Organised by Dîlan Canan Çakir, Research Area 5: "Building Digital Communities" and Anna Kinder, German Literature Archive (Deutsches Literaturarchiv – DLA) Marbach.  

The role of digital spaces in contemporary literature is becoming increasingly significant. Exiled authors use digital media to voice their work, to stay in contact with their former audiences, and to build international communities. Sometimes, the digital is the only possible place to publish texts that are banned or censored elsewhere. Notable examples include Syrian exile Aboud Saeed, who writes politically critical novels on Facebook; Kurdish author Yavuz Ekinci, who was imprisoned for a pro-Kurdish tweet; and Ugandan poet Stella Nyanzi, who publishes almost exclusively through social media.

The conference "Digital Exile Literature" will focus on the role of the digital in contemporary exile literature. In light of the DLA's expansion to include works by exiled authors currently residing in Germany, the event aims to discuss case studies that illustrate the diverse digital practices of exile writers. These include the use of social media platforms and personal blogs for self-representation and exchange, offering not only opportunities for the dissemination of literature but also for networking with communities both in the home country and in exile.

Additionally, the conference will examine the role of digital archives. Many contemporary exile authors digitise their works for pragmatic reasons, which affects both long-term preservation and global access. Digital methods of analysis and AI-assisted translations are increasingly available, but these innovations also present challenges such as online harassment or hacking, particularly in relation to politically sensitive texts.

Key topics to be discussed:

• Digital self-representation and community building: Case studies on how exiled authors use social media, blogs, and other digital platforms to share their work and connect with audiences globally and in exile.
• Challenges of digital dissemination: Analysis of the unique obstacles faced by exiled authors in digital spaces, such as online harassment, censorship, and hacking, especially for politically sensitive works.
• Digital archives and preservation: Exploration of the benefits and implications of digital archives, focusing on how exiled authors preserve their works online for accessibility and long-term storage and how archives deal with them
• Digital tools in literary analysis: Discussion on the use of digital methodologies, AI-assisted translations, and other technologies that influence the interpretation and accessibility of exile literature.

Programme

Tuesday, 7 October

14:00–14:30 | Anna Kinder (DLA Marbach), Dîlan Canan Çakir (EXC 2020): Welcome and Introduction

Panel: Platforms of Exile: Translating and Sharing Diasporic Lives
Chair: Dîlan Canan Çakir (EXC 2020)

14:30–15:00 | Hanna Hofmann (TU Dortmund University): Sharing Exile/Exchanging Things: Object Images and Their Literary Translations in the Digital Correspondence Project Weiterschreiben.jetzt

15:00–15:30 | Linda Meading (Complutense University of Madrid): Archives in Motion: Digital Platforms as Dynamic Repositories of Exile Literature

15:30–16:00 | Break

16:00–16:30 | Elizabeth Sun (University of California, Berkeley): Weiter Schreiben and the Task of the LLM Translator 

16:30–17:00 | Francisco Fuentes Antrás (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid): A Re-imagined Identity of Diasporic Writers: Coping with Perpetual Liminality in exiledwriters.co.uk

17:00–18:30 | Break

18.30–20.00 | Reading and Conversation with Author and Activist Stella Nyanzi
Moderation: Annette Bühler-Dietrich (University of Stuttgart) 

Wednesday, 8 October

Panel: Digital Selves in Exile: Writing, Voice, and Affect
Chair: Verónica Paula Gómez (Freie Universität Berlin)

10:00–10:30 | Lamiea Zeriouh (Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Morocco): Zooming in on Arab Exilic Writers Online: Digital Self-Presentation, Digital Narrativism, and Online Home-Coming

10:30–11:00 | Hanna Horn (University of Greifswald): Object-Oriented Narrativisations of Self in Digital Life Writing From Belarus: On Examples of Tatsiana Zamirovskaya and Valzhyna Mort

11:00–11:15 | Break

11:15–11:45 | Mohammad Hassan Heidarian (Bielefeld University): Out of Login: Self-Defense vis-à-vis Subjectivising Heart Emojis in Like Relations: A Serendipity by Study of Unsayability Among Iranian Exiled Writers

11:45–12:15 | Jana Maria Weiß (European University Viadrina, Frankfurt/Oder): The Sound Coming From Outside My Windows. Voice Messages as a Medium of Digital Exile Literature

12:15–12:45 | Ankita Harbola (Rutgers University, New Brunswick): Lebendiges Archiv (2023) as Digital Memory Constellation?

12:45–14:15 | Break

Panel: Collecting Exile: Data, Memory, Institution
Chair: Laura Untner (EXC 2020/Friedrich Schlegel Graduate School for Literary Studies)

14:15–14:45 | Alex Holz (DLA Marbach): Born-Digitals in the German Literature Archive – Process, Edit and Archive Data From Literature Estates

14:45–15:15 | Viktor J. Illmer (EXC 2020): Before the Archive: Foundations for Reproducible Research in the Humanities

15:15–15:30 | Break

Panel: Networks of Resistance: Exile, Identity, and Activism Online
Chair: Anna Kinder (DLA Marbach)

15:30–16:00 | Anna-Lena Kaufmann (University of Oxford): Transformations of the Writing Self Through Exile Experiences From a Jewish Perspective? A Literary Study of Mala Laaser

16:00–16:30 | Benjamin Robbins (University of Innsbruck): Visualising Queer Exile Literary Networks Through the Digital Humanities

16:30–17:00 | Kanika Vashita (Central University of Rajasthan, India): (In)voluntary Exile: Examining Digital Activism of Select Contemporary South Asian Women Writers

17:00–17:15 | Closing Remarks