Digital Literature in Latin America: Technocapitalism and Media Intersections

Submission Type

Panel

Start Date/Time (EDT)

21-7-2024 9:15 AM

End Date/Time (EDT)

21-7-2024 10:15 AM

Location

Narrative & Worlds

Abstract

Latin American digital literature reflects the peculiarities of peripheral economies in the global system, where techno-capitalism plays a central role. Therefore, discussing e-lit in the continent necessarily involves questioning its conditions of production, visibility and legitimation in a world context of technological inequality and in a local context of devaluation of research in the Humanities. Hence, even though the popularization of electronic devices is often considered to bring a potential democratization to digital culture assets, it is fundamental to understand how global digital platforms unevenly impact Latin America in terms of creation, distribution, and consumption of literary content, both in print and computational media.

This dynamic intertwines the economic and aesthetic aspects of digital literature in Latin America, a continent that has witnessed the emergence of new digital literary forms under these pressures. From more “classic” forms of hypertext novels and Flash poetry in floppy disks and CDs, to immersive storytelling experiences, transmedia projects and literary material accompanied by image, audio or video in social media platforms, artists and writers harness digital technologies to explore new modes of expression and engage with audiences in novel ways. These emerging forms not only reflect the status of the region in the global technology power play but also stem from its local cultural heritage and the history of its textual traditions, with which the new digital genres create complex literary series.

All in all, this panel addresses the dialectical complexities that encompass both dystopian changes and hopeful futures for e-lit in Latin America. It aims to highlight reflections from researchers in the Global South on the peculiarities of digital literature creation in Latin America, by exploring the interplay between technology, capitalism, and literary expression while emphasizing the transformative potential of digital media for literary and artistic engagement in the region. The guiding line of the three reflections of the panel is a historicized and situated approach to Latin American digital literature in which we discuss how, by creatively appropriating digital technologies and media, e-lit creators foster a metatechnological and metamedia reflection, with the potential to criticize and subvert its uses contrary to democratic and socially progressive agendas.

Bio

Vinícius Carvalho Pereira holds a Phd and Master degrees in Literary Studies - Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). He is also a bachelor in Portuguese and English and in Portuguese and English Education - Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). Professor at the Modern Languages Department and at the Graduate Program in Language Studies of the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT). Former post-doctoral internship at the University of Nottingham (UoN), in the UK. Leader of the research group SEMIC - Semióticas Contemporâneas. Currently Coordinator of Postgraduate Studies at UFMT.

Andréa Catrópa da Silva is a Professor at PPG-Design at Universidade Anhembi Morumbi, Andrea Catrópa conducted her postdoctoral research on digital literature and its interfaces with design, art, and technology. She holds a Ph.D. and a Master's in Literary Theory (FFLCH-USP). She maintains a personal page with unpublished books, as well as critical texts, visual poetry, and digital literature works: www.andreacatropa.com

Verónica Paula Gómez holds a Ph.D. in Humanities (Mention in Literature) (Universidad Nacional del Litoral), a Master's degree in Comparative Literatures (Universidad Nacional de Córdoba) and a Bachelor in Modern Literature (Universidad de Buenos Aires). She is Professor at the Laboratory of Expanded Writings and New Technologies (UASB, Ecuador). She lives in Berlin and is carrying out his postdoctoral project: "“Migrant Cartography of Latin American Electronic Literature: Corporalities, Corporations, and Corpus between Global North and Global South” (Georg Forster Research Fellowship Programme for Postdocs supported by Alexander von Humboldt Foundation June 2024- May 2026)". Member of LiteLat (http://litelat.net/). Erasmus Mundus+ICM Fellow (Universitá Ca´Foscari UNIVE / Venice-Italy, 2018), DAAD-Short-Term Grants Fellow (2019) and DAAD RSUA&S Fellow (2020-2021) (Universität Frankfurt / Germany), Postdoctoral Fellow CONICET (2021-2024). Her website is: https://verogomez.net/

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Jul 21st, 9:15 AM Jul 21st, 10:15 AM

Digital Literature in Latin America: Technocapitalism and Media Intersections

Narrative & Worlds

Latin American digital literature reflects the peculiarities of peripheral economies in the global system, where techno-capitalism plays a central role. Therefore, discussing e-lit in the continent necessarily involves questioning its conditions of production, visibility and legitimation in a world context of technological inequality and in a local context of devaluation of research in the Humanities. Hence, even though the popularization of electronic devices is often considered to bring a potential democratization to digital culture assets, it is fundamental to understand how global digital platforms unevenly impact Latin America in terms of creation, distribution, and consumption of literary content, both in print and computational media.

This dynamic intertwines the economic and aesthetic aspects of digital literature in Latin America, a continent that has witnessed the emergence of new digital literary forms under these pressures. From more “classic” forms of hypertext novels and Flash poetry in floppy disks and CDs, to immersive storytelling experiences, transmedia projects and literary material accompanied by image, audio or video in social media platforms, artists and writers harness digital technologies to explore new modes of expression and engage with audiences in novel ways. These emerging forms not only reflect the status of the region in the global technology power play but also stem from its local cultural heritage and the history of its textual traditions, with which the new digital genres create complex literary series.

All in all, this panel addresses the dialectical complexities that encompass both dystopian changes and hopeful futures for e-lit in Latin America. It aims to highlight reflections from researchers in the Global South on the peculiarities of digital literature creation in Latin America, by exploring the interplay between technology, capitalism, and literary expression while emphasizing the transformative potential of digital media for literary and artistic engagement in the region. The guiding line of the three reflections of the panel is a historicized and situated approach to Latin American digital literature in which we discuss how, by creatively appropriating digital technologies and media, e-lit creators foster a metatechnological and metamedia reflection, with the potential to criticize and subvert its uses contrary to democratic and socially progressive agendas.