Annual International Conference, Butwal, Lumbini Province, Nepal
March 1 and 2, 2024
About the Conference
Borderlands are the in-between spaces where writing and thinking take place. The shifting boundaries between languages and national and ethnic identities in the early 21st century are changing the notion of borders around the world, as borderland areas become places of hybridity, cultural transfer and exchange, but sometimes also arenas of violent conflict and segregation. We would like to invite contributions that address the ways in which border conflicts and their resolutions, as well as mediations of different kinds in the borderlands, are reflected in literature and culture. What are the newly imagined and real communities that are being shaped by border politics and how do narratives address the changing geographical, economic, ethnic, and cultural realities? What images of borderlands emerge from their representations? How do these images influence the audiences and shape an understanding of borderlands among viewers not familiar with the local specifics? How do the writers use the geographical borderlands as a metaphor to comment on other borders and boundaries: narrative, linguistic, or epistemological? Our Conference proposes to be a space for debating how different communities form senses of borderlands originating from places of knowledge, politics, art, memory, and lived experience, and how these senses contribute to a changing global community.
We encourage submissions on both fiction and non-fiction and on different genres of creative expressions.
Possible Subthemes of the Conference:
- Real/imaginary borders
- Narratives crossing the borders between literature and film
- Language barriers and negotiations
- Adaptations across national, cultural, or linguistic borders
- Modernity versus traditional societies
- Gender on the borderlands
- Dissolution of borders
- Anxiety about intrusion/Borderlands in horror narratives
- Violation of borders
- Visions of border zones, enclosed areas, no man’s land
- New technologies and the digital divide
- Border issues in South Asia
Key Dates with Some Revisions:
- Abstract Submission Deadline: December 31, 2023 (Revised)
- Notification of Acceptance: January 10, 2024
- Final Paper Submission Deadline: February 10, 2024
- Registration Deadline for Authors: February 20, 2024
- Conference Dates: March 1-2, 2024
We invite scholars to submit 200-250 word abstracts for individual presentations (20 minutes) that address any of the proposed themes of the Conference. Please send abstract, along with university affiliation, contact information, and a short biography.
For Further Information, Please Contact:
Khum Prasad Sharma, PhD
General Secretary, Literary Association of Nepal
Phone: +9779851075124 (WhatsApp)
Conference Website: http://literarynepal.org.np