Deadline: 30 April 2013
Arab Studies Journal invites
submissions analyzing contemporary and historical forms of popular
cultural resistance on the topic of “Cultures of Resistance: The Case of
Palestine and Beyond.” Papers should be between 6,500 and 10,000 words,
double-spaced, including endnotes.
Mainstream
literature on the Arab world has largely focused on formal politics and
classic notions of civil society (such as high-level diplomacy,
political parties, electoral systems, voting patterns, trade unions, and
NGOs.). Scant attention has been devoted to the ways in which cultural
production can function as crucial site of political expression, as well
as for (re-)thinking identity formations, nationalisms, forms of power,
and resistance. The central role that street art, music, forms of
dressing and sartorial practices, religious and secular rituals, and
popular songs have played in forging new political subjectivities and
new political cultures during the recent uprisings in the Middle East
indicates the extent to which such research into cultural forms of
‘doing politics’ is timely and needed.
The case of
Palestine takes center stage as a paradigm of contemporary forms of
settler colonialism, and, historically, as a lively laboratory for
different and changing cultures of resistance. Here at stake is the
relation between resistance and cultural production in a context of
ongoing occupation and simultaneously, of normalization. Resistance, as
expressed in cultural production, has historically centered
predominantly against Israeli occupation, but more recently it also
increasingly targets different internal actors who are seen to be
complicit in normalizing the occupation, such as the Palestinian
Authority and other political elites. By looking at the “aesthetics” of
politics, power and resistance, we would like to investigate whether and
how cultural productions can spur the emergence of new political
subjects and projects that can function as counter-publics, alternative
and/or in opposition to hegemonic discourses, and what kinds of gender
and generational shifts are under way in these processes. We also
welcome analyses of other contexts within the Middle East and
comparative studies elsewhere that are similarly characterized by
occupation, conflict, resistance, revolutions, and uprisings.
Particular questions that this special issue will address include:
Are
contemporary forms of art, cinema, literature, music, humor, or other
forms of cultural production contributing to the emergence of new
political projects, subjectivities, and expressions in Palestine and
beyond? How do they compare to past forms of cultural resistance? Which
lines do they continue, with which do they break? How does the
Palestinian case compare to cultures of resistance in other contexts?
For example, what new insights can the study of cultural productions
provide on the political dynamics of the recent uprisings in the Arab
world? How do notions of resistance, dissent, and solidarity circulate
locally, regionally, and globally? Who are the agents (artists,
producers, audiences, etc.) of cultures of resistance, and within which
structures do they operate? More specifically, how, why, and by whom can
political messages of dissent and resistance become appropriated,
co-opted, and commodified?
Articles should be submitted
to editor@arabstudiesjournal.org by 30 April 2013. Please follow the
Journal’s submission guidelines. If you would like to discuss your
article before submission, please contact the special issue editors,
Ruba Salih, ruba.salih@soas.ac.uk and Sophie Richter-Devroe,
s.richter-devroe@exeter.ac.uk.
Link: submission guidelines
CONTACT INFORMATION:
For
queries: contact the special issue editors - Ruba Salih,
ruba.salih@soas.ac.uk and Sophie Richter-Devroe,
s.richter-devroe@exeter.ac.uk.
For submissions: editor@arabstudiesjournal.org
Website: http://www.arabstudiesjournal.org