[Commlist] Call for contributions - Culture in Quarantine

With approximately one-fifth of the world’s population currently in 
lockdown, the novel coronavirus (COVID–19) pandemic has drastically 
changed many of our lives. According to official statistics, the virus 
has now infected over one million individuals across 209 countries and 
territories, and such draconian measures are likely to have saved 
countless lives. But, the effects of the virus reach far beyond its 
biological capacity to cause illness. Originating in Wuhan, China, its 
rapid spread across national boundaries has drawn attention to the 
porous and interconnected world that we live in. The resulting economic 
consequences of the lockdown measures highlight the volatility of the 
global economy and the precarity of those whose labour sustains it. At 
the same time, it has transformed the way we interact with one another 
and understand ourselves, as new forms of creativity and solidarity 
emerge. In the time of coronavirus, both critical cultural analysis and 
sustained personal reflection are needed more than ever to put these 
emerging new realities into perspective.

Several leading intellectuals have already published their views on the 
coronavirus pandemic. Judith Butler, for one, has considered 
<https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/4603-capitalism-has-its-limits> how 
the pandemic lays bare the radical inequalities inherent to global 
capitalism, drawing particular attention to the fraught politics of 
healthcare in the United States. Elsewhere, David Harvey has examined 
<https://jacobinmag.com/2020/03/david-harvey-coronavirus-political-economy-disruptions> 
the broader repercussions for the dynamics of global capital 
accumulation; modes of consumerism that have long underpinned Western 
economies are now crashing before our very eyes, he says, and with 
potentially devastating consequences. On the other hand, philosopher 
Giorgio Agamben has come under criticism 
<https://www.journal-psychoanalysis.eu/coronavirus-and-philosophers/> 
for his dismissal of the pandemic as a manufactured “state of 
exception,” aimed at facilitating a project of total control by 
governments and corporations, while denying the harsh reality of 
contagion altogether.

For the duration of the coronavirus pandemic, students at The Lisbon 
Consortium encourage scholars, artists and other cultural practitioners 
to reflect further on the multifarious impacts of this bewildering new 
reality. To facilitate this, we are launching a new website, Culture in 
Quarantine <http://www.cultureinquarantine.co>, through which we hope to 
publish critical writing, visual essays and other creative responses to 
the pandemic over the coming weeks. Later, the website will remain 
online to serve as an archive of our collective thoughts and experiences.

We welcome contributions of any length in the following formats:

* Essays
Personal reflections, cultural critique and analysis, adaptations or 
excerpts of larger research projects. Please write for a general 
audience and avoid too much academic jargon.
* Fiction
Creative responses to the coronavirus pandemic, including prose and 
poetry of all genres.
* Visual essays
All combinations of photography (or other visual material) and text are 
welcomed. Please indicate any specific layout requirements and we will 
try to accommodate.

Please also include a short biography of no more than 100 words.

Send your contributions to (cultureinquarantine /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(cultureinquarantine /at/ gmail.com)>. Submissions will be accepted and 
published at www.cultureinquarantine.co 
<http://www.cultureinquarantine.co> on an ongoing basis.

---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please use it responsibly and wisely.
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit http://commlist.org/
--
Before sending a posting request, please always read the guidelines at http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------