TRANSIT continues to seek papers that engage with aesthetic interventions and practices that question and deconstruct conceptions of borders and borderlands. How might literary and artistic practices shed light on the complexity of local identities and entangled cross-border histories?

We are especially interested in digital practices, cartographic interventions, and new technologies that have intensified border policing, as well as new digital networks that have created possibilities for transcending borders. How do contemporary literary, cinematic and artistic practices utilize and engage with racial profiling and algorithms of border securitization? How does the commodification of human bodies intersect with matters of humanitarian care, border economies, and political rhetoric? How might the rhetorical framing of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrations reinforce or resist technological and structural inequalities that contribute to (im)mobility and ex/inclusion?

Papers that bridge literary, cinematic, sociological, historical, theoretical and other approaches are especially welcome. We encourage approaches that anchor their analysis in a specific object — a work of literature, film, art or new media — while making robust connections to broader controversies surrounding nation states, border security, and migration. We enthusiastically solicit projects that embrace TRANSIT’s capabilities as a digital publication, such as photo or video essays, and encourage contributors to freely engage with the media practices that are available to scholars and artists alike.

Deadline for English- and German-language submissions will be January 29, 2024. Please see our submission guidelines and email: transitjournal@berkeley.edu. Please include an abstract (ca. 300 words) and 5-10 keywords with your submission.

Articles outside the scope of this CfP that engage with TRANSIT’s focus on migration, multilingualism, and transnational studies will continue to be reviewed on a rolling basis. We accept translation proposals year round.