WRITING WORLDS, WORLDS WRITING: NEW TEXTUALITIES AND THEIR ONLINE LIVES 

20 – 25 March 2023 

A national conference organized by  the Department of English, St. Joseph’s University, Bangalore 

Call for Papers/Posters 

The unprecedented growth of digital technology over the past decade has led to drastic and  radical changes in the ways we function and represent ourselves. This, conversely, has resulted  in a paradigm shift within literary, cultural and linguistic studies. On the one hand, there has  been a broadening of the objects and materials considered texts within academic discourse.  Simultaneously, the emergence of the internet has drastically altered the form and structure of  writing the world, the processes of meaning-making and narrativizing our experiences. 

The present moment necessitates a reflection on the future of language and literary studies taking  into account the vast diversity of emergent textualities and their changing modalities of  expression, circulation and reception. How have technological mediations altered the ways in  which we use and language – in everyday contexts, in writing and in translation? How has the  emergence of new media forms changed the very texture and structure of writing our world? In  what ways have conventional modes of literary expression, political assertion and performative  art been refashioned into emergent, and often ephemeral, textual existences? What implications  does the pervasiveness of new media have on our existence as narrative beings? Does this  pervasiveness engender a democratization of the public sphere or does its algorithmic certainty  lead to vapid homogenization of tastes, beliefs and opinions? What is the imprint that digital  technology leaves on language, literature and culture? 

Writing Worlds, Worlds Writing: New Textualities and their Online Lives is an annual  conference organized by the Department of English, St. Joseph’s University, Bangalore, which  attempts to initiate discussions and debates on the changing nature of textual practices and their  contemporary relevance. The conference will be conducted from 20 to 25 March 2023 in hybrid  (on-site+online) mode. The first three days of the conference will comprise online plenary 

sessions, digital exhibitions, panel discussions, etc. Offline programmes, including paper and  poster presentations, plenary sessions, workshops and installations, and will be conducted on-site  from 23 March onwards.  

The conference will largely focus on the ways in which our engagements with language,  literature, culture and politics have been reshaped through the rapid interpellation of digital  technology. The emergence of digitally embedded narratives (such as podcasts, vlogs, video  games, blogs, InstaPoetry, etc.), as well as the recontextualization of extant forms of writing  within the South Asian context will be of primary interest. The conference aims to discuss and  debate the intertextual and metatextual configurations of new media, their interactive and  immersive basis, and raise pertinent questions regarding the ways in which the writer-producer 

reader axes are reformulated in the present circumstances.  

The pervasive presence of new media results in our existence and our expressions being  increasingly mediated and mediatized by technology. With the emergence of instant messaging  and social networking, technology has transmuted the ways in which languages are used in  everyday contexts. Furthermore, what are the implications of the digitization of language – 

through AI-driven language learning and processing systems – on our use of/interactions with  languages? Do these new formulations break the established boundaries between the numerical,  the alphabetical and the pictorial as distinct semantic systems? How are extant social  demarcations and hierarchies mapped onto this evolving linguistic world? Does the internet  establish a culture of monolingualism, making English the norm? Does this thereby threaten the  very presence and relevance of vernacular and regional languages? What is the future of  translation and of Bhasha literature in the digital age? 

The growth of new media has also allowed for the democratization of the public sphere and the  emergence of platforms for dissent and dissonance. These spaces, lying outside the guarded  boundaries of conventional media, have evolved as arenas for political assertion and  contestations, artistic and creative productions, crafting the aesthetics of the marginalized and the  minoritized. How have social media and online broadcasting platforms been utilized for  challenging hegemonic normativity through the growing assertion of Dalit, trans, queer, migrant  and other political identities? What new modes of expression and forms of textuality reconfigure  narratives of marginality? In an increasingly digitized world, how does the internet 

simultaneously exist as a space of state control and surveillance as well as a locus of  heterogeneous modes of resistance? 

The conference invites papers and posters from undergraduate and postgraduate students,  research scholars, independent researchers and academicians focusing on (but not limited to) the  following themes: 

- SF/speculative fiction in South Asia 

- Reportage and truth-telling through graphic novels 

- Podcasts, vlogs and other forms of self-narrative 

- Emergent literary forms in new media 

- New modes of visual/cinematic production 

- AI, language and literature 

- Translation and technology 

- Bhasha, literature and digital media 

- Social media, self-representation and social justice 

- Online education and the digital divide 

- Ethical concerns arising from AI and social media interactions 

- New media, performance and digital theatre 

- Narratives in video games 

Abstracts (300-500 words) for paper presentations as well as concept notes of posters should be  sent to worldswrit@gmail.com before 9 PM on 20 February 2023. Papers selected will, after due  editorial process, be published in the form of an edited volume. 

Important Dates 

Submission of Abstracts/Concept Notes: 25 February 2023 

Confirmation of Acceptance: 27 February 2023 

Submission of Full Poster: 10 March 2023 

Submission of Full Papers: 14 March 2023 

Date of Conference: 20 – 25 March 2023 

Registration Fee

Students, Research Scholars: Rs. 750/- 

Teachers and Professionals: Rs. 1000/- 

The registration fee for presentation includes charges for the peer review of paper/poster,  conference kit, lunch for all 3 days and admission to any one workshop of the presenter’s choice. The fee has to be paid online only after confirmation of acceptance. 

Process of Selection 

- Abstracts of 300-500 words for paper presentation or concept notes for poster  presentation will be accepted till 9 PM on 20 February 2023. 

- After peer scrutiny, the selected candidates will receive confirmation of their acceptance  by 27 February 2022. A maximum of 20 papers and 10 posters respectively will be  selected for presentation. 

- Selected candidates will be required to pay the registration fee online. The receipt of the  same will have to be forwarded to worldswrit@gmail.com.  

- The final digital version of the poster should be submitted by 10 March 2022. The final  paper (of 3000-5000 words) for presentation will have to be submitted by 14 March 2022.  

- The paper/abstract should be submitted in MS Word (.doc, .docx) format. Submissions  should adhere to MLA 9th Edition guidelines for referencing and formatting. Digital copies of the poster should be submitted in .pdf or .jpg format and should be less than 25  MB in size. 

- The final schedule of the presentations will be intimated by 17 March 2022.  - Each presentation will be for a maximum of 20 minutes with 10 minutes for Q&A. - After the presentation, the paper will be submitted for peer-review. Revised drafts of the  papers may need to be submitted before publication. 

Contact 

Email: worldswrit@gmail.com 

Dr. Achuth A: +91-90742-59895 

Dr. Lillykutty Abraham: +91-96057-69504