The Andrómeda Project aims to analyze and understand the contemporary representations of ancient, medieval, and modern myths in Spain, Europe, and Latin America. Coordinated by ACIS (Myth Criticism Research Group at Universidad Complutense de Madrid), ANDRÓMEDA centers its investigation on how myths reflect the identity and culture of our contemporary society.

Project Objectives

The main objectives of the project comprise three primary areas of investigation:

Methodology and Interdisciplinary Approach

ANDRÓMEDA relies on methodologies from numerous disciplines, such as cultural myth criticism, to deepen the analysis of myths; reader-response criticism, to analyze the public’s interpretation of art; and the semiotic perspective, to investigate the cognitive aspects linked to narratology.

Collaboration and Consortium Resources

The consortium comprises research groups and associated entities that provide plural and transversal approaches bridging philology and cultural studies.

ANDRÓMEDA is formed by nine research groups from different Madrid-based universities: Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), Universidad de Alcalá (UAH), Universidad Francisco de Vitoria (UFV), and Universidad Villanueva (UV).

Core Objectives

The group was established with three primary scientific and academic purposes in mind:

Academic Activity and Institutional Scope

Since its foundation, ACIS has sustained a continuous academic presence, holding a specialized scientific seminar on myth criticism every month.

Furthermore, the group organizes a prominent annual outreach program consisting of a public “Mythological Stroll” celebrating the Science Week (la Semana de la Ciencia) in collaboration with the Community of Madrid. This public activity has enjoyed steady success across successive editions, drawing attention from local media channels.

Official Quality Performance and Funding

Official funding track record and official quality assessments issued by national evaluation bodies:

The main purpose of Asteria is to promote, encourage, and support the study of myth criticism, focusing both on the development of new theoretical and epistemological tools to strengthen the discipline, and on the presence of classical, medieval, modern, and contemporary myths within literature as well as the plastic, performing, and audiovisual arts.

Furthermore, the association places significant emphasis on investigating the creation, evolution, disappearance, and overall impact of myths on our contemporary society.

Amaltea is an open-access peer-reviewed scientific journal dedicated to myth criticism. It provides, via the Internet and free of charge, an annual thematic issue focusing on the reception of ancient, medieval, and modern myths within contemporary Western literature.

Project Objectives

The project “AGLAYA: Estrategias de Innovación en Mitocrítica Cultural” aims to propose an innovative typology for myths and their modern imaginary correlations (such as fantasy, magic, animanga, and science fiction).

To achieve this goal, the research explores the setting of fictional worlds through their corresponding genres of expression (mythological, fantastical, magical, gothic, and science fiction) across literature, arts, and late-twentieth and twenty-first-century disciplines, including cinema, television shows, video games, comics, and animanga.

Participant Groups and Institutional Scope

AGLAYA relies on a deeply interdisciplinary approach, bridging literature, plastic and performing arts, cinema, video games, translation, communications, philosophy, epigraphy, and the history of religions.

The project brings together 157 integrated researchers structured around 13 beneficiary research groups:

“Grupo de Investigación de Mitocrítica” (Coordination), “Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum”, “Estudios Rusos Complutenses”, “Estudios Transversales de Creación Contemporánea”, “Influencias de las éticas griegas en la filosofía contemporánea”, “Ecocrítica y Humanidades Ambientales”, “Historiografía e Historia de las Religiones”, “Estructuras comunicativas e interacciones en los distintos niveles de la comunicación”, “Innovación y análisis de la imagen”, “Interculturalidad y Traductología”, “Poéticas en Lengua Inglesa”, “Estudios de Recepción”, and “Estudios en Intermedialidad y Mediación Intercultural”.

These groups are affiliated with seven prestigious Spanish universities: Universidad Complutense, Universidad de Alcalá, Universidad Autónoma, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Universidad Francisco de Vitoria, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, and Universidad Antonio de Nebrija.

Consolidated Research Metrics & Output

The collaborative efforts within the network yielded outstanding metrics in training, academic mobility, research transfer, and knowledge dissemination:

Project Objectives

The general aim of the “Acis&Galatea” project is to prove the intimate relationship between mythology and the cultural configuration of Madrid (both as a city and an autonomous community), Spain, and Europe within contemporary times (20th and 21st centuries).

To achieve this, the consortium conducts comprehensive studies of myths and legends through the lenses of popular celebrations, tourism, and the leisure and cultural industries. The specific objective is to determine the contemporary social impact of these mythical narratives on public festivities, industry trends, and environmental attitudes across different social strata and communities.

Participant Groups and Institutional Framework

The project features a fundamentally interdisciplinary framework, reflected both in the configuration of its integrated research units and the diverse media analyzed (literature, plastic, musical and performing arts, popular holidays, and celebrations).

The project consortium is integrated by 10 beneficiary research groups based in the Region of Madrid:

ACIS (Myth Criticism Research Group), CIL II (Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum), ETICASGRIEGAS (Greek Ethics’ Influences on Contemporary Philosophy), GIAP (Popular Patrimony and Cultures Research Group), GIECO (Ecocriticism), IAI (Innovation and Image Analysis), INTRA (Studies of Discourses and Texts for Interpretation and Translation), POETICS (Poetics in the English Language), RECEPTION (Reception Studies Research Group), and SIIM (Intermediality and Cultural Mediation Studies).

These groups are hosted across leading institutions: Universidad Complutense (3), Universidad de Alcalá (3), Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (1), Universidad Francisco de Vitoria (1), Universidad Pontificia Comillas (1), and the Spanish National Research Council — CSIC (1).

Presentation

This is a large-scale project featuring the active participation of 37 researchers from numerous academic specialties.

Scientific Proposal

The primary aim of this project is to articulate an innovative methodology for myth criticism that allows for a comprehensive study of myths within contemporary culture. Among the high-social-impact factors that actively influence the production and modification of myths, the project focuses specifically on three core axes: globalization, immanence, and consumerism.

Significant shifts in contemporary mythological culture:

Due to these cultural shifts, traditional methodologies in myth criticism have become insufficient. Consequently, there is a clear need for a renewed methodological framework that—without dismissing previous academic achievements—can account for contemporary myths and showcase them as key interpretive keys to understanding modern society.

Expected Outcome: The creation of a groundbreaking methodology for myth criticism, currently unprecedented in the international academic landscape, designed to decipher the complexity of contemporary myths and their modern manifestations.

Presentation

This was a high-impact research project coordinating 30 researchers from diverse academic specialties, actively incorporating 10 young professors and 15 postgraduate students. The network successfully analyzed the reception of ancient, medieval, and modern myths within 20th-century European literature.

The main results of this research can be consulted in the collective volume Mito y mundo contemporáneo (available in the books section).

Scientific Proposal

The project delves deeply into the reception and evolution of myths from the late 19th century to the present day. Taking literature (novel, theater, and poetry) as a unique testimony of the archetypes, symbols, and core myths that shape human thought and the imaginary world, the concept of myth is approached through all its valid critical dimensions (philosophical, cultural, ethnological, religious, psychoanalytical, and linguistic).

Priority Areas of Investigation

Just as in ancient and early modern times, contemporary authors continue to employ mythical images to express human aporias and desires. They do so critically, fragmentedly, or subversively, but never in the same manner as previous eras.

Core Aim: To discern the specific modes of adaptation (translation, version, rejection, subversion) of myths into the contemporary mentality, identifying which narratives remain operative for modern society, why certain myths lose their cultural functionality, and how others undergo a modern remodeling to reflect contemporary illusions and frustrations.

Research Results and Methodological Impact

The rigorous collation of 516 volumes examining the bilateral cultural relations between Spain and France resulted in the definitive monograph: Bibliographie critique de la littérature espagnole en France au XVIIe siècle. Présence et influence.

This work fundamentally challenged the widespread consensus among contemporary critics, who had previously deemed it impossible to establish an exhaustive, rational, and critical map of literary relations between two nations. By dedicating four-fifths of its entirety to theoretical and critical reflection, this monograph pioneered a brand-new conception of the bibliographic genre.

International Critical Reception

The innovative nature of the methodology and the significance of its findings transformed this work into an academic milestone for intercultural studies. This impact is reflected in extensive reviews published across the world’s most prestigious scientific journals:

As a testament to its enduring scientific value, this volume is currently cataloged and held in the collections of the leading academic libraries worldwide.