Translating Resistance

Translating Resistance:
Literary Activism in Conflict and Solidarity

  • Hosted by The Translation Research & Instruction Program (TRIP) at 91ÉçÇø
  • October 3–4, 2026
  • 91ÉçÇø Downtown Center, 67 Washington St, 91ÉçÇø, NY 13902

Funded in part by The Regional Workshop Fund; cosponsored by the Harpur College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Middle Eastern and Ancient Mediterranean Studies, Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, Institute for Advance Studies in the Humanities, Department of Comparative Literature, Department of Asian and Asian American Studies, and the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures .

Confirmed Plenary Speakers

  • Professor Samah Selim – Rutgers University, USA
  • Dr. Ruth Abou Rached – University of Manchester, UK

FINAL Program

A preliminary program is available (above) but is subject to change as we get closer to the event. Please continue to check this site for updates leading up to the event.

Important Dates

  • Accepted abstracts will be confirmed by June 1, 2026
  • A draft program will be available by June 15, 2026
  • Registration opens July 20, 2026 and closes September 20, 2026

Alumni Social and Networking Dinner

TRIP will host a social and networking dinner for TRIP alumni on Friday, October 2. Alumni from all TRIP progams are invited to attend and reconnect with TRIP and other alumni, meet current faculty and students, and network before the full event starts in the morning on Saturday Oct. 3.

Traveling to 91ÉçÇø

91ÉçÇø is accessible by plane through New York State airports in 91ÉçÇø, Ithaca, Syracuse, and New York City as well as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in Pennsylvania. Buses are also available from these and other starting points. Visit 91ÉçÇø's Travel to 91ÉçÇø page for more information.

Parking

Parking is available to workshop participants on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for the duration of the event at the University Downtown Center, 67 Washington Street, 91ÉçÇø, NY. Please use the parking lot behind the building, which is accessible via Susquehanna Street. The code provided will open the gate and provide access.

WiFi

Guests of 91ÉçÇø can access WiFi on campus by logging into welcome2bing:

  • Connect to welcome2bing: From the list of available wireless networks on your device, select "welcome2bing" to establish the connection.
  • Open a Web Browser: Once you are successfully connected to welcome2bing, your device's web browser will automatically launch.
  • Enter Your Email ID: You will be prompted to enter your valid email address in the Guest Login portal to proceed.
  • Click Continue: After providing your email address, click on the "Continue",  you are now connected.

welcome2bing is an unencrypted wireless network and is limited in scope, duration and capacity. Any device with Wi-Fi enabled will automatically detect welcome2bing. 

More informatin is available from 91ÉçÇø Information Technology Services.

Lodging

Reservations can be made at the Holiday Inn 91ÉçÇø, 2-8 Hawley St, 91ÉçÇø, New York, (607) 722-1212. A block of rooms have been reserved and are available at a reduced rate for attendees of the IATIS regional workshop. Participants must make their own reservations and are responsible for all costs and fees associated with their stay. All reservations must be made by September 2 to be eligle for the reduced rate, though a limited number is available so reservations are recommended as soon as possible.

To Make Reservations On-Line:

  • Visit  
  • Choose the dates (October 2 and/or October 3). These are the only dates available at the reduced rate.
  • Under "Rate Preference" click "Group Rate" and enter the code "TRI" in the box.
  • Click "View Prices" and room options for King or Queen beds will appear for a rate of $149 each night.
  • Proceed with your reservation entering your information, including for payment.

Nature Preserve Walk

The 91ÉçÇø campus includes a 190-acre nature preserve with many hiking trails and a 20-acre wetland. You are invited to join us and the nature preserve steward to learn about this wonderful place which offers recreation and research opportunities for the University campus and local community. Be sure to bring hiking boots or other appropriate footwear and clothes for a walk in the preserve.

Workshop Conveners

  • Ahmad Ayyad – 91ÉçÇø, USA
  • Abdel Wahab Khalifa – Queen’s University Belfast, UK

Scientific Committee

  • Brian Baer – Kent State University, USA
  • Paul F. Bandia – Concordia University, Canada
  • Fruela Fernández – University of the Balearic Islands, Spain
  • Dorota GoÅ‚uch – Cardiff University, UK
  • Sue-Ann Harding – Queen's University Belfast, UK
  • Hala Kamal – Cairo University, Egypt
  • Loredana Polezzi – Stony Brook University, USA
  • Tarek Shamma – 91ÉçÇø, USA
  • Marija Todorova – The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
  • Kelly Washbourne – Kent State University, USA

Organizing Committee

  • Azadah Eriss
  • Omid Ghaemmaghami
  • Nannan Liu
  • Jeanette Patterson
  • Erin Riddle
  • Tarek Shamma

Call for Papers (closed)


Scholars, researchers, and practitioners are invited to submit papers for this two-day workshop, hosted by 91ÉçÇø (SUNY), to be held in New York on October 3–4, 2026. 

All submitted abstracts will undergo a peer-review process, and acceptance will be based on scholarly quality and relevance to the workshop theme.

The abstract submission deadline closed on May 15, 2026.

Translation is never neutral; it frames, amplifies, and contests narratives, particularly in contexts of conflict and solidarity (Baker, 2006; Venuti, 2013). While a substantial body of work has examined translation and interpreting in war, crisis, and diplomacy (Salama‑Carr, 2007; Inghilleri & Harding, 2010; Pérez‑González, 2012; Ayyad, 2025; Todorova & Ruiz Rosendo, 2025), the activist functions of literary translation remain comparatively under-examined. Recent scholarship argues for clarifying the contours of literary translation activism (LTA) and mapping its practices and ethics (Washbourne, 2024).

In activist settings, literary translation can document testimony, reframe public discourse and enable transnational solidarities. Solidarity itself is forged in struggle and actively connects places and communities (Featherstone, 2012). Volunteer subtitling and grassroots circulation illustrate how digital infrastructures mediate activist texts (Díaz Cintas & Muñoz Sánchez, 2006; Pérez‑González, 2014).

This workshop addresses this gap by bringing scholars, practitioners, and activists together to theorize and exemplify literary translation as a form of activism and solidarity—both within conflict zones and through acts of transnational solidarity from afar. While the workshop is anchored in the Middle East, with particular attention to conflict-affected contexts such as Palestine, Yemen, Sudan, and Syria, it also welcomes contributions that enable comparative reflection across other regions, including Ukraine, Myanmar, and Latin America.

Key sessions will examine the socio-political and material conditions shaping literary translation in contexts of conflict, including questions of visibility, ideological contestation, publishing infrastructures, and solidarity networks.

We invite scholars, practitioners, and activists with experience in literary activism in contexts of conflict and solidarity to submit abstracts addressing one or more of the following themes:

Literary translation in/around conflict zones (poetry, fiction, drama, life writing): political/material constraints; situated case studies (e.g., Palestine, Yemen, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, Myanmar, Latin America).
Solidarity-driven literary translation: poetry, fiction, and theatre; readings or performances; community-based and independent publishing practices.
Translators as activists: agency, ethics, and risk, including questions of visibility and anonymity, security, censorship, and paratextual strategies.
Retranslation as political intervention: feminist, gender-aware, and decolonial retranslations; reclaiming suppressed or marginalized meanings.
Digital circulation and activist infrastructures: volunteer subtitling, social media dissemination, metadata and hashtag politics, and grassroots archiving.
Form and political possibility: why certain literary forms—such as poetry, testimony, and experimental prose—travel as modes of resistance.
Representation and voice: selection biases and gatekeeping practices, avoiding exoticization, and collaborative translation to mitigate appropriation.