[Commlist] Combined CfP Global Humanities 10 and 11: "Looking for Aura in the 21st Century" and "Dining Out"

Global Humanities (ISSN: 2199-3939) new calls.


CfP

LOOKING FOR AURA IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Global Humanities, Vol. 10 (Fall 2022)
https://www.edizionimuseopasqualino.it/riviste/global-humanities/ 
<https://www.edizionimuseopasqualino.it/riviste/global-humanities/>
Double blind peer reviewed
No payment from the authors will be required

The biannual journal Global Humanities (ISSN: 2199-3939) issued by 
Edizioni Museo Pasqualino, the publishing house of the Museo 
Internazionale delle Marionette Antonio Pasqualino, Italy, in print and 
open access, looks for proposals for its forthcoming issue (Fall 2022).
The journal continues its attempt to strengthen interdisciplinary 
research in Humanities in relation to its topical issues. For the fall 
2022, volume 10 is planned to deal with the topic “Looking for aura in 
the 21st Century”.
86 years have passed since the publication of the Benjamin’s pivotal 
work ([1936] 1968) entitled Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner 
technischen Reproduzierbarkeit (The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical 
Reproduction) where he introduces the concept of aura, referring to a 
quality allegedly missed by the mechanically reproduced work of art, 
that of its uniqueness, defined by its presence in time and space, at 
the place where it happens to be located. Such a definition involves a 
number of philosophical and æsthetical problems related at least to the 
dichotomies of truth/false, authentic/inauthentic, unique/serial, 
beautiful/ugly, artistic/kitsch, which emerge as of central importance 
in the contemporary debate. Borrowed from a religious lexicon commonly 
used in Religious studies (see the concept of Holy as defined by Otto 
[1917] 1923), all along the last century, this idea has been widely 
investigated and discussed by the Æsthetic theory (see, as an initial 
glance on the current debate, Di Giacomo, M., Marchetti, eds., 2013) and 
Sociological and Media Theory (from Weber [1922] 1947– see the parallel 
notion of charisma – to Bourdieu ([1979] 1984, up to the debate over 
mass and more recently digital media). In particular, the Semiotic 
discipline within a wider philosophical debate concerning a Structural 
Theory of Culture, has developed an original reflection on these themes, 
from the founding contributions of Baudrillard (1972), Eco ([1985] 
1990), Lotman (1987), Greimas (1980, 1987), Prieto ([1988] 1989), Fabbri 
(2010) and to the latest interventions of Dondero (2007), Latour ([2008] 
2011), Fontanille (2015) and many others, insisting on the semiotic 
procedures able to create an effect of aura as their outcome.
But the present time enlightens new emerging nuances in this concept 
which are well worth being investigated. The forthcoming issue of GH 
seeks to assess these in more detail. Aura has, nowadays, largely 
flooded the traditional theoretical fence of concept in the theory of 
Art in which has been usually confined, to show up as a general and 
eminently political issue. Following the ongoing process of artification 
(Heinich and Shapiro 2012) of daily life, the problem of the 
construction/translation/migration/dissipation of the aura shows up in 
management terms. Long-standing queries as the ones concerning the role 
played by technologies in its designation find new challengers in the 
increasingly invasive state of the mediatization process (e.g. Immersive 
and Locative Media, Virtual Reality, Instagram, new platforms like the 
Metaverse etc.). However, authenticity becomes an issue in political 
communication (how do current populist politicians construct their 
aura/charisma, becoming credible for large audiences? How do specific 
rhetorical assets like, for instance, political correctness may 
enforce/undermine aura?), Space (what is a square, a village, a city, a 
retail space, a place called authentic?), in Cultural Heritage (to what 
extent an object, a custom, an identity-related practice earn the 
quality of being considered as authentic?), Tourism (what does it make a 
travel authentic?), Gastronomy (how does specific dishes or ingredients 
become authentic expression of a territory or community?). At least, 
what does it make a life authentic?
We therefore ask scholars at any step of their academic career to submit 
paper proposals for analyses focused on specific texts and practices 
which happen to determine aura.
Suggested areas of investigation are:
* Aura and Benjamin in the 21st Century (referring to the letter of the 
Benjamin’s text in light of evidencing any problematic aspect in 
explicating the present time);
* Aura in Religious daily life;
* Aura in the Digital Sphere;
* Aura of Artifacts and Cultural Heritage;
* Aura in the New Forms of Politics;
* Aura in Tourism;
* Aura and the Pandemic;
* Aura in Experience and Daily Life.

With regard to time period and theoretical approach, this call for 
papers is totally open.
Please send your paper proposals (max. 300 words and a short 
biographical note) to Francesco Mangiapane 
((francesco.mangiapane /at/ unipa.it) <mailto:(francesco.mangiapane /at/ unipa.it)>) 
and Frank Jacob ((frank.jacob /at/ nord.no) <mailto:(frank.jacob /at/ nord.no)>) by 
May 15, 2022.
Full papers are due by June 30, 2020 and should have a lenght of 
6,000-8,000 words.
A style sheet will be provided together with a decision about the 
proposals by May 25.

Minimal reference list
Baudrillard, J., 1972, Pour une critique de l’économie politique du 
signe, Paris, Gallimard.
Benjamin, W., [1936] 1968, “The work of art in the Age of Mechanichal 
Reproduction” in Illumination, New York, Schocken Books, pp. 217-251.
Bourdieu, P., [1979] 1984, Distinction: A Social Critique of the 
Judgement of Taste, Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
Calabrese, O., 1987, L’età neobarocca, Roma-Bari, Laterza.
Di Giacomo, M., Marchetti, eds., 2013, Aura, monographic issue of 
Rivista di estetica, n. 52.
Dondero, M. G., 2007, Fotografare il sacro. Indagini semiotiche, Roma, 
Meltemi.
Eco, U., [1985] 1990, “Interpreting Serials” in The Limits of 
Interpretation, University of Indiana Press, Bloomington, pp. 83-100.
Fabbri, P., 2010, “Quando è arte?”, foreword to Goodman 2010.
Fontanille, J., 2015, Formes de vie, Liège, Presses Universitaires de Liège.
Goodman, N., 1968, Languages of Art. An Approach to a Theory of Symbols, 
Indianapolis,The Bobbs-Merril Company, especially pp.99-110.
Goodman, N., 2010, Arte in teoria, arte in azione, Et al., Milano.
Greimas, A. J., 1980, “La provocation par défi”, in A. J. Greimas et I. 
Darrault (dir.), Figures de la manipulation, Paris, Autres. Now in A. J. 
Greimas, Du sens II. Essais sémiotiques. Seuil, Paris, 1983, pp. 213-223.
Greimas, A. J., 1987, De l'imperfection, Périgueux, P. Fanlac.
Latour, B., [2008] 2011, “The Migration of the Aura – or How to Explore 
the Original Through Its Facsimiles” in T. Bartscherer and R. Coover 
(eds.) Switching Codes. Thinking Through Digital Technology in the 
Humanities and the Arts, University of Chicago Press, pp. 275-297 (with 
Adam Lowe).
Lotman, Y., 1987, “Architecture in the context of culture”. Architecture 
and Society (??????????? ? ????????) [Sofia] 6: 8–15. [Parallel text in 
Russian.]
Otto, R., [1917] 1923, The Idea of the Holy. An Inquiry into the 
Non-Rational Factor in the Idea of the Divine and its Relation to the 
Rational, London, Oxford University Press.
Perullo, N., 2020,  Epistenology: Wine As Experience, New York, Columbia 
University Press.
Prieto, L. J., [1988] 1989, “The Myth of the Original. The Original as 
an Object of Art and as an Object for Collection”. Kunst & Museum 
Journaal n.2/3, 1989,  pp. 33-45.
Shapiro, R., Heinich, N., 2012, “When is artification?”. Contemporary 
Aesthetics, Special Volume n. 4.
Weber, M.  [1922] 1947, “The Nature of Charismatic Authority and its 
Routinization” in Theory of Social and Economic Organization, New York: 
Oxford University Press.


CfP

DINING OUT
Global Humanities, Vol. 11 (Spring 2023)
https://www.edizionimuseopasqualino.it/riviste/global-humanities/ 
<https://www.edizionimuseopasqualino.it/riviste/global-humanities/>
Double blind peer reviewed
No payment from the authors will be required

The biannual journal Global Humanities (ISSN: 2199-3939) issued by 
Edizioni Museo Pasqualino, the publishing house of the Museo 
Internazionale delle Marionette Antonio Pasqualino, Italy, in print and 
open access, looks for proposals for its forthcoming issue (Spring 2023).
The journal continues its attempt to strengthen interdisciplinary 
research in Humanities in relation to its topical issues. For the spring 
2023, volume 11 is planned to deal with the topic “Dining out”.
A famous line from When Harry met Sally (1989) ironically remarks that 
“restaurants are to people in the 80’s what theatres were to people in 
the 60's”. Dining out – be it for a lunch-break, a business dinner, a 
romantic meeting or a solitary resolution – may be considered as a 
social ritual filled with significance. The celebration of which may, 
through this path, be enquired as a moment of self-exposure where the 
social limen among public and private, individual and collective 
identity are constantly negotiated. Such a socializing practice of daily 
life reveals its power through æsthetic means: endorsing a determined 
regime of good manners by choosing who to eat with, how to behave and 
dress, when and what to eat and where to dine out results into a 
sensitive and intrinsically political asset, outcome of specific choices 
still at hand of the individual.
It’s not a case that huge social challenges such as sustainability, 
ecologism, social justice, cultural heritage recognition and many others 
pass by the preference we might or might not accord to an actual diner. 
By showing ourselves eating in public, more generally, we take a 
position in respect of essential dichotomies such as the already 
mentioned Individual vs Collective, Public vs Private and, henceforth, 
Identity vs Alterity, Gemeinschaft (community) vs Gesellschaft 
(society), Cosmopolitanism vs Localism, Social Commitment vs 
Disengagement, Fast vs Slow and many others. Dining out, however, is 
also a way to mark temporality, exposing it to the collective: 
festivities, celebrations, marriage engagements, funerals are all events 
which are not unusual being celebrated outdoors at convivial spots.
In their essence, the minimal political choices which construct the 
experience of dining out are volatile, elusive and unseizable. They 
generally combine up to conform into a certain je ne sais quoi, proper 
atmospheres (see Griffero [2010] 2016) whose formal mechanisms are 
difficult to catch but yet full of consequences. These atmospheres 
happen, therefore, to solidify into actual ambiances, settings, 
buildings, streets, districts, so called foodscapes (see Giannitrapani 
2021), continuously reshaping the city, marking its essence and, in a 
way, even its stereotype: what would remain of Paris without its 
celebrated and fancy atmosphere celebrated in the diners all over?
Media play an essential role on such processes, by disambiguating what 
is innately elusive for the mere fact of attesting it into a certain 
text: reviews, advertising, novels, movies, social media streams, may, 
in this sense, be considered as textual patterns targeted to give 
substance to the sense of dining out, in a great conversation which 
calls to participation. And, of course, a proper “army” of interpreters 
are usually entitled to intercede in such a mission: critics, 
intellectuals, writers, owners and clients…
The editors of GH ask scholars at any step of their academic career to 
submit paper proposals related to analyses of actual (or fictional) 
eateries around the world which they consider special. Following this 
sentiment, they are asked to embedd these dining-out ventures into a 
theoretical frame: why are they so special? How do they work as a social 
machine? How does their location, their spaces, their clients, their 
settings make sense? How does such meaning get acknowledged in the 
public sphere?
The forthcoming issue (Spring 2023) is expected to provide insights into 
places around the world which are questioned for their social 
accountability, revealing their usually undisputed and mostly silent 
role as constructors of daily life.
With regard to time period and theoretical approach, this call for 
papers is totally open.
Please send your paper proposals (max. 300 words and a short 
biographical note) to Francesco Mangiapane 
((francesco.mangiapane /at/ unipa.it) <mailto:(francesco.mangiapane /at/ unipa.it)>) 
and Frank Jacob ((frank.jacob /at/ nord.no) <mailto:(frank.jacob /at/ nord.no)>) by 
October 15, 2022.
Papers are due by December 31, 2022 and should have a lenght of 
6,000-8,000 words.
A style sheet will be provided together with a decision about the 
proposals by October 25.

Minimal reference list
Appelbaum,  R., 2011, Dishing it out, London, Reaktion Books.
Colas-Blaise, M., 2012, “L’experience gastronomique. Comment faire 
signifier la nourriture?”, in G. Marrone,  A. Giannitrapani, eds., 
Mangiare: istruzioni per l’uso: Indagini semiotiche, monographic issue 
of E/C, n. 14, pp. 25-34.
Finkelstein, J., 1989, Dining out. A Sociology of Modern Manners, 
Cambridge, Polity Press.
Finkelstein, J., 2014, Fashioning Appetite. Restaurants and the Making 
of Modern Identity, New York, Columbia University Press.
Fischler, C., 1993, L’Homnivore. Le goût, la cuisine et le corps, Paris, 
Odile Jacob.
Giannitrapani, A., “Ristoranti & co. Identità e comunicazione dei luoghi 
conviviali”, in G. Marrone, ed., Buono da pensare, Milano, Carocci.
Giannitrapani, A., ed., 2021, Foodscapes. Cibo in città, Milano, Mimesis.
Gopnik, A., 2011, The Table comes First. France, and the Meaning of 
Food, New York, Random House.
Griffero, T., [2010] 2016, Atmospheres. Aesthetics of Emotional Spaces, 
London, Routledge.
Mangiapane, “The Invention of the Nordic Cuisine”, 
Nordicum-Mediterraneum, https://doi.org/10.33112/nm.11.1.37 
<https://doi.org/10.33112/nm.11.1.37>
Marrone, G., 2014, Gastromania, Milano, Bompiani.
Marrone, G., ed., 2021, Dossier: “Formes de la commensalité : 
dispositifs rituels autour du manger”, Actes sémiotiques, n. 124.
Perullo, N., 2019, Del giudicar veloce e vacuo. Metacritica della 
critica gastronomica, Formigine (MO, Edizioni Estemporanee.
Pitte, J.R. 1999. “The rise of the Restaurant”, in J.-L. Flandrin, M. 
Montanari, A. Sonnenfeld, Food: A Culinary History from Antiquity to the 
Present, New York, Columbia University Press.
Ritzer, G., The McDonaldization of Society. An investigation into the 
Changing Character of Contemporary Social Life, Thousand Oaks, Pine 
Forge Press.
Spang, R. (2000) The Invention of the Restaurant. Paris and Modern 
Gastronomy Culture, Cambridge, Harvard University Press.


GLOBAL HUMANITIES
ISSN: 2199-3939




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