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Call for Publications Theme: Time after Time Publication: Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies Date: Vol. 38 No. 2 (September 2012) Deadline: 15.2.2012 __________________________________________________ One tangible consequence of today's globalization discourses is the spatialization of thinking. Social theorists such as Mike Featherstone, Scott Lash, and Roland Robertson have explicitly called for a spatial turn in theory, arguing that a valorization of spatiality provides a much-needed corrective to the linear historicism of modernity. Time is thus dismissed as a Eurocentric conceptual category. In fact, already in postmodern theory broadly defined, the predominant trend has been to privilege the spatial over the temporal. It seems that "time-space compression," widely taken to be the defining feature of our time, has diminished the significance of time in theory, but not that of space. Is time really outmoded? For the September 2012 issue of Concentric, we invite submissions that offer refreshing conceptions of time in the face of the demotion of the temporal element in criticism. Both theoretical discussion and engagement with particular literary texts and cultural productions are welcome. Topics may include, but are not limited to, the following: - Is the temporal mode of thinking a form of epistemic violence, as many globalization theorists have claimed? How may we extend the arguments of critics working from the centrality of temporality such as Harry Harrotunian and Fredric Jameson? How can a reconsideration of the temporal shed new light on our configuration of the age of globalization? - The general thrust of the current spatial episteme is to lean on an empirically understood "place" and "space." The less identifiable or intelligible aspects of spatiality—for instance, the ones that Michel Foucault seeks to elucidate by what he terms "heterotopias," that is, the spaces that straddle the liminality between real and virtual or non-real sites—are less heeded. How may a reworked sense of time (in tandem with a reworked sense of space, perhaps) bring to light those virtual experiences? - How do current conversations over climate change engage us in thinking the relationship between human time and ecological time? Or, more specifically, how can all this, as Dipesh Chakrabarty notes, radically alter the disciplinarity of history? - What is "the contemporary"? What is contemporaneity? How can contemporary theory help us intervene productively in the discussion of our time—including Agamben's idea of messianic time, Badiou's notion of the event, Bloch's theory of non-contemporaneous contemporaneity Deleuze's concept of time-image, Derrida's rendering of "time is out of joint," Levinas' ethical understanding of time, or Nancy's proposition of simultaneity? - In what way can classical configurations of time be of use for us today—for instance, Kant's intuitionist conception of time and space, Nietzsche's "eternal return," Bergson's notion of memory, Benjamin's "dialectics at a standstill," Heidegger's ontological take on time, or the psychoanalytical theorization of trauma and subjectification? - How is memory represented in contemporary literature and culture—be it personal memory or collective projects of memory storage and restoration? - Have there emerged new "horizons of time" in our time? Any new "afterlives," new rebirths, new events of resurrection, new destructions, new possibilities of survival, or new forms of repetition compulsion? Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies is a peer-reviewed journal published two times per year by the Department of English, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan. Concentric is devoted to offering innovative perspectives on literary and cultural issues and advancing the transcultural exchange of ideas. While committed to bringing Asian-based scholarship to the world academic community, Concentric welcomes original contributions from diverse national and cultural backgrounds. Each issue of Concentric publishes groups of essays on a special topic as well as papers on more general issues. The focus can be on any historical period and any region. Any critical method may be employed as long as the paper demonstrates a distinctive contribution to scholarship in the field. Concentric boasts a strong editorial and advisory team composed of respected scholars from across the world. The journal has also collaborated with international scholars as guest editors, such as Wlad Godzich, Maria Herrera-Sobek, Serenella Iovino, Shirley Geok-lin Lim, Charles Shepherdson, Scott Slovic, Ban Wang, and Shin Yamashiro. Past contributors include Ronald Lynn Bogue, Vilashini Cooppan, Terry Gifford, Sneja Gunew, Carl Gutierrez-Jones, Haiyan Lee, Leo Lefebure, Deborah L. Madsen, Steven Shaviro, Hugh J. Silverman, Frank Webster, Rob Wilson, Gang Gary Xu, and Yingjin Zhang. For submission guidelines, house style guide, and other information, please visit our website: http://www.concentric-literature.url.tw Contact: Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies Department of English National Taiwan Normal University 162 Heping East Road, Section 1 Taipei 106 Taiwan Phone: +886 (0)2 77341803 Fax: +886 (0)2 23634793 Email: [email protected] Web: http://www.concentric-literature.url.tw __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://cal.polylog.org __________________________________________________
