The Laboratory of Fiction Anthropology – LabFictio (formerly known as GEAL - Study Group on Literary Anthropology) is composed of researchers interested in the theories of Aesthetic Effect and its extension, Literary Anthropology, coined by Wolfgang Iser. LabFictio aims to build a metatheoretical/metaprocedural approach to explain the process of reading/viewing fiction. To this end, it develops interdisciplinary research with an impact on educational practice, particularly in the teaching of literary reading, and conducts studies focused on Mapping the Aesthetic Experience (MAPEE) – an indication of the key concepts of Iser’s understanding of fictionalization during interaction with novels, poetry, cinema, and other artistic expressions – redefining the concept of Literary Anthropology as the Anthropology of Fiction.

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LabFictio, in its current configuration, is affiliated with the Graduate Program in Letters (PPGL/CCHLA/UFPB) and was founded in 2018 by Professor Carmen Sevilla Gonçalves dos Santos. However, its origins trace back to the publication of her doctoral dissertation Aesthetic Effect Theory and Historical-Cultural Theory: The Reader as an Interface in 2009, in which she articulates the theories of W. Iser and L. S. Vygotsky. Since this publication, various research and extension projects have been developed at UFPB, particularly in the Center for Education, coordinated by Professor Carmen Sevilla Gonçalves dos Santos (DFE/CE/UFPB) and Professor Fernando Cézar Bezerra de Andrade (DFE/CE/UFPB).

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In 2015, the themes explored in the book became the central focus of CANAL 67 (Cinema Articulated with the Notions of Literary Anthropology, the 6th and 7th arts). This program integrated projects from PROLICEN, PROBEX, and PIBIC and involved 11 scholarship students. It was within this initiative that the first versions of the Mapping of Aesthetic Experience (MAPEE) were created and tested with literary texts and films, along with the Metaprocedural Didactic Guide (RDM), designed to assist teachers in mediating their students' aesthetic experiences through literary reading. Since 2015, numerous studies have been conducted, refining the MAPEE methodology and the RDM mediation tool, as well as further developing the interface between Literary Anthropology, Fiction, and other arts. Dissertations, theses, and undergraduate research projects have been completed, books and articles have been published, and the proceedings of the First National Congress on Iserian Studies, held in 2022, are available in the respective sections of our website.

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Currently, LabFictio is coordinated by Professor Fabiana Ferreira da Costa and Professor Larissa Brito dos Santos.