[ecrea] CFP: Youth Resistance Culture (deadline: 20 January 2012)

CFP: Contemporary Youth Resistance Culture: Viability,
Relevancy, and
Pragmatism

Theme Editor: Clive W. Kronenberg
Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Mowbray Campus,
Cape Town

In 2011 Chile saw its largest student mobilisation since the
US-backed military coup that brought Pinochet to power in
1973. Some 600,000 public and private school students
declared a strike against the government, staging marches in
all the main cities of the country. Meanwhile the Nigerian
youth arguably face far greater troubles. In recent months
the Niger Delta crude oil flow was disrupted by youths in
protest against a multi-national oil company operating in
the area. This well-known company - the target of sabotage
attacks and protests for decades - has been operating
onshore in Africa's most populous nation longer than any
other foreign energy power. On the whole, however, the
overwhelming majority of that country's citizens, some 158
million people, continue live in unspeakable poverty and
misery. Per capita GDP in the country is lower today than in
1960 when independence was declared. Approximately 57
percent of the population live on less than US$1 per day,
whereas overall life expectancy is 49.5 years. When we turn
our attention further north, the gargantuan challenges made
against the ruling establishments of Tunisia, Egypt, and
Libya, can never be ignored. Here, too, we found the youth
being integral to the popular uprisings against traditional,
undemocratic ruling systems. While the outcomes of these
developments remain open to conjecture, the youth of
England, likewise, found themselves engaged in a major
skirmish against the powers of the day. Barely a few weeks
prior to this, hundreds of thousands of young people in
Portugal, Spain, and especially Greece, joined groups
hostile to the austerity measures inaugurated to 'save' the
capitalist economies from total ruin. The coming to power of
America's first ever black president (perceived by many as a
'victim of oppression', and thus, a 'messenger of hope') has
hardly assured the tranquillity and happiness of those
people, let alone the young. The latter part of 2011
witnessed the intensification of wars on foreign soil,
accompanied by the mobilisation of mass rallies and marches
against drastic cuts in social spending. Against this
backdrop, the rise of America's disfavoured youths against
the status quo appears to loom larger and larger. On home
soil, South African public students (most of whom lack basic
skills in reading, writing, and calculating) have vented
their anger and frustration mainly against education
authorities, in their endeavour to secure basic teaching
amenities, such as libraries, in their schools. The fact
that some 40% of young people in this country are currently
redundant, immediately evokes memories of the country's
prolonged period of struggle against unutterable human
affliction, marked by the dominant presence and
participation during the 1970s to the 1980s of non other
than the youth themselves.

Whilst there certainly are many other situations that can
attest to heightened levels of rebelliousness and militancy
amongst youths from all over the world today, the
distressing fact is that in most, if not all such cases,
this 'culture of contestation' has by and large been
unrewarding, as a result of deepened repression and
deception on the part of existing power systems, illusory
decorative changes, or the capitulation or betrayal of those
in the forefront of struggle, while the root sources of the
present order have remained largely uncontaminated.

This Call for Papers is concerned predominantly, though not
exclusively, with the theoretical substructures that inform
and underpin this prevailing universal 'youth resistance
culture'. The fact that youths from different parts of the
world, on arguably all continents, and almost
simultaneously, find themselves entangled in their own,
idiosyncratic 'mode of contestation', does suggest the
presence of a common set of problems and aspirations, one
which traverses human, social, cultural, political, and
territorial boundaries. Accordingly, the call is made on
writers, teachers, analysts, scholars, researchers, and
commentators, to submit transdisciplinary, erudite, bold
perspectives that explore and dissect the conjectural
frameworks of this modern, yet by no means rare combative
cultural trend amongst the world's younger generations. In
particular, submissions are called for that critically
evaluate the significance, worthiness, promise, or potential
impact, of these agendas. Of special import, then, is the
opportunity for contributors to evaluate not merely the
substance, but the viability, relevancy, or pragmatism, of
this 'critical culture' that distinguishes young people's
lives in the current epoch of human existence. Insofar as
contributors are at liberty to focus on specific cases in
point, perspectives on the global situation, and thus the
broader context of such paradigms, would especially be
appreciated.

As a special edition of Critical Arts, full-length academic
papers are limited to 5000 words, while specialist
commentaries, not exceeding 2000 words, are also welcome.

Deadlines for Abstracts (200 words): 20 January 2012

Deadline for Submissions: 20 June 2012

Submissions, including Abstract, Biographical Note, Key
Words, End Notes, and References, in MS Word Format, to be
sent via email to The Guest Editor: Critical Arts: Dr Clive
W. Kronenberg ((kronenbergc /at/ cput.ac.za)); Research Fellow:
Critical Thinking Group, Education & Social Sciences
Faculty, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Mowbray
Campus, Cape Town, 7700, South Africa

Guidelines for Authors: Refer to Critical Arts homepage,
below. Critical Arts uses the Chicago manual of style

Critical Artshomepage:
http://ccms.ukzn.ac.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=151&Itemid=87 
<http://ccms.ukzn.ac.za/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=151&Itemid=87>

Notes for authors:
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/authors/rcrcauth.asp
Critical arts now publishes five time annually and is now also indexed 
on ISI and IBSS.

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