Program PDF

"Books in Motion: Exploring Concepts of Mobility in Cross-Cultural Studies of the Book" is a three-day conference that explores new perspectives in the study of the book. The conference considers the varied inter-disciplinary approaches to studies of mobility in relation to books, specifically the ways in which these objects traverse spatial, temporal, cultural, and material boundaries. The conference brings together international and regional scholars from the interconnected fields of book history, art history, literary studies, digital humanities, and cultural studies, whose research explores the material dimensions, circulation, and collection of books in Middle Eastern/Islamic, African and Asian contexts.

Presentations will include two keynote lectures by Professors Beatrice Gründler (Freie Universität Berlin) and Lydia H. Liu (Columbia University), in addition to five panels devoted to knowledge production, travel and exchange, material transformations, aesthetics and politics, and digital remediation. There will also be a roundtable on contemporary art and book culture and a poster presentation by students from AUB's English literature programme. The conference is accompanied by an exhibition held at AUB's Jafet library, curated in collaboration with the Archives and Special Collections Department, which features manuscripts, printed books, digital projects, and examples of book art related to the conference themes. 

The conference is organized by the Departments of English and of Fine Arts and Art History at the American University of Beirut (AUB), in collaboration with the Orient-Institut Beirut (OIB). It is supported by AUB's Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies, the Center for Arts and Humanities, and the Archives and Special Collections Department, University Libraries.