[Commlist] Call For Papers: 'Faking It?: Conceptualising 'Fake' in Culture, Society and Academia'

EXCURSIONS JOURNAL 9:1
Call for Papers and Abstracts: ‘FAKE’
Deadline for Conference Abstracts: 15 February 2019
Deadline for Journal Articles: 1 April 2019
“Faking it” Conference: 11-12 June 2019

“In a world that really has been turned on its head, truth is a moment 
of falsehood.” -Guy Debord, La Société du spectacle

“Georgio Peviani is doing everything that a successful fashion designer 
needs to do, apart from existing.“ -Oobah Butler, Vice

In the era of ‘Post-truth’, where “a few claims on Twitter can have the 
same credibility as a library full of research” (Coughlan 2017), the 
distinctions between the original and the inauthentic, the actual and 
the seeming or the experienced and the imagined are becoming less and 
less distinguishable. Fake has become an omnipresent feature of both our 
daily lives and a globalized, ultra-connected culture: it is in the way 
we dwell and break free from spaces and ideas.

While fake news and the fabricated – often targeted – versions of truth 
are not a new thing, the notion of ‘fake’ has been much publicized in 
the aftermath of Donald Trump’s election alongside a variety of 
anti-democratic populist governments around the world. This has 
revitalised critical debates in the long history of examining, 
documenting, and contextualizing the proliferation of false news and 
pseudo-events (Flynn et al 2017; Kent et al 2006; Boorstin 1971). The 
transmission of “information of questionable integrity and value” 
(Reilly 2018: 139) is the new norm of shaping public opinion and 
therefore the public  Are we now condemned to appreciate and prefer “the 
sign to the thing signified, the copy to the original, representation to 
reality, appearance to essence”? (Feuerbach, quoted in Debord 1994) or 
has the ‘fake’ – the unreal, the counterfeit or the inauthentic – been 
revealed as an ever-present intrinsic part of our lives and social 
relationships? Has the ‘truth’ always been solely a matter of discourse, 
and ‘fake’, ‘fake news’ a rhetorical strategy: a floating signifier 
(Farkas & Schou, 2018)?

In order to answer these questions, we need to comprehend various 
manifestations of ‘fake’ in our social reality and the individual 
aspects of our everyday discourses and practices. This year’s Excursions 
Committee aims to gather contributions that identify, research and 
reflect upon these manifestations, while resonating with the fields of 
cultural, urban, gender, activist and media studies. Furthermore, to 
provide a conceptual description of the term, we interpret fake as: 
artificial, assumed (not true or real; deliberately fabricated or 
imitated), contrived (having an unnatural or false appearance or 
quality), factitious (formed by or adapted to an artificial or 
conventional standard), false (not genuine; intentionally untrue; 
adjusted or made so as to deceive – deception tool) and pseudo (fake; 
being apparently rather than actually as stated). We also want to 
consider what “realness” narratives prioritise and what they 
marginalise, particularly reflecting on the notion of “real” womanhood 
in recent debates that seek to expose and exclude trans and gender 
nonconforming people from certain spaces and communities.

SUBMISSION FOR THE JOURNAL:
We are seeking journal submissions on the topic of “fake” for this 
year’s Excursions journal, a University of Sussex, doctoral-led academic 
journal. The deadline for journal submissions is 1 April 2019. Scholarly 
papers should be between 3,000 and 5,000 words and must follow Harvard 
style guidelines. We also encourage creative submissions in media such 
as film, photography, or audio. For creative submissions, please include 
an abstract and a brief biography (no more than 150 words) along with 
your submission. To submit your work, you will need to register with us 
on our website http://www.excursions-journal.org.uk. Once you are 
registered you can submit your paper by clicking on 'My Journals' and 
then selecting the link 'Submission', which will then lead you through 
the process. All enquiries should be directed to 
(enquiries /at/ excursions-journal.org.uk).

SUBMISSION FOR THE CONFERENCE:
Excursions Journal are also seeking abstracts of 250 – 300 words for a 
conference due to take place at the University of Sussex on 11-12 June 
2019. True to its main theme, this conference seeks to address the 
superficiality or ‘fakeness’ of academic conventions. We are interested 
in challenging and deconstructing entrepreneurship and professionalism 
of academic work and publications. Hence, the conference will be divided 
into two parts: (1) classic chaired panels, (2) followed by a workshop 
during which each of the papers will be discussed using a live 
peer-review method. The workshop aims to showcase academic rigour and 
hidden labour behind academic publications rather than criticize 
particular papers. We plan for the final publication to take the form of 
a work-in-progress discussion on the conceptualization of fake in 
culture. We are interested in receiving submissions from a range of 
disciplines: social sciences, cultural studies, life science and others. 
We particularly seek proposals by people who are disadvantaged or 
under-represented in their communities or have experienced oppression of 
any kind. The subject of your abstract could include but is not limited to:

- Fake feminism/gender? – post-feminism, carceral feminism, 
trans-exclusionary radical feminism, neoliberal feminism, nationalist 
feminism, white feminism, imperial feminism
- Fake oppression(s)? – debates on identity politics, political 
correctness, free speech, safe spaces, reverse racism, #gamergate, 
incels, alt-right, post-racism/post-race, fake history
- Fake media? – yellow journalism, fake news, elite-funded media 
outlets, professionalised journalism vs. citizen journalism, fake art
- Fake activism/social movements? – clicktivism, slacktivism, pop/trendy 
activism, clique activism, neoliberal social movements, NGOisation, 
corporate funding
- Fake cities? – gentrification, ‘consumptionscapes’, Commodification & 
privatisation of public space, tourist gaze, Air BnB and renter society, 
‘creative class’, ‘staged authenticity ’, projection of 
diversity/liberalism (e.g. Amsterdam)

PROPOSAL GUIDELINES, DEADLINES AND GRANTS:
The deadline for abstract submissions for the conference is 15 February 
2019, abstracts should be between 250 – 300 words, and include a short 
author bio (no more than 50 words). Please submit via the Google Form 
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1vTSpDj1U4LTwasqbBeCkJlSN5RfWFoLx-PLqFsmU7m4/ 


Alternatively, if you are having difficulties with the form, please 
email your abstract to our enquiries email address below. Applicants 
will be notified of acceptance by the end of March.

Please note, there will be no cost to attend or present at this 
conference and refreshments will be provided. Please ensure any dietary 
or accessibility requirements are outlined when registering for the event.

Applicants will also be asked to provide a full version of their papers 
by the 20 May 2019, by emailing them to 
(enquiries /at/ excursions-journal.org.uk). The papers will be shared with the 
rest of the panel and made available to attendees to give people enough 
time to read some/all of them if they wish.

We are delighted to offer a number of small grants to people who would 
have difficulty presenting, or performing the work upon which their 
presentations are based, without material assistance or travel costs. 
Please mention if you would like to apply for this grant in your 
application. We particularly welcome applications for these from people 
of colour; people from Indigenous backgrounds; women and those whose 
gender identities do not conform to hegemonic gendered norms; people 
from poor and working-class backgrounds; and disabled people.

For questions about any of the above, please email 
(enquiries /at/ excursions-journal.org.uk) or contact us on Twitter (@Excursions_J)

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