Dr Annie Webster - orcid.org/0000-0002-1611-5422
Digital Scholarship Postdoctoral Fellow - September 2022 - February 2023
Dr Annie Webster is an early career researcher specialising in contemporary Arabic literature. She completed her Wolfson-funded PhD at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, in 2020. She also holds an MSc in Arab World Studies from the University of Edinburgh and a BA (Hons) in English and Related Literature from the University of York. Her doctoral thesis explored ideas of ‘creative destruction’ in contemporary Iraqi literature, particularly novels and short stories written in the wake of the 2003 Iraq War. She is currently developing this research into a monograph which investigates how contemporary Iraqi authors engage with the diverse ecological consequences of the Iraq War and the ways in which these narratives have circulated as ‘world literature’. Her work has been published, or is forthcoming, in Literature and Medicine, Wasafiri, and Comparative Critical Studies. In 2022 she was an Early Career Fellow at the School of Advanced Study, University of London, and in 2023 she will begin a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures at the University of Edinburgh. She has taught modern Arabic literature (in Arabic and in translation) at SOAS, the University of Cambridge, and King’s College London.
Wider research interests include modern Middle Eastern art and material culture studies, which she has explored by contributing articles to the curatorial platform Arts Cabinet, as well as working as research and curatorial assistant for the exhibition ‘Co-existent Ruins: Exploring Iraq’s Mesopotamian Past Through Contemporary Art’ (Brunei Gallery, 2022).
Project Title: Stories of the Syrian New Scots: Dispersed Geographies and Digital Storytelling in COVID-19 Refugee Arts
Syrian refugees resettled in Scotland – popularly known as ‘Syrian New Scots’ – have contributed to the country’s thriving culture of refugee storytelling in recent years through festivals, theatre performances, and community writing initiatives. However, this culture of refugee arts was threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic when public performances and community workshops were no longer possible. This project therefore investigates how Syrian New Scots’ storytelling practices adapted during consecutive national lockdowns in the pandemic through digital platforms which were accessible across dispersed geographies of resettlement in Scotland. It explores how creative initiatives developed by and for Syrian New Scots adopted digital storytelling practices since March 2020, and argues that this provided vital forms of community building, especially for those resettled in remote locations. As it considers how digital arts have helped Syrian refugees navigate resettlement processes across Scotland, the study will provide insight into wider changes in modes of digital engagement and creativity during the pandemic. It will reflect on the diversifying potential of digital programming while also engaging with key issues of digital exclusion. This research forms part of a larger monograph project, Stories of the Syrian New Scots: Resettlement Geographies in Refugee Arts, which explores the located practices of Syrian New Scots more broadly.