My interests lay on complexity in cultural systems. I approach this problem from several places (Humanism, Golden Age Drama, the Literary Act, the Baroque), and in most cases I use the Early Modern period of transatlantic relations in the Spanish world as the lab to trace the emergence of complexity in our world. I also work (although with less intensity) on present forms of cultural adaptation to complexity through the literary act.

Methodologically, my work follows the principles of team-work, intensive research (both in the elaboration and creation of knowledge), use of information technology, and a clear concern to make of our research a tool to better our lives today. If the lab is, mainly, in the past, the aim is clearly on the present.

Technologies of Humanism — 2004-2006

Departing from the distinction between the historical project of the Spanish humanism and the technologies associated with the intellectual method called “humanism”, this project shows how the interaction between the classic principle of imitation and the novelty arising from the encounter with America derived in the development of the three technologies (chronography, knowledge management, and pragmatics of imaginative writing) that made possible the survival of humanism and are evidence of its relevance today. To be published as a book by the Universidad de Huelva in 2006.

Reading and Complexity: Life is a Dream — 2004-2006

This project consists of an analysis of Calderón′s play by using the concept of “ontogenesis of information” and showing the interactions among the several layers of textuality associated with the play (two versions, hyper-textual links, disorder of the plot, and representations of time). The objective is two fold: to show that the focus of this play is on reading and that the author develops a method to read reality in an unstable world. The conclusions are that reading gives a support to establish subjectivity, and that the very act of reading is conceived as a method of adaptation to the complexity of the baroque world.

The Transatlantic Baroque — 2006-2013

Based upon the conclusions of the research carried out during the last three years, and disseminated in several ways (including the three International Conferences held at Western, and Casa de América in Madrid), this multidisciplinary and international project brings together researchers from Latin America, Europe, USA, and Canada to explore the emergence, development, and breaking of the Transatlantic Baroque. This is considered as cultural system whose complexity can be mapped through the interactions of its three attractors: information, representation, and domination (Suárez, South Atlantic Review, 2005, in press). This model of complexity in cultural systems will be developed through the study of three main lines of research: 1) Technologies of Culture; 2) Conflicting Identities and Representations; 3) The Effectiveness of the Neo-Baroque.  I coordinate the research team, and also contribute with a specific project on “Knowledge Management in the Hispanic Baroque” funded by a Premier′s Research Excellence Award.

Calderón: Complete Comedies — 2004-2009

The joint project by the Universidad de Navarra and Western to publish a critical edition of the over 100 Calderón′s comedies contemplates a first phase in which 60 comedies will be edited. Responsibility for researchers at Western include editing 15 comedies, coordinating North American researchers, providing training in textual criticism and archival research, and managing the electronic resources of the project. There are over 30 researchers from Latin America, North America, and Europe associated with the project. At Western part of the project has been funded by an Internal SSHRC Grant.