[Commlist] cfp special issue: The Curse of Relevance: Challenges Facing Right-Wing Studies

The Journal of Right-Wing Studies. Special Issue Call for Papers.

Title: The Curse of Relevance: Challenges Facing Right-Wing Studies
Due date: May 15, 2023
Guest editors: A.J. Bauer, Isis Giraldo, and Clara Juarez Miro

When speaking of their work, researchers of right-wing ideologies, 
movements, and media hear a familiar refrain: "Oh! That's so relevant!" 
While the right's resurgence is perhaps a blessing in terms of renewed 
interest in and support for their work, many right-wing studies scholars 
would much rather their topic remained a marginal phenomenon. But if the 
urgency of studying the global right is beyond doubt, doing so 
presents unique theoretical and methodological challenges for 
researchers, not to mention enhanced vulnerability to physical and 
psychological harm.

The theoretical, methodological, ethical, and emotional challenges 
scholars face are unique to the examination of this amorphous and 
difficult-to-define subject. These challenges regard, for example, 
researchers' own ideological positions, the perspectives granted or 
occluded by their own identities, their participants' elusiveness or 
opposition, the consequences of being targeted, and the judgments and 
expectations from academic peers and public opinion.

Thus, for this special issue, we seek articles that identify, assess, or 
begin to advance solutions for challenges unique to the study of "the 
right."   
We are especially interested in articles that examine the following topics:

*Political exigencies: What do people expect right-wing studies to do 
politically, and what strategies are there for navigating those 
expectations?

*Thinking beyond "false consciousness": When do we take right-wing 
actors' claims at face value, and when do we ascribe them to 
other (supposedly more "real") motives?

*The abyss stares back: What happens, and what should you do, when you 
are targeted by your subjects?

*Avoiding presentism: How do we understand the right's historical 
transformations? How do we balance the need to contextualize 
past movements in their time and place with the need to allow the past 
to inform the present?

*Burnout: What are the physical, emotional, and psychological risks of 
this work?

*What is the purpose of critique? How should we address the tensions 
between understanding the right dispassionately and judging the right 
as harmful? What is the role of advocacy and activism in research? What 
are the challenges of approaching knowledge production as 
political praxis? Who is the audience for such research?

*New right, new methods: Especially in the digital age, have new 
technologies amplified the possibilities for right-wing action and 
engagement away from public scrutiny?

*Challenging terminology: Which concepts have the most explanatory 
power? Which are misapplied or used too broadly? Are the 
dominant concepts and -isms in right-wing studies too Eurocentric? Does 
the West need to be provincialized in study of the right rather than (as 
is often the case) put in the center of the discussion? What 
decolonizing perspectives are needed in study of the right?

*National and international contexts: How do we balance national (or 
even local) contexts with the reality of transnational influences 
and networking?

*Access: How do we handle archival gaps and the destruction of 
materials? Are there challenges in building rapport with right-wing 
actors, or accessing right-wing institutions?

Other topics that contribute to an understanding of right-wing studies 
as a field with particular challenges are also welcome.

Articles should normally be between 8,000 and 12,000 words (including 
notes or references), and should follow the Journal of Right-Wing 
Studies' submission guidelines(link is external). Submissions should be 
sent to the guest editors' attention at (JRWS.submissions /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(JRWS.submissions /at/ gmail.com)>(link sends e-mail). The due date for 
submitting articles is May 15, 2023.

Note: no payment from the authors will be required.

Questions regarding potential submissions should be directed to the 
guest editors:

A.J. Bauer: Assistant Professor, University of Alabama, (ajbauer2 /at/ ua.edu) 
<mailto:(ajbauer2 /at/ ua.edu)>(link sends e-mail)

Isis Giraldo: Lecturer, University of Lausanne, (isis.giraldo /at/ unil.ch) 
<mailto:(isis.giraldo /at/ unil.ch)>(link sends e-mail)

Clara Juarez Miro: Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Vienna, 
(clara.juarez.miro /at/ univie.ac.at) <mailto:(clara.juarez.miro /at/ univie.ac.at)>

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