Kai Moreno Momiejo
- PhD student
Contact
About
Supervisor: Dr Bryan Cameron
Research topic: The philosophical rearticulation of nostalgia as a future-oriented emotion with an intrinsic utopian component, mediated by hope as an indelible force in the face of violence and absence.
Kai is a born and raised Spanish PhD candidate whose research lays at the intersection between Cultural Analysis, Philosophy, Memory Studies, and Conflict Studies. Following his liberal arts undergraduate degree at Leiden University (The Hague), he decided to pursue an MA in China Studies at Peking University. There, he focused on nuclear memory and memorialisation practices of the PRC regarding the history of the “Two Bombs, One Satellite” program under Mao Zedong’s leadership. Kai’s research is influenced by his lived experiences in six countries and territories (Spain, USA, The Netherlands, Hong Kong SAR, Mainland China, and South Korea) as well as by his deep commitment to values such as international solidarity and ethics of care. Furthermore, he is an avid language learner and loves writing poetry as well as conceptual art. You can usually find him picking up a new hobby, backpacking, or dancing the night out to techno with friends.
Research
Research interests
- Semiotics of war and violence
- Yugoslav literature
- Critical theory
- 20th-century intellectual history
- China
- Oral history
- Cultural memory
- Conceptual art as resistance
- Postcolonialism
- Nuclear imaginaries
Kai’s research primarily focuses on the philosophical rearticulation of nostalgia as a future-oriented emotion with an intrinsic utopian component, mediated by hope as an indelible force in the face of violence and absence. Kai’s project is particularly aimed at exploring how different cultural productions present nostalgia in this manner and the political potential of doing so. His thesis will preliminarily analyse and compare one exilic chronicle from Max Aub, the Portuguese art film The Metamorphosis of Birds, and a selection of Jorge Teillier’s “lárica” poetry. To theoretically ground the project, Kai’s investigation will be centred around the philosophies of hope and utopia of Ernst Bloch and María Zambrano as well as the contributions of Svetlana Boym and others to the study of future-oriented nostalgia and memory. Through this study, Kai desires to uncover the political and existential potential of redefining nostalgia from a historically dismissed and belittled emotion to a crucial expression of humans’ longing for resistance and freedom in the face of violence.
Scholarships/Prizes
-Excellence Scholarship Fundación Ramón Areces in Humanities to pursue postgraduate studies abroad (2025-2028).
-Yenching Academy Fellowship at Peking University (2023-2025).
-Yenching Academy Semester Exchange Scholarship at Seoul National University (2024).
-Yenching Academy Chinese Language Study Scholarship at Beijing Language and Culture University (2024).
-Leiden University LUSTRA+ Scholarship (2022-2023).
-Fundación Amancio Ortega Scholarship (USA, 2018-2019).