Journal articles on the topic 'Poets, Nicaraguan'

Conhecido na América Latina e no Caribe como um poeta revolucionário, Ernesto Cardenal (1925-) produziu, ao longo de sua vida, obras em prosa e em verso que estão marcadas igualmente por significativa densidade mística. Há que buscar captar ao longo desse singular itinerário os traços dessa presença espiritual que talvez esteja na base da riqueza e expressividade de sua vida e produção teórica. O poeta nicaraguense vem hoje reconhecido por vários autores como um dos mais fecundos e originais poetas do século XX, e revela-se de fundamental importância desocultar as coordenadas contemplativas presentes na sua rica narrativa.Abstract: Known in Latin America and in the Caribbean as a revolutionary poet, Ernesto Cardenal (1925-) produced during his life works in prose and verse that are equally marked by a significant mystical density. It is now essential to try and capture along this singular trajectory the traits of this spiritual presence that most probably is at the base of the richness and expressivity of his life and theoretical production. The Nicaraguan poet is now recognized by various authors as one of the most productive and original poets of the 20th century and it is of paramount importance to unveil the contemplative coordinates present in his rich narrative.Keywords: Latin America. Literature. Mystical. Religion. Cardenal.

José Emilio Pacheco (1939-2014) devoted part of his essay production to reconstruct the past of letters and, in particular, was interested in the Modernist movement. From two anthological texts: Anthology of Modernism [1884-1921] (1970) and Modernist Poetry. A General Anthology (1982), and a selection of journalistic notes that he published in the Mexican magazine Proceso, Pacheco aimed at broadening the spectrum of Modernist figures and avoiding to keep to a single figure, such as that of the Nicaraguan Rubén Darío. This article reconstructs the dialogues and reciprocities that José Emilio Pacheco traces with the literary tradition of Modernism and that are sustained, on the one hand, in connections between poets, as it is the case of Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera and José Martí and, on the other hand, in the recovering of poets less well-known by literary criticism, such as Salvador Díaz Mirón.

La poesía de Milagros Terán, una de las poetas más importantes de Nicaragua, es presentada en Cultura de Paz. La belleza de lo cotidiano en la trascendencia de la palabra poética. Carlos Martínez Rivas, extraordinario y singular poeta de nuestra lengua, escribe una carta valorando textos de Milagros Terán. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5377/cultura.v19i60.1176 Cultura de Paz • Año XIX • N° 60 • Mayo - Agosto 2013 P / 33-37

Durante el desarrollo de un curso sobre la evaluación de la calidad biológica de las aguas continentales en León (Nicaragua), se recolectaron ejemplares de la esponja de agua dulce Radiospongilla crateriformis (Potts, 1882) (Porifera: Spongillidae), la cual se cita aquí por primera vez para el país. Los muestreos se realizaron durante la tercera semana de enero de 2016 en el río Los Aposentos. Este circula dentro del recinto del Jardín Botánico Ambiental (JBAUNAN-León). Se aportan datos sobre la autoecología de los ejemplares recolectados y se discuten ciertas diferencias morfológicas con respecto a otras citas en países cercanos. In the framework of a field course on water quality assessment in León (Nicaragua), we collected specimens of the freshwater sponge Radiospongilla crateriformis (Potts, 1882) (Porifera: Spongillidae), which is herein cited for the first time for this country. Samples were obtained during the third week of January 2016 from river Los Aposentos. This stream runs through the Environmental Botanical Garden (Jardín Botánico Ambiental, JBA-UNAN-León). We present data on the species autoecology and discuss morphological differences with previous findings from surrounding areas.

Este texto es una reseña biográfica y artística del poeta costeño Carlos Rigby Moses. Señala no solo sus primeros pasos en los círculos literarios del país, sino también las distintas actividades artísticas y políticas de este polifacético poeta caribeño: su afición a la música y al trombón, su participación y compromiso revolucionarios y el importante papel vinculante entre la cultura caribeña y la del Pacífico de Nicaragua. Nos conduce además por un recorrido temático de sus mejores poemas y nos da a conocer las actividades y relaciones que este gran poeta tuvo con los principales literatos y artistas de Nicaragua. Acompaña a este artículo un pronunciamiento del Centro Nicaragüense de Escritores y poemas de Carlos Rigby.

El primer número de la revista Encuentro, correspondiente a los meses de enero y febrero de 1968, aparece dirigido por el reconocido intelectual y parlamentario Dr. Julio Ycaza Tigerino (qepd), teniendo como secretario al poeta Luís Rocha Urtecho. Esta revista académicocientífica de la Universidad Centroamericana, que este año cumple cuarenta de existir, es la más antigua en su género en Nicaragua. Creo conveniente mencionar en esta colaboración a quienes durante tantos años la han dirigido y a quienes se debe que haya llegado a lo que es hoy: un valioso instrumento cultural para la investigación en todos los órdenes. A partir de 1969 la dirigió el filósofo Romano García y sucesivamente: Luís A. Claramount, psicólogo (1971), Horacio Peña, poeta (1973), Enrique Alvarado Martínez, humanista (1979), Amando López, s.j. (1980), Raúl Moreno, s.j. (1984), César Jerez, s.j. (1984) Peter Marchetti, s.j. (1986), Melba Castillo (1993), Nelly Miranda, socióloga (1995), Vidaluz Meneses, poeta (1997), Marcos Membreño Idiáquez, sociólogo (1998), Eduardo Valdez s.j. (2003), Federico Sanz s.j. (2004), Doctora Mayra Luz Pérez Díaz, nuestra actual rectora (2005). Loor a la obra de estos ilustres académicos y académicas.

El 8 de septiembre de 1910, a bordo del Saint Nazaire, llegó al puerto de Veracruz el poeta Rubén Darío, comisionado por el gobierno de Nicaragua para asistir a la celebración del Centenario de la independencia. Un conflicto diplomático entre Nicaragua y Estados Unidos impidió que Darío participara en los festejos. Sin embargo, las repercusiones literarias y culturales de esta no-visita no se hicieron esperar. Así, a partir de 1910 y hasta 1920, son rastreables algunas consecuencias. Este texto cartografía los preparativos realizados en México para recibir al poeta, así como diferentes crónicas de su visita al país, para aportar finalmente algunos hechos vinculados a esta extraña visita.

Francisco Pérez Estrada (1913- 1982), granadino, abogado, poeta, antropólogo social, ensayista e investigador de nuestro folclor. Realizó sus estudios en Nicaragua, Argentina, España y México. Presidente del

Palabras ofrecidas por el Poeta Anastasio Lovo en la exposición de vitrales titulada “Butterflies” de la Maestra Rossi López Huelva, realizada por el Instituto “Martin Luther King” en el marco de la celebración del 48 aniversario de fundación de la Universidad Politécnica de Nicaragua (UPOLI).

Este trabajo propone una lectura del poemario Vientos de victoria (1984) del poeta nicaragüense Ernesto Cardenal, teniendo en cuenta los principios del exteriorismo al que el autor adhiere y sus propias exigencias poéticas. En tal sentido, se tratará de identificar las particularidades de estos poemas concebidos en estrecha relación con el contexto político y social de la Nicaragua de finales de los años 80. Siguiendo las líneas de la poesía impura proclamada por Neruda, Cardenal asume un rol de poeta profeta y lleva adelante en este poemario una revolución poética a la vez íntima y universal.

Este artículo se centra en la situación actual de las mujeres indígenas y afrodescendientes y la participación política y su acceso a puestos de liderazgo. La investigación exploró el proceso desde el cual las mujeres miskitu y kriol en Nicaragua han catapultado posiciones de liderazgo en el grupo matrilocal en altos cargos políticos. Los datos recogidos en Bilwi-Puerto Cabezas demuestra que mujeres las miskitu y kriol lideresas en los últimos 30 años han accedido a puestos de liderazgo político a través de su participación con la Iglesia Morava, la revolución sandinista, y después de 1990 las organizaciones de desarrollo. Estas etapas de empoderamiento pueden combinarse para favorecer el liderazgo de mujeres.SummaryThis article focuses on the current situation of indigenous and afrodescendant women, their political participation and access to leadership posts. The research explored the process from which the Miskitu and Creole women in Nicaragua have catapulted leadership positions in the matrilocal group in high political posts. Data collected in Bilwi-Puerto Cabezas shows that Miskitu and Creole women leaders, in the past 30 years have had access to political leadership positions through their involvement with the Moravian Church, the Sandinista revolution, and after 1990 due to the development organizations. These stages of empowerment can be combined to promote women leadership.

Resumen: En este artículo, analizo los ensayos, crónicas y artículos periodísticos de Rubén Darío a través del marco de la colonialidad del poder y la colonialidad del saber desarrollado por Aníbal Quijano entre otros. Argumento que leyendo sus escritos políticos, observamos a un sujeto con una conciencia dividida. Por un lado, Darío reproduce el pensamiento eurocéntrico que caracteriza la colonialidad y por otro lado, critica y cuestiona tal paradigma. Para apoyar mi argumento, empleo las divisiones geopolíticas ‘Este/Oeste’ y ‘Norte/Sur’ para trazar las preocupaciones y pensamientos del poeta nicaragüense sobre los Estados Unidos y Europa. En otras palabras, examino desde dónde piensa Darío y cómo sus posiciones alinean con o se desvían de la colonialidad y/o la de-colonialidad.Palabras clave: Rubén Darío, colonialidad del poder, de-colonialidad, geopolítica, conciencia dividida.Abstract: In this article, I analyze Rubén Darío’s essays, chronicles, and newspaper articles through the framework of the coloniality of power and the coloniality of knowledge developed by Aníbal Quijano among others. I argue that reading his political writings, we observe a subject with a divided consciousness. On one hand, Darío repro-duces Eurocentric thinking that characterizes coloniality and, on the other hand, he criticizes and questions such paradigm. To support my argument, I use the geopolitical divisions ‘East/West’ and ‘North/South’ in order to trace the Nicaraguan poet’s concerns and thoughts regarding Europe and the United States. In other words, I examine from where Darío thinks and how his positions align with or deviate from coloniality and de-coloniality.Keywords: Rubén Darío, Coloniality of Power, Coloniality of Knowledge, De-coloniality, Geopolitics, Divided Consciousness

Este artículo describe y analiza cómo el régimen de Anastasio Somoza García toma la figura y la obra de Rubén Darío con una intencionalidad política explícita para su propia legitimación. A partir del desarrollo de los homenajes celebrados en el año 1941, a 25 años de muerte de Darío y de la publicación de fragmentos de La vida de Rubén Darío escrita por él mismo y de El viaje a Nicaragua, se percibe la manipulación de la obra del poeta y la continuación de una disputa que comienza en el momento mismo de su muerte.

El Papa Francisco y el poeta nicaragüense Ernesto Cardenal coinciden en muchos aspectos al interpretar la teología de la comunidad. Cardenal, un representante de la Teología de la Liberación, y el Papa Francisco, que va al encuentro de dicha teología, son dos personajes característicos del pensamiento latinoamericano. En Ernesto Cardenal, autor de Cántico cósmico y el Papa actual, autor de encíclicas que tocan el tema de la Iglesia como comunidad, se pueden encontrar puntos en común. En el presente estudio se va a proseguir con la característica del cántico y de la encíclica como dos géneros y herramientas para describir la realidad eclesial, para profundizar en la visión de la Iglesia como comunidad de los pobres y necesitados. La de Francisco y Cardenal, son posturas similares pero la ortodoxia del Pontífice exige algo más de lo que propone el poeta-sacerdote rebelde de Nicaragua.

El ensayo muestra la obra poética de las escritoras garífunas del Caribe centroamericano como un discurso en el que pueden observarse los procesos de construcción de la identidad como garífunas y como mujeres. Es un movimiento contradiscursivo, que funciona como suplemento de la historia, la memoria y las tradiciones culturales. En ese proceso, la labor de las mujeres como transmisoras de cultura es fundamental en la vida cotidiana, en el devenir histórico y en el proceso de representación en la literatura. Es un discurso afro-céntrico que construye un movimiento más allá de las fronteras de los diferentes países y recupera símbolos, imágenes, sueños e ideales que permiten la permanencia de la etnia garífuna.

EN UN CONTEXTO HISTÓRICO Y SOCIAL COMO EL DE LA CENTROAMÉRICA contemporánea, en el que los nuevos escritores parecen exagerar en su preferencia por una poesía “no contaminada por la política”; más allá de cualquier preferencia temática o estilística entre las nuevas generaciones de poetas, sería imperdonable no detenerse a admirar el emblema histórico que tanto la figura como la obra poética de Ernesto Cardenal representan para Nicaragua y para todo el continente americano.Esteta de la simpleza, la especificación y el detalle como recurso estilístico para reforzar la memoria histórica y fortalecer una idea emancipadora de la identidad hispanoamericana, Cardenal y su obra suscitaron una profusa polémica que aún sobrevive en medio de los debates sobre el quehacer poético en Nicaragua. Mientras muchos escritores rechazan la influencia de su poética, otros la asumen (a veces hasta involuntariamente) como parte de una tradición insoslayable. Aunque, a la larga, lo más probable es que en la riqueza intelectual de tal bifurcación, o en su sincretismo, se delineará el futuro camino de las nuevas generaciones poéticas nicaragüenses.

In this book, Rodriguez aims to understand the roots of gender violence, more specifically men’s violence against women. For this purpose, throughout the book, she gives examples of specific cases such as Nicaragua, the U.S.S.R, Austria and the U.S.A., and examines these examples through mostly psychoanalysis and sometimes through by political science perspectives. The book is an easy read as the case studies - by utilizing newspaper articles- are used as a very useful tool to exemplify the theories behind. Moreover, some literary sources such as poems and novels, or even movies are utilized to reveal male desire and male view of violence against the women which are the true roots of gender violence against women.

Ha sido tradición de algunos escritores e intelectuales hispanoamericanos definir las características colectivas del ciudadano representativo de la idiosincrasia de sus pueblos. En Chile, por ejemplo, Isabel Allende en su obra Mi país inventado describe en ciertos pasajes la forma en que percibe a su país y a sus habitantes. De igual manera, Octavio Paz en Laberinto de la Soledad cumple con esa misma misión describiendo a la mujer y al hombre mexicano. Por supuesto en Nicaragua también encontramos a un muy reconocido y querido poeta y periodista, Pablo Antonio Cuadra quien en su libro El nicaragüense pintó al ciudadano común de nuestra tierra pinolera de tal forma, que en él no se escapa esa mirada histórica que ya antes se ha registrado en la obra de teatro El Güegüense, libro en quela gracia, la picardía y la astucia se vuelven sus características esenciales.

Abdulia y el gusanito: Es un cuento del licenciado Fernando Saavedra, recreación de la vida y la conducta moral tradicional de los pueblos indígenas. Este un gusanito vuelve a retoñar en un aguacate con la intermediación de un sukia, un guía espiritual de la Costa Caribe de Nicaragua, es el shamán o representante de la medicina ancestral. El gran Árbol y el fuerte Viento: Es cuento también con moraleja, es una lucha moral, un enfrentamiento personificado en la naturaleza por medio de la lucha entre el árbol y el viento. La madre de las tortugas: Es la leyenda del profesor y poeta Avelino Cox. Trata de una tortuga sagrada a la cual los pueblos indígenas le llamaban la madre de las tortugas, porque apuntalaba siempre adonde se encuentran los peces, era una guía de los pescadores, pero un día cuando no se cumplió con los preceptos morales de los ancestros en la comunidad, razón por la cual desapareció y los pueblos ya no tuvieron abundancia, hasta que la volvieron a encontrar los marinos; entonces la herencia de ella, vinieron nuevamente a desovar a los literales del Caribe.

El triunfo de la Revolución Popular Sandinista implicó para Nicaragua profundas transformaciones en distintos ámbitos, uno de ellos fue el cultural. Con la creación del Ministerio de Cultura, que tuvo como Ministro a Ernesto Cardenal, se impulsaron –entre otros proyectos– Talleres Populares de Poesía. Dar cuenta de la historia de estos Talleres, de sus formas de organización, de los poetas que en ellos participaron y que continúan escribiendo, e incluso hablar de la polémica que se desató entre la intelectualidad nicaragüense, porque a decir de algunos, los Talleres limitaban la creación poética en el país, es lo que se hace en este ensayo que además, pretende ser un aporte para entender e interpretar –desde otras miradas– a aquella Nicaragua recién liberada, aquella Nicaragua que a finales de los años ochenta (época en que en México y en otros países de América Latina se hablaba de neoliberalismo) constituyó un ejemplo de dignidad y rebeldía.

En los años ochenta y hasta en la década de los noventa se solía hablar del proyecto revolucionario sandinista en términos de una «república literaria» o de poetas. Esta reclamada relación simbiótica entre revolución y literatura tuvo consecuencias significativas para la literatura, en sus diferentes dimensiones como creación artística, instancia de generación de sentido e institución, así como para la relación entre el autor/escritor y la política, esto es, el Estado. El presente ensayo propone una revisión crítica de esta supuesta compenetración entre el campo político y el campo literario en la década de los noventa que tenía múltiples y contradictorias repercusiones en las políticas culturales del gobierno sandinista, y pregunta por la relación entre política y literatura en la Nicaragua de inicios del siglo XXI.

IntroductionIn late 2016, I undertook a short-term, three-month project to share some of my research through my Instagram account using the categorising hashtag #AustralianBeachspace. Much of this work emerged from my PhD thesis, which is being published in journal articles, but has yet to be published in any accessible or overarching way. I wanted to experiment with the process of using a visual social media tool for research dissemination. I felt that Instagram’s ability to combine text and image allowed for an aesthetically interesting way to curate this particular research project. My research is concerned with representations of the Australian beach, and thus the visual, image-based focus of Instagram seemed ideal. In this article, I briefly examine some of the existing research around academic practices of research dissemination, social media use, and the emerging research around Instagram itself. I then will examine my own experience of using Instagram as a tool for depicting curated, aesthetically-driven, research dissemination and reflect whether this use of Instagram is effective for representing and disseminating research. Research DisseminationResearchers, especially those backed by public funding, are always bound by the necessity of sharing the findings and transferring the knowledge gained during the research process. Research metrics are linked to workload allocations and promotion pathways for university researchers, providing clear motivation to maintain an active research presence. For most academics, the traditional research dissemination strategies involve academic publications: peer-reviewed scholarly books and journal articles.For academics working within a higher education policy climate that centres on measuring impact and engagement, peer-reviewed publications remain the gold standard. There are indicators, however, that research dissemination strategies may need to include methods for targeting non-academic outputs. Gunn and Mintrom (21), in their recent research, “anticipate that governments will increasingly question the value of publicly funded research and seek to evaluate research impact”. And this process, they argue, is not without challenges. Education Minister Simon Birmingham supports their claim by suggesting the Turnbull Government is looking to find methods for more meaningful ways of evaluating value in higher education research outcomes, “rather than only allocating funding to researchers who spend their time trying to get published in journals” (para 5).It therefore makes sense that academics are investigating ways of using social media as a way of broadening their research dissemination, despite the fact social media metrics do not yet count towards traditional citations within the university sector.Research Dissemination via Social MediaThere has been an established practice of researchers using social media, especially blogging (Kirkup) and Twitter, as ways of sharing information about their current projects, their findings, their most recent publications, or to connect with colleagues. Gruzd, Staves, and Wilk (2348) investigated social media use by academics, suggesting “scholars are turning to social media tools professionally because they are more convenient for making new connections with peers, collaboration, and research dissemination”. It is possible to see social media functioning as a new way of representing research – playing an important role in the shaping and developing of ideas, sharing those ideas, and functioning as a dissemination tool after the research has concluded.To provide context for the use of social media in research, this section briefly covers blogging and Twitter, two methods considered somewhat separated from university frameworks, and also professional platforms, such as Academia.edu and The Conversation.Perhaps the tool that has the most history in providing another avenue for academics to share their work is academic blogging. Blogging is considered an avenue that allows for discussion of topics prior to publication (Bukvova, 4; Powell, Jacob, and Chapman, 273), and often uses a more conversational tone than academic publishing. It provides opportunity to share research in long form to an open, online audience. Academic blogs have also become significant parts of online academic communities, such as the highly successful blog, The Thesis Whisperer, targeted for research students. However, many researchers in this space note the stigma attached to blogging (and other forms of social media) as useless or trivial; for instance, in Gruzd, Staves, and Wilk’s survey of academic users of social media, an overwhelming majority of respondents suggested that institutions do not recognise these activities (2343). Because blogging is not counted in publication metrics, it is possible to dismiss this type of activity as unnecessary.Twitter has garnered attention within the academic context because of its proliferation in conference engagement and linking citation practices of scholars (Marht, Weller, and Peters, 401–406). Twitter’s platform lends itself as a place to share citations of recently published material and a way of connecting with academic peers in an informal, yet meaningful way. Veletsianos has undertaken an analysis of academic Twitter practices, and there is a rise in popularity of “Tweetable Abstracts” (Else), or the practice of refining academic abstracts into a shareable Tweet format. According to Powell, Jacob, and Chapman (272), new media (including both Twitter and the academic blog) offer opportunities to engage with an increasingly Internet-literate society in a way that is perhaps more meaningful and certainly more accessible than traditional academic journals. Like blogging, the use of Twitter within the active research phase and pre-publication, means the platform can both represent and disseminate new ideas and research findings.Both academic blogs and Twitter are widely accessible and can be read by Internet users beyond academia. It appears likely, however, that many blogs and academic Twitter profiles are still accessed and consumed primarily by academic audiences. This is more obvious in the increasingly popular specific academic social media platforms such as ResearchGate or Academia.edu.These websites are providing more targeted, niche communication and sharing channels for scholars working in higher education globally, and their use appears to be regularly encouraged by institutions. These sites attempt to mediate between open access and copyright in academic publishing, encouraging users to upload full-text documents of their publications as a means of generating more attention and citations (Academia.edu cites Niyazov et al’s study that suggests articles posted to the site had improved citation counts). ResearchGate and Academia.edu function primarily as article repositories, albeit with added social networking opportunities that differentiate them from more traditional university repositories.In comparison, the success of the online platform The Conversation, with its tagline “Academic rigour, journalistic flair”, shows the growing enthusiasm and importance of engaging with more public facing outlets to share forms of academic writing. Many researchers are using The Conversation as a way of sharing their research findings through more accessible, shorter articles designed for the general public; these articles regularly link to the traditional academic publications as well.Research dissemination, and how the uptake of online social networks is changing individual and institution-wide practices, is a continually expanding area of research. It is apparent that while The Conversation has been widely accepted and utilised as a tool of research dissemination, there is still some uncertainty about using social media as representing or disseminating findings and ideas because of the lack of impact metrics. This is perhaps even more notable in regards to Instagram, a platform that has received comparatively little discussion in academic research more broadly.Instagram as Social MediaInstagram is a photo sharing application that launched in 2010 and has seen significant uptake by users in that time, reaching 700 million monthly active users as of April 2017 (Instagram “700 Million”). Recent additions to the service, such as the “Snapchat clone” Instagram Stories, appear to have helped boost growth (Constine, para 4). Instagram then is a major player in the social media user market, and the emergence of academic research into the platform reflect this. Early investigations include Manikonda, Hu and Kambhampati’s analysis social networks, demographics, and activities of users in which they identified some clear differences in usage compared to Flickr (another photo-sharing network) and Twitter (5). Hochman and Manovich and Hochman and Schwartz examined what information visualisations generated from Instagram images can reveal about the “visual rhythms” of geographical locations such as New York City.To provide context for the use of Instagram as a way of disseminating research through a more curated, visual approach, this section will examine professional uses of Instagram, the role of Influencers, and some of the functionalities of the platform.Instagram is now a platform that caters for both personal and professional accounts. The user-interface allows for a streamlined and easily navigable process from taking a photo, adding filters or effects, and sharing the photo instantly. The platform has developed to include web-based access to complement the mobile application, and has also introduced Instagram Business accounts, which provide “real-time metrics”, “insights into your followers”, and the ability to “add information about your company” (Instagram “Instagram Business”). This also comes with the option to pay for advertisements.Despite its name, many users of Instagram, especially those with profiles that are professional or business orientated, do not only produce instant content. While the features of Instagram, such as geotagging, timestamping, and the ability to use the camera from within the app, lend themselves to users capturing their everyday experience in the moment, more and more content is becoming carefully curated. As such, some accounts are blurring the line between personal and professional, becoming what Crystal Abidin calls Influencers, identifying the practice as when microcelebrities are able to use the “textual and visual narration of their personal, everyday lives” to generate paid advertorials (86). One effect of this, as Abidin investigates in the context of Singapore and the #OOTD (Outfit of the Day) hashtag, is the way “everyday Instagram users are beginning to model themselves after Influences” and therefore generate advertising content “that is not only encouraged by Influences and brands but also publicly utilised without remuneration” (87). Instagram, then, can be a very powerful platform for businesses to reach wide audiences, and the flexibility of caption length and visual content provides a type of viral curation practice as in the case of the #OOTD hashtag following.Considering the focus of my #AustralianBeachspace project on Australian beaches, many of the Instagram accounts and hashtags I encountered and engaged with were tourism related. Although this will be discussed in more detail below, it is worth noting that individual Influencers exist in these fields as well and often provide advertorial content for companies like accommodation chains or related products. One example is user @katgaskin, an Influencer who both takes photos, features in photos, and provides “organic” adverts for products and services (see image). Not all her photos are adverts; some are beach or ocean images without any advertorial content in the caption. In this instance, the use of distinctive photo editing, iconic imagery (the “salty pineapple” branding), and thematic content of beach and ocean landscapes, makes for a recognisable and curated aesthetic. Figure 1: An example from user @katgaskin's Instagram profile that includes a mention of a product. Image sourced from @katgaskin, uploaded 2 June 2017.@katgaskin’s profile’s aesthetic identity is, as such, linked with the ocean and the beach. Although her physical location regularly changes (her profile includes images from, for example, Nicaragua, Australia, and the United States), the thematic link is geographical. And research suggests the visual focus of Instagram lends itself to place-based content. As Hochman and Manovich state:While Instagram eliminates static timestamps, its interface strongly emphasizes physical place and users’ locations. The application gives a user the option to publicly share a photo’s location in two ways. Users can tag a photo to a specific venue, and then view all other photos that were taken and tagged there. If users do not choose to tag a photo to a venue, they can publically share their photos’ location information on a personal ‘photo-map’, displaying all photos on a zoomable word map. (para 14)This means that the use of place in the app is anchored to the visual content, not the uploader’s location. While it is possible to consider Instagram’s intention was to anchor the content and the uploader’s location together (as in the study conducted by Weilenmann, Hillman, and Jungselius that explored how Instagram was used in the museum), this is no longer always the case. In this way, Instagram is also providing a platform for more serious photographers to share their images after they have processed and edited them and connect the image with the image content rather than the uploader’s position.This place-based focus also shares origins in tourism photography practices. For instance, Kibby’s analysis of the use of Instagram as a method for capturing the “tourist gaze” in Monument Valley notes that users mostly wanted to capture the “iconic” elements of the site (most of which were landscape formations made notable through representations in popular culture).Another area of research into Instagram use is hashtag practice (see, for example, Ferrara, Interdonato, and Tagarelli). Highfield and Leaver have generated a methodology for mapping hashtags and analysing the information this can reveal about user practices. Many Instagram accounts use hashtags to provide temporal or place based information, some specific (such as #sunrise or #newyorkcity) and some more generic (such as #weekend or #beach). Of particular relevance here is the role hashtags play in generating higher levels of user engagement. It is also worth noting the role of “algorithmic personalization” introduced by Instagram earlier in 2017 and the lukewarm user response as identified by Mahnke Skrubbeltrang, Grunnet, and Tarp’s analysis, suggesting “users are concerned with algorithms dominating their experience, resulting in highly commercialised experience” (section 7).Another key aspect of Instagram’s functionality is linked to the aesthetic of the visual content: photographic filters. Now a mainstay of other platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, Instagram popularised the use of filters by providing easily accessible options within the app interface directly. Now, other apps such as VCSO allow for more detailed editing of images that can then be imported into Instagram; however, the pre-set filters have proven popular with large numbers of users. A study in 2014 by Araújo, Corrêa, da Silva et al found 76% of analysed images had been processed in some way.By considering the professional uses of Instagram and the functionality of the app (geotagging; hashtagging; and filters), it is possible to summarise Instagram as a social media platform that, although initially perhaps intended to capture the everyday visual experiences of amateur photographers using their smart phone, has adapted to become a network for sharing images that can be for both personal and professional purposes. It has a focus on place, with its geotagging capacity and hashtag practices, and can include captions The #AustralianBeachspace ProjectIn October 2016, I began a social media project called #AustralianBeachspace that was designed to showcase content from my PhD thesis and ongoing work into representations of Australian beaches in popular culture (a collection of the project posts only, as opposed to the ongoing Instagram profile, can be found here). The project was envisaged as a three month project; single posts (including an image and caption) were planned and uploaded six times a week (every day except Sundays). Although I have occasionally continued to use the hashtag since the project’s completion (on 24 Dec. 2016), the frequency and planned nature of the posts since then has significantly changed. What has not changed is the strong thematic through line of my posts, all of which continue to rely heavily on beach imagery. This is distinct from other academic social media use which if often more focused on the everyday activity of academia.Instagram was my social media choice for this project for two main reasons: I had no existing professional Instagram profile (unlike Twitter) and thus I could curate a complete project in isolation, and the subject of my PhD thesis was representations of Australian beaches in literature and film. As such, my research was appropriate for, and in fact was augmented by, visual depiction. It is also worth noting the tendency reported by myself and others (Huntsman; Booth) of academics not considering the beach an area worthy of focus. This resonates with Bech Albrechtslund and Albrechtslund’s argument that “social media practices associated with leisure and playfulness” are still meaningful and worthy of examination.Up until this point, my research outputs had been purely textual. I, therefore, needed to generate a significant number of visual elements to complement the vast amount of textual content already created. I used my PhD thesis to provide the thematic structure (I have detailed this process in more depth here), and then used the online tool Trello to plan, organise, and arrange the intended posts (image and caption). The project includes images taken by myself, my partner, and other images with no copyright limitations attached as sourced through photo sharing sites like Unsplash.com.The images were all selected because of their visual representation of an Australian beach, and the alignment of the image with the themes of the project. For instance, one theme focused on the under-represented negative aspects of the beach. One image used in this theme was a photo of Bondi Beach ocean pool, empty at night. I carefully curated the images and arranged them according to the thematic schedule (as can be seen below) and then wrote the accompanying textual captions. Figure 2: A sample of the schedule used for the posting of curated images and captions.While there were some changes to the schedule throughout (for instance, my attendance at the 2016 Sculpture by the Sea exhibition prompted me to create a sixth theme), the process of content curation and creation remained the same.Visual curation of the images was a particularly important aspect of the project, and I did use an external photo processing application to create an aesthetic across the collection. As Kibby notes, “photography is intrinsically linked with tourism” (para 9), and although not a tourism project inherently, #AustralianBeachspace certainly engaged with touristic tropes by focusing on Australian beaches, an iconic part of Australian national and cultural identity (Ellison 2017; Ellison and Hawkes 2016; Fiske, Hodge, and Turner 1987). However, while beaches are perhaps instinctively touristic in their focus on natural landscapes, this project was attempting to illustrate more complexity in this space (which mirrors an intention of my PhD thesis). As such, some images were chosen because of their “ordinariness” or their subversion of the iconic beach images (see below). Figures 3 and 4: Two images that capture some less iconic images of Australian beaches; one that shows an authentic, ordinary summer's day and another that shows an empty beach during winter.I relied on captions to provide the textual information about the image. I also included details about the photographer where possible, and linked all the images with the hashtag #AustralianBeachspace. The textual content, much of which emerged from ongoing and extensive research into the topic, was somewhat easier to collate. However, it required careful reworking and editing to suit the desired audience and to work in conjunction with the image. I kept captions to the approximate length of a paragraph and concerned with one point. This process forced me to distil ideas and concepts into short chunks of writing, which is distinct from other forms of academic output. This textual content was designed to be accessible beyond an academic audience, but still used a relatively formal voice (especially in comparison to more personal users of the platform).I provided additional hashtags in a first comment, which were intended to generate some engagement. Notably, these hashtags were content related (such as #beach and #surf; they were not targeting academic hashtags). At time of writing, my follower count is 70. The most liked (or “favourited”) photo from the project received 50 likes, and the most comments received was 6 (on a number of posts). Some photos published since the end of the project have received higher numbers of likes and comments. This certainly does not suggest enormous impact from this project. Hashtags utilised in this project were adopted from popular and related hashtags using the analytics tool Websta.me as well as hashtags used in similar content styled profiles, such as: #seeaustralia #thisisqueensland #visitNSW #bondibeach #sunshinecoast and so on. Notably, many of the hashtags were place-based. The engagement of this project with users beyond academia was apparent: followers and comments on the posts are more regularly from professional photographers, tourism bodies, or location-based businesses. In fact, because of the content or place-based hashtagging practices I employed, it was difficult to attract an academic audience at all. However, although the project was intended as an experiment with public facing research dissemination, I did not actively adopt a stringent engagement strategy and have not kept metrics per day to track engagement. This is a limitation of the study and undoubtedly allows scope for further research.ConclusionInstagram is a platform that does not have clear pathways for reaching academic audiences in targeted ways. At this stage, little research has emerged that investigates Instagram use among academics, although it is possible to presume there are similarities with blogging or Twitter (for example, conference posting and making connections with colleagues).However, the functionality of Instagram does lend itself to creating and curating aesthetically interesting ways of disseminating, and in fact representing, research. Ideas and findings must be depicted as images and captions, and the curatorial process of marrying visual images to complement or support textual information can make for more accessible and palatable content. Perhaps most importantly, the content is freely accessible and not locked behind paywalls or expensive academic publications. It can also be easily archived and shared.The #AustralianBeachspace project is small-scale and not indicative of widespread academic practice. However, examining the process of creating the project and the role Instagram may play in potentially reaching a more diverse, public audience for academic research suggests scope for further investigation. Although not playing an integral role in publication metrics and traditional measures of research impact, the current changing climate of higher education policy provides motivations to continue exploring non-traditional methods for disseminating research findings and tracking research engagement and impact.Instagram functions as a useful platform for sharing research data through a curated collection of images and captions. Rather than being a space for instant updates on the everyday life of the academic, it can also function in a more aesthetically interesting and dynamic way to share research findings and possibly generate wider, public-facing engagement for topics less likely to emerge from behind the confines of academic journal publications. 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