CRASSH @25 I Rethinking Exile: On fractured lives and the capacity of beginning anew

​How do we think, create, and act when the trajectories of life and knowledge are disrupted by war, exile, precarity, or the crises of the contemporary world? ‘Rethinking Exile: On fractured lives and the capacity of beginning anew’ brings together scholars, artists, and practitioners to explore exile as both a lived condition and a metaphor for the fractures shaping modern intellectual and political life. The symposium examines how displacement – whether through conflict, authoritarianism, economic recession, or broader societal upheavals – interrupts the pursuit of knowledge, and existential or intellectual trajectories. These fractured trajectories unsettle institutions and reconfigure publics, raising urgent questions about how knowledge is created, mobilised, and valued. Drawing on Hannah Arendt’s concept of natality and Edward Said’s reflections on intellectual exile, the event invites participants to interrogate whether these frameworks remain adequate in a world shaped by post-truth politics, digital disruption, and shifting geopolitical imaginaries. Through interdisciplinary panels, creative provocations, and a participatory discussion, the symposium explores how fractured lives may generate new forms of knowledge, new publics, and new beginnings.