Borders and Languages

 One-day Conference at the University of Kent

21 May 2026

Keynote Speaker: Prof. Anna Bernard (King’s College London)

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Call for Papers

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Within the field of Border Studies, the ‘cultural turn’ rejects the narrow understanding of borders as mere dividing lines between nations. Instead, it emphasises the importance of understanding how they are connected to, and defined by, the borders between classes, languages, ethnicities, genders, mobilities, and more. The cultural and symbolic aspects of the borders hence become pertinent within the study of border narratives (David Newman, 2006). Building on similar ideas, scholars like Prem Kumar Rajaram and Carl-Grundy Warr (2007), Johan Schimanski (2015), and Dina Krichker (2019) have popularised the term ‘borderscape’. Both physical and symbolic, the ‘borderscape’ connects all aspects of the bordering processes such as policing, passport regimes, international law, citizenship; along with political rhetoric, literature, news media spectacle, art, and everyday life.

We observe the importance of generating a diverse discourse while constructing the meaning of the border, which inserts the question of language at the very centre of our considerations. As a medium, language both draws and transgresses borders. Spanning from exclusive to inclusive, from juridical to transgressive, language surrounding borders assumes a range of registers that divide people and implement norms. Importantly, however, language can help us envision ways of defying social constraints.

To explore the idea of borders and language through an interdisciplinary lens, this conference will include three panels:

-- The first panel, “Border and Translation”, will address how literature deals with the question of the border, whether as a linguistic barrier in the Eurocentric global literary circulation; a mistranslation of “minor cultures”; or experiences of border described in literary works.

-- The second panel, “Border and Rights”, will explore how different forms of writing foreground the relevance of literary language in (re)imagining the poetics and politics of human rights.

-- The third panel, “Border and Bodies”, will focus on the ‘body’ in relation to the border in a broader sense, inviting explorations of concepts such as the biological body, the ecological/collective body, algorithmic or ‘Data’ body, and the ancestral body.

We welcome contributions from doctoral students, early-career researchers, and artists focusing on and beyond borders and language. Proposals can be, but are not restricted to, the following areas:

• Translations of Political, Cultural, Gendered “Borders” in Literary Works
• Refugee and Migrant Arts and Literatures
• Positionality of “Minor Languages” in World Literature
• Border Poetics
• Borders, Rights, and Literature
• Critique on Eurocentric Configurations of the Global Literary Market
• Literary Solidarity of Asian, African, Latin American Writers and Beyond.
• Artistic Representations of Protest, Resistance, and Solidarity
• Narratives of Transgression and Border-crossings
• Structures of Power in Bordering Processes
• Borders and Digital Humanities
• Border and the Arts

We invite proposals up to a maximum of 300 words for 15 minute presentations/performances, along with a biographical note of 150 words. Please send your abstracts to justicerefugee@gmail.com by 31 March 2026. Notifications of acceptance will be communicated by mid-April. 

Lunch and refreshments will be provided. We have a limited budget to cover travel expenses for doctoral students, early-career researchers, and artists without access to institutional funding. We will also accommodate online presentations.

This conference is funded by AHRC CHASE DTP, and organised by CHASE Refugee Justice Network in collaboration with CHASE Decolonial Network.

Organising Committee:

Subhadip Mukherjee (University of Kent)

Eiji Yasuhara (University of Kent)

Lee Kai Chung (Goldsmiths, University of London)