[Commlist] Soapbox Journal for Cultural Analysis - Call for Papers "Impasse"

    Call for papers – Soapbox: Journal for Cultural Analysis 3.0

    See the complete call on our website:
    https://soapboxjournal.com/2020/12/11/call-for-papers-3-0-impasse/
    <https://soapboxjournal.com/2020/12/11/call-for-papers-3-0-impasse/>

    Impasse

    For the third issue of Soapbox, a graduate journal for cultural
    analysis, we invite submissions that critically engage with the
    concept of 'Impasse.'

    Dwelling on the term impasse provides space for speaking of the
    unresolvable, of the disorienting (what is outside of time and
    space, alter/outer), of the failure of connection, and finally, of
    loss, of the unretrievable and the necrotic. The notion of impasse
    comes to mind all the more in the context of the ongoing pandemic
    and of transmission through physical contact or proximity.


    In its most literal meaning, an impasse indicates a border that
    arises in our way. In everyday life, it is what prevents one from
    moving forward, for instance from entering onto a property one is
    not allowed to be in or arriving at a dead end. Supposedly, the only
    possible counter-action, the exit from an impasse, is either the
    risk of trespassing, of having to turn around, or ending one’s
    journey. An impasse can also denote a specific kind of liminal
    spatiality. It is a space of thein-between; where one gets stuck or
    does not know how to proceed. As a state of unknowing, the impasse
    is constantly being re-configured. How can we orientate ourselves in
    a space that is always becoming?


    Author Milan Kundera states that “an impasse is the place of [...]
    most beautiful inspirations” (“une impasse est le lieu de mes plus

belles<https://dicocitations.lemonde.fr/citation.php?mot=inspirations>inspirations”
    23). The impasse, then, is perhaps not always a negative dead-end or
    stalemate, but can also provide a space for  hope and new
    possibilities. A standstill may allow for a moment of rest and
    recovery, which is needed for overcoming obstacles, bridging gaps or
    tending to open wounds.


    We invite students, PhD candidates, and young researchers of media
    and communication studies to submit proposals that discuss
    'contamination' directed towards, but not limited to, the following
    topics:


      *

        States of the in-between, the liminal, the uncertain

      *

        The concept of care (also in relation to a shared experience of
        the impasse)

      *

        Caring over distance and how it alters perception of space

      *

        Practices of mourning, healing, renewal

      *

        The impasse as crisis (climate crisis, health crisis)

      *

        Representation of the impasse in literature, film, visual art, etc.

      *

        Politics of power in the impasse, and the active and the passive

      *

        Border studies (limits, figurative borders)

      *

        (Post)colonial studies

      *

        Futurity

      *

        Trespassing, exceptions

      *

        Hope, possibility

      *

        Periods and states of contemplation and (mis)understanding

      *

        (The pausing of) conflict

      *

        Reaching compromise/agreement

      *

        Stretching out of time (the immediate and the gradual)

    Please submit your proposal (800-1000 words) or already written
    paper following the MLA formatting and referencing style (maximum
    5000 words) to (submissions /at/ soapboxjournal.com)
    <mailto:(submissions /at/ soapboxjournal.com)>by January 10th 2021. If you
    hand in a proposal or outline, please consider that the first draft
    of the full papers (3000-5000 words) are due February 17th. If you
    have any questions regarding your submission, do not hesitate to
    contact us. No article processing fees will be charged.

    We also accept submissions for our website
    <https://soapboxjournal.com/>all year round. We encourage a variety
    of styles and formats, including short-form essays (around 2000
    words), reviews, experimental writing, and multimedia. Please get in
    touch to pitch new ideas or existing projects that you would like to
    have published on our website.
    Contact us on (web /at/ soapboxjournal.com)
    <mailto:(web /at/ soapboxjournal.com)>for any web related questions and
    submissions.

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