Call for proposals: submissions due 15 May 2010
Editors:
Hajrudin Hromadzic, University of Zagreb
Jessie Labov, Ohio State University
Helena Popovic, University of Zagreb
This collection of articles responds to the enduring idea of alternative culture as a platform for change and attempts to proscribe the possibilities for transformation in contemporary cultures. The Latin word alternus (alternative) implies change, while the term 'alternative' invokes different meanings. In its simplest form 'alternative' means a choice between options. An additional meaning of the term is that these choices are mutually exclusive possibilities, which potentially radicalizes the otherwise benign idea of a simple choice. Alternative culture therefore implies two or more parallel sets of values that may 1) coexist within a shared context, or 2)
violate the established order. The 'difference' between the two is foremost defined in relation to or against a reference point.
We would like to test the usefulness of this concept in contemporary theory and practice, particularly in the wider context of globalization, the invention and use of new technologies, the idea of the free market and spread of neoliberal values, consumerism as a way of everyday life, the de-politicization of politics (through
customization and spectacle), crises of political representation and ideologies, populism, nationalism, and the reaffirmation of religion as a mobilizing source. While thinking through the identity politics of gender, ethnicity, race, religion or sexual orientation which have come to dominate the way collectivities are formed, some important questions arise: can class, an old platform for social mobilization
(in Marxist terms), be renewed as a concept to become an alternative, mobilizing force in contemporary social and political settings? Or has social stratification come to be understood purely descriptively, as constituted by co-existing ‘alternative’ lifestyles within a shared economic system? What is the role of consumerism in sustaining a liberal democracy and a capitalist economic system based on values of global trade, free enterprise and property rights—and what are the
viable alternatives? Is it possible to critically rethink the omnipresent tendency to co-opt the alternative, as a major driving force for the survival of the dominant system – a process in which new elements are always eventually absorbed into the dominant system?
The publication Alternatives in Culture aims to document, to investigate, and to theoretically and empirically analyze different aspects of alternative culture and its transformations, as well as to encourage scholars to critically rethink alternative cultural expressions and aesthetic practices. The book will be organized around key concepts and theories implied by the analysis of alternative culture and subtopics that are akin to it, such as marginality, unconventionality, cooptation, individuality, radicalism, resistance, independence, progressivism, etc.
While the book’s organization will be shaped by its contributors, we expect that it will address the following themes:
*major concepts and theories involved in the analysis of alternative culture;
*histories of alternative culture;
*alternatives in a globalizing economy;
*alternative modes of politics;
*the spaces and places of alternative culture;
*(new) media and alternative culture;
*the cooptation of the alternative aesthetics and practices;
*alternatives in contemporary art.
The book will be of interest to students, scholars, researchers and theoreticians engaged in Cultural Studies, Media Studies, Sociology, Anthropology, Political Philosophy and History.
Please submit a 2-page proposal, including the title of paper and a short C.V., as a Word document, 1.5 lines spacing, Times New Roman, 12-point font, by May 15th, 2010. To the editors: Hajrudin Hromadzic (hhromadz@ffzg. hr); Jessie Labov (jessie.labov@ gmail.com); Helena Popovic (hpopovic@fpzg. hr). We will select the contributing papers by June 30th 2010. Complete paper drafts of 5,000-8,000 words are due
October 31st 2010.
Please quote 10 Academic Resources Daily in your application to this opportunity!
