Instagram, Twitter & Co: Poetry and Socio-Political Activism

Nov 10, 2021, 7:30 pm

Literaturhaus Hamburg, Schwanenwik 38, 22087 Hamburg

In spite of its popularity, social media poetry – on platforms such as Instagram, Twitter or Tiktok – has been largely overlooked by academia so far. In literary studies and newspaper arts sections, it has generally been the subject of light ridicule, with emphases placed on its seeming simplicity and naïveté, its self-promotion, and the subjective styles of writing that poets strategically employ to present themselves as “commodities” or perhaps even to succeed in the established offline literary field.

However, there is a wide array of social media poetry that functions as a medium for the articulation of opinions or calls for political activism. Here, socio-political messages are conveyed in combination with hashtags, images, layout, typography, colors, and text composition. These poems frequently address political topics such as the Black Lives Matter or Me Too movements, or the critical debate on the consequences of climate change; or they question norms relating to mental and physical health. The platforms’ comments sections and networking tools establish a participatory community where members provide each other with encouragement and support, initiating political activism both on- and offline.

This event will be held in German and English (with translations).

With
Elena Calliopa (poet and activist; Munich)
Nikita Gill (social media poet and writer; Basinstroke/UK)
Magdalena Korecka, M.A. (Research Associate, ERC project; Hamburg)

Moderator: Prof. Dr. Claudia Benthien (Principal Investigator, ERC project; Hamburg)

Registration information for the on-site event and the live stream:

The event at the Literaturhaus will take place according to the “2G” access model. You will find further information here: https://www.literaturhaus-hamburg.de/programm/infektionsschutz.

The event will also be streamed live on November 10, 2021.

You can register and buy tickets for both forms of participation on the website of the Literaturhaus: https://www.literaturhaus-hamburg.de/programm/veranstaltungen/2021-11-10/poetry-debates