Echoes of Violence and Trauma: Asian Memories in a Machine-Mediated World

Overview

This Conversation explores how historical trauma, collective suffering, and personal pain in Asian contexts are remembered, mediated, and reimagined in an era increasingly shaped by digital media and generative AI. Focusing on wars, conflicts, and upheavals in Asia, such as the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Indonesian War of Independence, the Partition of India, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Bangladesh Liberation War, the Iran-Iraq War, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the event discusses how these pasts are archived, narrated, and sometimes silenced, and how rapidly developing technologies are transforming these processes.

In the age of AI, it is clear that AI-driven tools and platforms do more than store and retrieve information. They also reshape narratives through processes of selection, recombination, and creative transformation. From an interdisciplinary perspective, this conversation further explores how human remembrance interacts with algorithmic systems. It pays particular attention to the creative potential of human-machine interaction and collaboration, such as digital storytelling, AI-assisted archival reconstruction, and participatory memory platforms, in reviving suppressed histories and enabling new forms of engagement with turbulent and traumatic pasts. Participants are invited to consider how these technologies may both reinforce dominant historical discourses and open up alternative spaces for marginalised or forgotten voices.

A key aim of the Conversation is to explore the role of digital media and technologies in forming, transforming, mobilising, or politicising memories of violence and trauma in Asia, which may differ from European memory frameworks or Holocaust-based models. In addition, another aim of this event is to establish the Asian Memory Network, an interdisciplinary collective that connects students and scholars across disciplines at Warwick while also extending academic and practical collaboration beyond the university. Bringing together researchers in Asian Studies, History, Politics, Memory Studies, Digital Humanities, and Media Studies, this Conversation will encourage ongoing discussions on how Asian pasts are remembered, forgotten, and reimagined in contemporary culture, and how collaborative, creative practices can support more critical and ethical engagements with histories of violence and trauma.

Event Details

25 June 2026

9 am - 6 pm

IAS Seminar Room (C0.02), Zeeman Building, University of Warwick central campus

Programme

Please find a provisional schedule for the day here.

More updates on the programme will be announced soon.

Registration

The registration is now open! Please complete this form if you would like to attend the workshop. Many thanks!

The event is free, but spaces are limited. Refreshments and a lunch will be provided during the day. We look forward to seeing you there!

Travelling to Campus

The University of Warwick campus is on the outskirts of the city of Coventry, and the nearest major railway station is Coventry.

If you are driving, you can check the Visitor Parking information here.

Accommodation

Since Warwick is a campus university, staying at the on-campus conference centre is often the most convenient option. As rooms tend to fill up quite quickly, it would be a good idea to book your accommodation early if you would like to stay on campus. If you would prefer to stay in the city centre, there are also several good accommodation options in Coventry.

Campus Map

You can explore the University of Warwick campus and find key locations using the campus map available here. The campus is especially lovely during the spring and summer months. We hope you enjoy the warmer weather and have a wonderful time at Warwick!