Breath, Borders, and Belonging: Pandemic Literature and the Postcolonial Imagination (SAMLA 97: Knowledge) (South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA))
Atlanta, Georgia
Organization: South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA)
Event: South Atlantic Modern Language Association (SAMLA)
This session explores the intersection of global literary and cinematic narratives of the COVID-19 pandemic within the conference theme “Knowledge” and legacies of postcolonial literature. Drawing on poetry, fiction, and film across diverse cultural contexts, the session invites papers that engage with (post-)pandemic representations of trauma, memory, and resilience, while also examining how these narratives reflect and reinterpret the postcolonial condition. The pandemic has significantly revitalized and reshaped colonial dynamics: quarantine and lockdown measures have greatly affected marginalized communities, vaccine distribution has reflected neocolonial global power dynamics, and border policies have become more stringent, mirroring imperial surveillance and containment strategies. As a result, pandemic narratives emerge as a crucial means for exploring contemporary biopolitical control while simultaneously reclaiming both individual and collective agency through artistic expression.
This session invites scholars, students, educators, writers, poets, artists, and filmmakers from around the globe to submit papers and Creative works, including poetry, fiction, memoirs, and films (fiction and documentaries). This session explores interdisciplinary approaches between visual and textual media, oral traditions, and diasporic voices. By examining (post-)pandemic cultural production, the panel illustrates how literature and film capture the emotional and political tensions of a shared, disproportionate crisis. Ultimately, this session encourages a nuanced discussion about how pandemic narratives mirror and transform the postcolonial imagination, reclaiming art as a space for survival and protest.
Please submit a 250–300-word abstract/proposal, a brief academic and/or creative bio, and any A/V requests by July 25, 2025, via the SAMLA abstract submission portal.
Session Chair:
Arunav Das
Department of English Language and Literature
University of South Carolina, Columbia
E-mail: arunav@email.sc.edu
https://samla.ballastacademic.com/Home/S/19364
Arunav Das
