By Suha Alsubaihi
The activities of the First International Conference on Contemporary Arab Diaspora Literature concluded after a two-day gathering organized by the University of Jordan’s research group, "Contemporary Arab Diasporic Literary Studies," in cooperation with the Council for British Research in the Levant (CBRL). Held at the Council’s headquarters, the event featured the participation of an elite group of researchers and writers from the Arab world and abroad.
Professors at the School of Foreign Languages, and head of the research group, Prof. Yousef Abu Amrieh, affirmed that the conference constituted a qualitative scientific milestone, not only for Jordan but for the Arab world as a whole, being the first Arab conference with an international, specialized focus on this nuanced literary field.
Abu Amrieh noted that the conference reviewed more than 50 research papers presented by participants representing 15 countries: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Qatar, Egypt, Algeria, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Palestine, and Jordan.
"This broad international presence underscores the importance of the conference and its role in reshaping the future of literary and cultural studies related to diaspora literature, especially amid the major transformations this field is witnessing at the levels of language, vision, and human experience," he added.
Abu Amrieh explained that the academic papers focused on concepts of cultural identity, intercultural exchange, and the role of language and translation in transmitting ideas across nations. They also explored the impact of technology on the formation of modern literary genres and revisited the temporal and spatial portrayals of the diaspora in the works of novelists, poets, and playwrights of Arab origin writing in global languages.
The conference examined the works of prominent writers of Arab descent living in the West, including Fadia Faqir, Diana Abu-Jaber, Isabella Hammad, Hisham Matar, and others who have enriched the literary scene in non-Arabic languages.
Abu Amrieh revealed that one of the conference’s objectives was to establish a new theoretical framework for understanding texts written in global languages by authors of Arab origin, pointing out that this field "remains in a stage of critical formation and requires deeper methodological approaches."
Those interested may view session details and research abstracts through the research group’s website:
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