Date: 6th-7th June 2019
Location: Senate House, University of London
Deadline for Abstracts: 1st December 2018
CFP: ‘Digital Diasporas: Interdisciplinary Perspectives’, 6th-7th June 2019
Invited keynote and panel speakers include: Jannis Androutsopoulos (Universität Hamburg); Tobias Blanke (King’s College London); Alexandra Georgakopoulou (King’s College London); Agnieszka Lyons (Queen Mary, University of London); Mirca Madianou (Goldsmiths, University of London); Sandra Ponzanesi (Utrecht University); Roopika Risam (Salem State University); Caroline Tagg (The Open University); Funda Ustek-Spilda (London School of Economics/Goldsmiths); Janet Zmroczek (British Library)
Since Appadurai wrote on the intertwined phenomena of electronic media and migration as disruptive and defining features of modern subjectivity (1996), the relationship between digital technologies and diasporic communities has emerged as a critical area of study across a number of disciplines. However, such research risks remaining isolated within disciplinary silos, often despite the similar processes, practices and materials studied. This conference aims to inspire greater dialogue across disciplinary boundaries in order to develop a richer understanding of the role of the digital in creating and sustaining diasporic connections and communities, and of how diasporic groups and individuals transform and shape digital tools and technologies for their own creative and strategic purposes.
We especially welcome research which pays attention to the linguistic and cultural dimensions of digital technologies and media. Areas of particular, but not exclusive, interest include:
• Social media and migration focused research;
• Multilingualism and digitally mediated communications;
• Histories of the internet and web archives research;
• Ethnographies of the internet and uses of digital technologies (including research combining offline-online methods);
• Digital media, cultural and visual studies;
• Digital and diasporic cultural memory;
• Digitally mapping and visualising migrations and diasporic networks, with attention to ethical and political concerns.
For full guide to submissions procedure, details about the conference and bursaries for postgraduate students and early-career researchers, please see the conference homepage:https://crosslanguagedynamics.blogs.sas.ac.uk/digital-diasporas/