On Digital Pasts and Futures: Comp Lit Conference Program 2023
Wednesday April 19, 2023
Session 1: 8 – 9:30 am PST (UTC 3-4:30 pm)
Panel 1: Surveillance
Location: AS 385.
Moderator: Dr. Kathryn Chew, California State University, Long Beach
1. Surveillance, Ableism, and Misogyny on Reddit: A Case Study of r/fakedisordercringe
Kate Ellis, York University
2. From producing to consuming: surveillance, subjectivity and deindustrialised communities in Pat Barker and Catherine O’Flynn
Elizabeth Sands, Newcastle University
3. “I am Watched therefore I am”: Mathematization of (In)Dividuals during the Covid 19 Pandemic
Sayan Parial, Independent scholar
Panel 2: Reading in a Digital World .. of Archives and Libraries
Location: AS 384.
Moderator: Dr. Christopher Shaw, California State University, Long Beach
1. Literary authors on social networks: a new epistolary genre?
Beatrice Latini, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle
2. The Literary Canon inside and beyond Academia: Adaptations and Engagements
Sunanda Kar, National Institute of Technology, Silchar, India
3. A corpus-based TextMind approach to studying transnational circulation of literature: how prizes shape translation and reception of The Remains of the Day in China
Lin Shen, Beijing Foreign Studies University
4. Term-inally Online: How Independent Researchers on Social Media Are Progressing Education and Creating New Generations of Scholars
Michele Drake, Heritage University
Session 2: 9:30 – 11 am PST (UTC 4:30-6 pm)
Panel 3: Digital Christa Wolf?
Location: AS 385.
Moderator: Jazmin Arellano Gallardo, California State University, Long Beach
1. Mapping Christa Wolf’s Los Angeles: The Contradictions of Digital Cartography for Affective Spaces in Stadt der Engel oder The Overcoat of Dr. Freud
Dr. Robert Blankenship, California State University, Long Beach
2. Can ChatGPT Write Prose?: Reading Christa Wolf to Explore the Failure of AI
Lani Chavez, California State University, Long Beach
Panel 4: Algorithms, Linguistics, and Gaming
Location: AS 384.
Moderator: Amy Desuza-Riehm, California State University, Long Beach
1. Archival Excavation: Perception, Cognition and the Generation of Autocatalytic Consents through Battle Royale Video Games
Manodip Chakraborty, TKR College of Engineering
2. A Didactic Peek through the Grotesque Looking Glass: An Analysis of the Video Game Alice: Madness Returns
Sze Man Lam, National Chengchi University
3. The use of diegetic text in video games: the game design of linguistic representation
Tea de Rougemont, Independent scholar
4. How Auto-Completion and Predictive Texting Change Language Perception: Towards a Three-Dimensional Semiotic Triangle
Felix Poschinger and Dr. Barbara Sutter, University of Hamburg
Session 3: 11 – 12:30 pm PST (UTC 6-7:30 pm)
Panel 5: Mavericks, Media, and Machines: Technology Practices in the Translation Programs Offered @ The Beach
Location: AS 385.
Moderator: Dr. Clorinda Donato, California State University, Long Beach
1. Translation Technologies and Endangered Languages: Localizing into Sardinian
Adrià Martín-Mor, California State University, Long Beach
2. ‘Seeing’ the Literary Text through Voyant: Digital Tools in Literary Translation
Dr. Clorinda Donato, California State University, Long Beach
3. Translating Smart: Introducing Students to CAT Tools and Online Language Dictionaries
Alessandra Balzani, California State University, Long Beach
Session 4: 12:30 – 1:45 pm PST (UTC 7:30-8:45 pm)
Workshop with Dr. Cassius Adair: Doing Ethical Storytelling in an Anti-Trans Landscape
Location: HSCI 105
In this workshop Dr. Adair will discuss his scholarly work and professional experiences working in audio journalism with a focus on storytelling and medicine, including his work on KCRW’s “Bodies” podcast, an NPR show about trans youth, and an Invisibilia episode about trans medicine. For those who would like supplementary background on Adair’s scholarship, his article, “Is Transsexualism Chronic?” can be provided—please email and RSVP to Crystal Lie crystal.lie@csulb.edu to receive it along with accessibility requests/concerns.
Session 5: 2 – 3:30 pm PST (UTC 9-10:30 pm)
Panel 6: The Digital Art of Rebellion and Social Protest
Location: AS 385.
Moderator: Dr. Kathryn Chew, California State University, Long Beach
1. Social Media Art and Social Protest
Dr. Amir Sharifi, California State University, Long Beach
Dr. Ali Ashouri, San Diego State University
2. Cellphone Art and Social Protest
Payam Farahi, Independent artist and poet
3. Artivist Dialogue for Social Change
Dr. Angelica Huizar, Old Dominion University
Session 6: 3:30 – 5 pm PST (UTC 10:30 pm-12 am)
Panel 7: Selfing the Other: Transnational Imaginaries through East Asian Digital Media
Location: AS 385.
Moderator: Dr. Kimberly Walters, California State University, Long Beach
1. Technology Out of Control in the “Shipwrecked” Last Novel of Abe Kōbō, The Ark Sakura
Camilo Villanueva, Murray State University and Nagoya University of Foreign Studies, Japan
2. Cultural Knowledge from a Virtual World
Dana Tran, California State University, Long Beach
3. The “Authentic” Idol: An Analysis of the Transnational Humanitarianism of BTS
Montserrat Martinez, California State University, Long Beach
4. The Consumption of K-Media in Latine Communities: Exploring the Experiences of Five Fans
Guadalupe Sanchez-Soto, California State University, Long Beach
Thursday, April 20, 2023
Session 7: 8 – 9:30 am PST (UTC 3-4:30 pm)
Panel 8: Video Games
Location: Anatol Center.
Moderator: Amy Desuza-Riehm, California State University, Long Beach
1. Segregating Play: Spatial Omission and Oblivion
Jeffrey Lawler, California State University, Long Beach
2. No Level Playing Field: Race, Segregation and Popular Gaming Culture Los Angeles 1977 – 1986
Sean Smith, California State University, Long Beach
3. The Rise of Digital Literature: Are Violent Video Games Detrimental or Beneficial to Modern Society?
Fiona Hang, California State University, Long Beach
Panel 9: Nurturing Citizenship – Inclusions in the Digital Age
Location: AS 384.
Moderator: Dr. Kathryn Chew, California State University, Long Beach
1. Unpacking The “Pre-Event” in By-Stander Video of Police Militarization Tactics on Un-Housed Communities
Chante Barnwell, York University
2. We Shall Be Heard From The Street to Your Screen: The Fight Against Femicide
Briana Vega, California State University, Long Beach
3. Digital Activism in India: A response to decade-long marginalizing of the Muslim minorities
Dr. Umair Mohammed Syed, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India
4. Neoliberalism and Labor: Equitable Work in the Digital Humanities
Carissa Soukup, Coastal Carolina University
Session 8: 9:30 – 11 am PST (UTC 4:30-6 pm)
Panel 10: Quandaries of Participation: Literary Exploration and Criticism in Digital Games
Location: Anatol Center.
Moderator: Dr. Jeffrey High, California State University, Long Beach
1. From the Walking Sim to the Open World and Beyond: Walter Benjamin’s Flânerie in the Age of the Metaverse
Dr. Curtis Maughan, University of Arkansas
2. Critical Engagement with Violent Histories in Digital Games
Alexandra Petrus, University of Southern California
3. A New Literary Form: The Socrates Character Trope in Role-Playing Games
Emily Wysocki, California State University, Long Beach
Panel 11: To Digitize or Not To Digitize: The Impact of the Digital on Mental Health
Location: AS 384.
Moderator: Dr. Kathryn Chew, California State University, Long Beach
1. Covid poetry: the role of poetry in building affective communities
Shrishti Sinha, Azim Premji University
2. Ethical Cognizance as Critical Inquiry Online: Examining Subversive Identity, Intentionality, and Agency on LinkedIn
Dr. José Rodriguez, California State University, Long Beach
3. Beauty Queen in Digital Tears
Katelin Gomez, California State University, Long Beach
4. Using Social Media and Fanfiction to Engage in Collaborative Storytelling
Mekerah Pittle, California State University, Long Beach
Session 9: 11 – 12:30 pm PST (UTC 6-7:30 pm)
Panel 12: Spirituality and healing
Location: AS 384.
Moderator: Dr. Kathryn Chew, California State University, Long Beach
1. An Existential Paradox: Digital Experiences of the Absurd
Dr. Shalini Harilal, All Saints’ College, Kerala, India
2. Spirituality in the Age of Technology
Claudette Duenas, California State University, Long Beach
3. Voicing the Silenced: Accessible Coping Mechanisms via Interactive Storytelling
Pearl Pham, California State University, Long Beach
4. AO3 and COVE: How Open Access Digital Platforms are Saving the Humanities
Morgan Phelps, Coastal Carolina University
Panel 13: The Distorted Reality of Social Media
Location: Anatol Center.
Moderator: Dr. Katherine McLoone, California State University, Long Beach
1. Cucktales: Race, Sex, and Enjoyment in the Reactionary Memescape
Uygar Baspehlivan, University of Bristol
2. A Digital World is a Man’s World: The War Between Genders as Seen on TikTok
Alejandra Juarez, California State University, Long Beach
3. How Fallacy becomes Fact in the Age of Instant Gratification
Dennise Reynoso, California State University, Long Beach
Session 10: 12:30 – 2 pm PST (UTC 7:30-9 pm)
Panel 14: Gender Identities and Roles
Location: Anatol Center.
Moderator: Amy Desuza-Riehm, California State University, Long Beach
1. Discretizing Motherhood in India: Ruptures in the Visual Archive
Dr. Pooja Thomas and Dr. Susan George, MICA and the University of Delhi
2. From Traditional To Digital: The Representation Of Digital Queer In Indian Cinema
Dr. Shaista Irshad, University of Allahabad Prayagraj
3. Queer Expression within the Non-Linear Gaming World
Casi Coleman, California State University, Long Beach
Panel 15: Of Digital Footprints: Place, Space and the Virtual Environment
Location: AS 384.
Moderator: Dr. Kathryn Chew, California State University, Long Beach
1. Going Wild on Instagram: India’s Tigers and Protected Areas in the Age of Social Media
Dr. Aileen Blaney, Flame University, India
2. Protecting the Planet Through the Digital Diaspora
Atiana Utu-Jones, California State University, Long Beach
3. Crossing into Mexico by Digital Navigation: How Diasporic Mexicans Maintain Culture
Randal Estupiñán Medel, California State University, Long Beach
4. Manifesting (Force) Ghosts: Utilizing Open Assembly Sources to Maintain Historical Cultures’ Approachability
Melanie Schlesser, Coastal Carolina University
Session 11: 2 – 3:30 pm PST (UTC 9-10:30 pm)
Keynote Address
Location: Anatol Center.
Moderator: Dr. Crystal Lie, California State University, Long Beach
Reverse Engineering: From Trans Tech Histories to Radical Trans Futures
Dr. Cassius Adair, The New School
Between 1968, when groundbreaking engineer Lynn Conway was fired from IBM for being trans, and 2020, when she finally received an apology, the status of many trans people in the tech sector has undergone a radical transformation. For decades, trans women (and other trans people) have contributed major innovations to the computing industry, all while battling transphobia, misogyny, and erasure. Yet today, many major tech companies spotlight key trans technologists in their marketing materials, offer comprehensive trans-related health benefits to employees, and even issue press releases condemning transphobic legislation; Apple, IBM, and Google, for example, have all taken steps to style themselves as “pro-trans” organizations. The story of how transness went from corporate risk to strategic commodity, this talk argues, can inform our academic and activist understandings of corporate diversity, racial capital, and trans justice today.
Session 12: 3:30 – 5 pm PST (UTC 10:30 pm-12 am)
Panel 16: A.I.
Location: Anatol Center.
Moderator: Dr. Pravina Cooper, California State University, Long Beach
1. Rhymes and Reasons and Zeroes and Ones: Situating ‘AI Poetry’
Shivesh Singh, University of Delhi
2. Using AI to Conceptualize the Built Environment: A Postmodern Perspective
Zadie Baker, California State University, Long Beach
3. Re-claiming the Humanities: Protecting the Intimacy of Composition in the Era of AI
Allen Dave Luis, Arizona State University
4. Speculative Writing in an Electracy Society: How the Creative Writing Process is Being Shaped by Technology
Lilith Yurkin, Coastal Carolina University
Panel 17: Resistance to Classification
Location: AS 384.
Moderator: Dr. Kathryn Chew, California State University, Long Beach
1. Between Metal, Flesh and Bone: The Autistic Subject of (Mal)Function
G. Koffink, Oregon State University
2. Analogue Horror, the Precursor to Digital Terror
Barbara Ward, California State University, Long Beach
3. John Wilkins Speaks: An Interactive Digital Version of the Universal Language
Aidan Wakely-Mulroney, University of Toronto
4. Addressing Accessibility Issues in the Digital Canon: COVE as a Possible Solution
Jennifer Terry, Coastal Carolina University
Session 13: 5-6:30 pm PST
CWL Graduation Celebration!
Location: Anatol Center
Cake, bubbly, awards, and a surprise!