Communities across the Middle East and its diasporas, as well as in comparable global contexts, continue to confront the legacies of colonialism, displacement, mass violence, and cultural erasure. In many of these settings, the very act of survival becomes a form of resistance. Creative and cultural practices carry political force, not only through explicit critique but also through the everyday work of sustaining memory, asserting presence, and imagining futures beyond domination. This conference is shaped by the ongoing realities of war, occupation, and large-scale violence across the region and its diasporas. We invite contributions that examine these conditions as sites where memory, identity, and creative resistance are actively produced under constraint. We are especially interested in work that foregrounds the voices, practices, and knowledge of communities who continue to resist erasure and articulate alternative possibilities for justice and belonging. While the conference is grounded in the historical and geographical Middle East, it also engages the Global Middle East as an analytical framework that highlights diasporic, transnational, and relational formations of identity, culture, and power. We welcome approaches that move beyond state-centered or policy-driven analyses and instead focus on lived experience, cultural production, and community-based knowledge as critical lenses for understanding displacement, belonging, and identity formation. Bringing together scholars, artists, and practitioners, this conference explores how identity, indigeneity, and memory are reclaimed, negotiated, and transformed in the context of historical and ongoing violence. We seek to highlight creative forms of resistance, including those embedded in cultural production, storytelling, spatial practices, and everyday acts of survival and continuity. We aim to foster conversations that speak not only to academic audiences but also to broader publics engaged in struggles for justice, visibility, and self-determination. Themes and Topics We welcome proposals that engage, but are not limited to, the following themes: Creative Resistance and Cultural Production Artistic, material, and cultural practices as forms of resistance to colonial domination, occupation, and systemic violence. Material Culture and the Reclamation of Identity Objects, dress, symbols, and artifacts as assertions of indigeneity and tools for preserving memory while resisting erasure, appropriation, and commodification. Literature, Art, and Performance Visual arts, literature, performance, and media as modes of remembering, narrating, and reimagining histories of violence and survival. Spatial, Bodily, and Everyday Practices of Memory The role of space, the body, and daily practices as sites of memory, resistance, and cultural continuity. Affect, Emotion, and Collective Memory Emotion, empathy, and collective feeling as forces that shape experiences of trauma, resistance, and belonging. Intergenerational Memory, Trauma, and Healing Storytelling, ritual, and community-based practices that address historical trauma and contribute to identity reconstruction. Diaspora, Migration, and Transnational Identities The formation and transformation of identity across borders and the role of diasporic communities in sustaining and reshaping cultural memory. Narrative, Knowledge Production, and Counter-Hegemonic Frameworks Alternative archives, oral histories, and community-based knowledge, including religious and interreligious frameworks of meaning and solidarity, that challenge dominant narratives. Legal Frameworks and Justice Engagement with international law, human rights discourse, and legal mechanisms addressing historical and ongoing violence. Formats We welcome a range of contributions, including: • Individual papers • Panel proposals • Roundtables • Artistic and performance-based presentations • Community-engaged and public scholarship projects Submission Guidelines Please submit an abstract of 250–300 words along with a brief bio (100–150 words). Panel proposals should include a panel description and individual abstracts. Submission platform: Hybrid (a few hybrid sessions for an international presenter who cannot be in person, or two days in person, and one day hybrid. Submission open date: July 2026? Abstract deadline: February 1, 2027 (or Feb 15 latest) Notifications: March 1–15, 2027 email and contact information About the Host This conference is hosted by the MENA Studies Program at Marquette University, which is committed to advancing interdisciplinary, transnational, and community-engaged scholarship on the Middle East and its diasporas. We look forward to bringing together a dynamic and interdisciplinary group of participants to engage critical conversations on identity, memory, and creative resistance in the context of ongoing violence and historical transformation.