Call for Papers: Atrocity, Outrage and the Everyday (Journal of Mundane
Behavior 3.3, Oct 2002)
So much to do today:
kill memory, kill pain,
turn heart into a stone,
and yet prepare to live again.
-- Anna Akhmatova
Journal of Mundane Behavior is requesting submissions for a special section
on Atrocity, Outrage and the Everyday. In its many manifestations - trauma,
terror, horror and pain - atrocity permeates our everyday lives, while
remaining something we assumes happens far away, and to other people. Yet
our world and our lives seem increasingly prone to events that cry for
outrage, from the global pandemic of AIDS, to international and local
terrorism, to morally justified actions against poverty and famine. We live
in a time in which the connected world makes the awareness of such tragic
events easy to achieve - and easy to avoid. And our daily lives can be ones
in which atrocity -- and the sense of outrage that it provokes -- can be key
motivations for action or something to hide behind.
For this section, which will appear in JMB's October 2002 issue, we pose
these general questions: How does atrocity affect our everyday lives? What
forms do trauma, terror, horror and pain take in the mundane aspects of our
existence? What role does outrage play in defining our selves, our
neighbors, and our era? How do we deal in our daily lives with the tensions
between atrocity and accident, outrage and apathy, knowledge and ignorance?
And what do we do to prevent atrocities from determining our future?
More specific issues that articles could potentially address, either in the
context of particular events or phenomena or as general ideas, include
(though are not limited to):
- where and how the presence (or absence) of outrage manifests itself as we
shop, travel, daydream about the future, or relax in front of the evening
news or distraction television;
- what happens to our everyday lives when they are touched - literally or
figuratively - by atrocity;
- the role of memory, imagination and fantasy in how we deal with atrocity
and outrage;
- the social, ethical, political, and philosophical implications of
imagining our daily lives as affected by or perpetuating the kinds of events
that generate atrocities;
- the collective construction of what counts as an atrocity and what
constitutes an outraged response.
For this special section, JMB is looking for critical analyses, essays,
photographs and creative writing on atrocity, outrage and the everyday. All
submissions are welcome, but we especially encourage analyses of the
interrelation of atrocity, outrage and the everyday, and the ethical and
political implications of these interrelations. Essays must be thoughtful
and contemplative and accessible to a wide range of readers. Contributors
should consult JMB's submission guidelines as well as previously published
articles for matters of style and substance.
Contributions should be submitted for review no later than July 1/2002 and
must be submitted as Microsoft Word attachments via email. Please send
contributions to the section editor, Naomi Mandel, at mandel@uri.edu.
More information can be found at http://mundanebehavior.org.
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CFP@english.upenn.edu
Full Information at
http://www.english.upenn.edu/CFP/
or write Erika Lin: elin@english.upenn.edu
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