[ecrea] Call for Articles (Dis-)covering ciphers: objects, voices, bodies

Call for Articles

(Dis-)covering ciphers: objects, voices, bodies.

Deadline for submissions: October 31, 2018

  Cipher1

/ˈsī-fər/

noun

1.      a secret or disguised way of writing; a code.

“he wrote cryptic notes in a cipher”

synonyms: code, secret writing.

2.      dated

a zero; a figure 0.

Synonyms: zero, nought, nil, 0; archaic naught

               “a row of ciphers”

verb

1.      put (a message) into secret writing; encode.

“he left two, as yet uncracked, ciphered messages for posthumous decoding”

2.      archaic

do arithmatic


To analyze the ways in which cultural objects acquire meaning can also 
be understood as looking at the technologies by which those objects have 
become enciphered. In this issue of Diffractions we aim to look at the 
concept of the cipher in its myriad ways of appearing, be they cultural, 
social, political, technological, linguistic or economic in nature.

To give an example of that last category, one merely needs to point 
towards Marx’s theory on the fetishization of commodities. There, the 
process through which the material existence of products of labor can 
become invisible behind their exchange value, is formulated as a process 
of hiding what is central to the object; its material existence and its 
use value. In other words, the Marxist theory of fetishization can be 
understood as the discovery of a cipher, the cipher of exchange value.

But the concept of the cipher travels easily, and can be situated in 
many locations. In Adriana Cavarero’s work on the voice, she considers 
the ways in which the bodily aspects that are associated with the vocal 
are often hidden behind its semiotic, linguistic, and signifying 
capacities. That is to say, speech functions as a cipher for the 
materiality of the vocal. The vocal needs to be deciphered.

But what is a cipher? And how to know if we are dealing with a cipher to 
begin with? The cipher raises questions. In technologico-linguistic 
terms, a cipher calls for a key. A password. A way to de-cipher what was 
first en-ciphered. Perhaps a text that appears as a cipher is a plain 
text after all. The cipher’s call is not always obvious. Ciphers can 
conceal their act of concealing; hide not only what they are hiding, but 
that they are hiding as well; steganography.

Ciphers cut. And, as Jacques Derrida writes, they produce an inside and 
an outside, insides and outsides.  In order to protect what is behind 
the cipher, the cipher has to function as a passageway, letting some 
through while excluding others. In order to be allowed to enter, 
something must already be known. The cipher marks the limits of 
something hidden. But some measure of knowledge is nevertheless 
presupposed. It marks the boundaries of a relationship. It conceals and 
shows at the same time. It covers and uncovers.

If, for someone like Marx, the material manifestation of any object 
precedes its encipherment, others might submit, instead, that the cipher 
operates as the occasion for materialization to first take place. 
Mediation comes first, and materializes the body, someone like Judith 
Butler would argue. Following such accounts of the performative nature 
of subjection, one may suggest that the very materiality of the body is 
a product of a process that relies on cultural, linguistic, affective, 
and discursive, ciphers. And if the cipher conditions processes of 
materialization and subjectivation, one can ask if there is anything 
that escapes its logic. Is there an excess of meaning that remains 
neither enciphered, nor decipherable? To trace that excess would be to 
situate the cipher more precisely. It would be an attempt to recognize 
ciphers where they are, and to isolate those places where they remain 
absent.

For the upcoming issue of Diffractions we would like to make the cipher 
speak. To allow it to be heard, perhaps against its will. To ask where 
the cipher begins, and what exceeds its limits. In doing so, we aim to 
connect the cipher to objects, to values, to voices, and to the body. 
Our goal is to investigate the ways in which these concepts can be made 
useful for the study of cultural objects. How objects of study might 
help us to make the cipher speak, and how the cipher might engage these 
objects in return.

~        ciphers and objects

~        ciphers and voices

~        ciphers and bodies

~        ciphers as commodity

~        the fetishization of ciphers

~        ciphers and technology

~        the materiality of the cipher

~        hidden ciphers

~        the social life of ciphers

~        beyond the cipher

~        performativity and the cipher

~        cipher + cyber

We look forward to receiving proposals of 5.000 to 9.000 words 
(excluding bibliography) and a short bio of about 150 words by October 
31st, 2018 to be submitted at our website: 
https://diffractions.fch.lisboa.ucp.pt/Series2.

Diffractions also accepts book reviews related to the issue’s topic. If 
you wish to write a book review, please contact us through the e-mail 
address below.

We aim to be as accessible as possible in our communication. Should you 
have any questions, remarks, or suggestions, please do not hesitate to 
contact us through the following address: (info.diffractions /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(info.diffractions /at/ gmail.com)>.


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