Please submit works in-progress to present during this research seminar. For the seminar submissions of postdocs, PhD students, and other junior staff from the University of Amsterdam will be prioritized. We primarily aim to discuss the wars in Ukraine and Palestine, but welcome work on other relevant contexts.

We are looking for abstracts of 250-500 words that contain theory, method, a description of an empirical object and preliminary findings of possible academic contributions. 

In your submission, please mention for which panel you would like to apply:

1. Decolonial Solidarities

We invite you to consider the ways in which digital spaces both enable and hamper (structurally curtail) decolonial expression and participation. Your contributions may address questions of creative agency, community mobilisation, affective labour, collective remembering and other solidarity exercises intrinsic to such digital practices. 

2. Weaponisation of Infrastructure

Exploding pagers, satellite internet (dis)connectivity, and cyberwar characterise the new frontier of infrastructures and war. While communication infrastructures have always been entangled with imperial and colonial powers (Aouragh and Chakravartty 2016), new political and technological developments present reconfigurations of power, violence, and resistance, on which we welcome your research and reflections in this panel.   

3. Digital Inclusion and Exclusion in War

To participate in a democracy, digital inclusion plays a crucial role. During wars, access to devices, reliable internet connectivity, and digital skills are challenged even more. We invite contributions on the role of governments or civil society in facilitating digital inclusion, on different groups affected, and ways to further facilitate access for vulnerable groups such as people with disabilities, migrants, and children. 

Please send abstract submissions (including to which panel you wish to apply) to Joost Vintges (j.w.vintges@uva.nl) by November 1st. We will confirm the final selection of papers by November 7.

The workshop is organised by the ARTES cluster coordinators: Sudha Rajagopalan, Franziska Plümmer, Jamal Shahin, Niels ten Oever, and Joost Vintges. 

For more information, contact Franziska Plümmer (f.s.plummer@uva.nl)