAYS OF BEING ALWAYS ALREADY INTER-CONNECTED. TRANSMODERNITY IS THEN RELATED TO GLOBALISATION AND THE INCREASING SENSE OF HUMAN VULNERABILITY IN A GLOBALISED WORLD. SUCH VULNERABILITY EXTENDS TO OTHER LIVING BEINGS ¿ I.E. THE FLORA AND THE FAUNA ¿ THAT ARE DANGEROUSLY EXPOSED TO THE PERNICIOUS EFFECTS OF HUMAN VIOLENCE AGAINST THEM. THE DESTRUCTION OF OUR PLANET IS AS ACCELERATED AND INSTANTANEOUS AS THE SPEED THROUGH WHICH WE CONNECT OURSELVES EVERYDAY THROUGH MULTIFARIOUS SOCIAL NETWORKS. GIVEN THE INEVITABLE UPWARD TREND OF LIVING IMMERSED IN SUCH AN INTER-CONNECTED FAST WORLD, THUS EXPOSING OURSELVES AND OTHERS TO AN EVER-MORE ACUTE AND INSIDIOUS VULNERABILITY, ESPECIALLY IN THIS SO-CALLED ¿POST-TRUTH ERA¿, WE WOULD LIKE TO PROPOSE LITERATURE AS AN ESSENTIAL TOOL TO RETHINK WHAT IT MEANS TO LIVE UNDER THE PARADIGM OF TRANSMODERNITY. WE INTEND TO DEMONSTRATE THAT LITERATURE AND LITERARY ANALYSIS CAN BE POWERFUL AND NECESSARY VEHICLES, NOT ONLY TO DENOUNCE THE MANIPULATION OF FACTS AND SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC INEQUALITY AND INJUSTICE, BUT ALSO TO CONFORM AN EPISTEMOLOGICAL CATEGORY WHICH ENABLES US TO IMAGINE AND MOVE FORWARD IN TIME AND SPACE TOWARDS NEW AND YET-TO-COME CULTURAL REPRESENTATIONS EMERGING OUT OF THE DISCOURSE OF GLOBALISATION. DRAWING ON MAGDA¿S DISTINCTION BETWEEN ¿NARRATIVES OF CELEBRATION¿, THAT IS, THOSE THAT REITERATE THE DOMINANT DISCOURSE AND MAKE IT HEGEMONIC; AND ¿NARRATIVES OF THE LIMIT¿, WHICH THINK WHAT HAS NOT BEEN CONCEPTUALISED YET, WE WILL ATTEMPT TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THE LATTER REFLECT A TENTATIVE NEW PARADIGMATIC SHIFT IN WESTERN CULTURE. THEREFORE, OUR MAIN AIM WILL BE TO ESTABLISH A REPRESENTATIVE CORPUS OF LIMIT-CASE LITERARY WORKS IN ENGLISH AND SEE WHETHER THEY REFLECT SUCH POLICIES OF ACTIVISM AND CHANGE. OUR WORKING HYPOTHESIS IS THAT TRANSMODERNITY ENCOMPASSES INTERDISCIPLINARY KNOWLEDGE STEMMING, AMONG OTHERS, FROM FEMINIST STUDIES, POSTCOLONIAL STUDIES, QUEER THEORY, TRAUMA STUDIES, MEMORY STUDIES, ECO-CRITICISM TO AFFECT THEORY. SPECIAL EMPHASIS WILL ALSO BE MADE ON AN ETHICS OF VULNERABILITY AND CARE FOR AND TOWARDS THE OTHER, BE IT HUMAN, ANIMAL OR INANIMATE THINGS. WE WILL SEEK TO DEMONSTRATE THAT LITERATURE PLAYS AN IMPORTANT ROLE NOT ONLY IN THE DENUNCIATION OF INJUSTICES AND THE REQUEST OF CARE FOR THE OTHER BUT ALSO, AND MOST CRUCIALLY, IN PROMOTING A HORIZONTAL COMMUNICATION SCHEME AMONG DIVERSE CULTURES AND NATIONALITIES BASED ON A NON-DEONTIC TRANSMODERN ETHICS OF ALTERITY OF THE TYPE INAUGURATED BY EMMANUEL LEVINAS.
