CALL FOR PAPERS
HUMAN ARCHITECTURE:
Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge
Special Issue, Volume VII, 2009
DEADLINE: APRIL 1, 2009
(for a copy of the CFP in pdf format, please click here)
I. SPECIAL ISSUE THEME:
“If I touch the depths of your heart”:
Mahmoud Darwish and the Human Promise of Poetry in Comparative Perspective
Mahmoud Darwish (1941-2008), one of the greatest contemporary Arab poets, was widely known and revered throughout the world. Born in Palestine in 1941, his family fled in 1948 when Israeli forces attacked his village. He lived in Israel and Lebanon, studied in Moscow and worked in Paris as editor in chief of the literary journal Al-Karmel. He published more than thirty volumes of poetry and eight books of prose and was regarded as Palestine’s Poet Laureate.
“I thought poetry could change everything, could change history and could humanize,” Darwish said in an interview with The Progressive in 2002, “and I think that the illusion is very necessary to push poets to be involved and to believe… but now I think that poetry changes only the poet” (http://www.progressive.org/node/1575; article by Nathalie Handal). Yet, it is not difficult to find millions around the world who have been deeply touched by the power and promise of his poetry. Common Ground News featured a mourning for Darwish on August 14, 2008, where his words, “I had enough yesterdays; what I need is a tomorrow” are remembered. Recalled also are the following words expressed by Darwish during his last performance in July 2008 in Ramallah, words that convey the depth of Darwish’s heart and the sociological imagination inspiring his poetry:
As you prepare your breakfast – think of others. Don’t forget to feed the pigeons. As you conduct your wars – think of others. Don’t forget those who want peace. As you pay your water bill – think of others. Think of those who only have clouds to drink from. As you go home, your own home – think of others – don’t forget those who live in tents. As you sleep and count the planets, think of others – there are people who have no place to sleep. As you liberate yourself with metaphors think of others – those who have lost their right to speak. And as you think of distant others – think of yourself and say “I wish I were a candle in the darkness.” (http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=23736&lan=en&sid=0&sp=0; translated and included in an article by Ibtisam Barakat)
A special issue of the upcoming volume VII (2009) of Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge will be dedicated to the theme “If I touch the depths of your heart”: Mahmoud Darwish and the Human Promise of Poetry in Comparative Perspective.” The editor and guest co-editors of the special journal issue invite those interested to submit full-length papers or shorter term essays, commentaries, and pieces of writing, including original prose or poetry, for peer review by the editors. Preference will be given to those submissions that rigorously and imaginatively explore the role poetry and creative writing does and can play in favor of personally and globally transformative outcomes in favor of a just global society. Of particular interest will be studies of Darwish’s transformative poetry and writing in comparative perspective, i.e., in relation to other regional and world-historical instances where poets and poetry have contributed to the human promise of hope and change.
Those interested should submit their complete and final papers and essays by Wednesday, April 1, 2009. Do not send any abstracts or proposals earlier, as consideration will be given only to final and complete papers and writings submitted by the above deadline. Inquiries regarding submissions may be made to the journal editor prior to the submission deadline. Submissions can adopt a variety of styles depending on content, including original prose or poetry, and papers of flexible length (such as 5 page commentaries, 10-15 page essays and writings, or 20-30 page full-length papers). Obtaining copyright permissions for any quotations or passages used is the responsibility of the author(s) and must be obtained by the time of submission.
Submissions should be complete and final, fully proofread with accurate bibliographic information, and ready for publication consideration since scheduling constraints will not allow time for a revision/resubmission step. Each submission should include a 100-200 word concisely written abstract and about similar length bio of the author(s) including institutional affiliation, background and publications. Submissions must be sent to the editor, mohammad.tamdgidi@umb.edu as attached Microsoft Word files (please save file as Rich Text Format, or RTF). Contributors will receive a complimentary copy of the issue in which their papers appear.
Human Architecture is a core sociology journal published in both hard copy and freely online, and is regularly compiled in Illumina's Sociological Abstracts, Ebsco's SocINDEX with Full-Text, and ProQuest's Social Science Journals full-text database. For further information about the journal, its perspective, and previous online issues, please visit http://www.okcir.com and/or contact the journal editor, mohammad.tamdgidi@umb.edu.
Guest Co-Editors of the Special Issue:
Dorothy Shubow Nelson, Senior Lecturer of English, UMass Boston
Rajini Srikanth, Associate Professor of English and Director of Honors Program, UMass Boston
Leila Farsakh, Assistant Professor of Political Science, UMass Boston
Askold Melnyczuk, Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing, UMass Boston
Joyce Peseroff, Distinguished Lecturer, Poet in Residence, and Director, Creative Writing and MFA Program, UMass Boston
Erica Mena, UMass Boston Alumna
Elora Chowdhury, Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies, UMass Boston
Anna Beckwith, Lecturer of Sociology, UMass Boston
Journal Editor: Mohammad H. Tamdgidi, Assistant Professor of Sociology, UMass Boston
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CALL FOR PAPERS
HUMAN ARCHITECTURE:
Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge
Regular Issue, Volume VII, 2009
DEADLINE: APRIL 1, 2009
II. REGULAR ISSUE THEME:
Scholarships of Learning and Teaching of the Sociological Imagination
Human Architecture has a continuing commitment to publishing outstanding undergraduate and graduate student and faculty papers advancing scholarships of learning and teaching of the sociological imagination and the sociology of self-knowledge.
The sociological imagination, according to C. Wright Mills, is a quality of mind that enables its holder to relate his or her own and others’ personal troubles to the ever larger public issues facing society and humanity as a whole. It is the ability to relate reflections on the here-and-now dynamics of one’s everyday life and personal troubles to the larger social issues of the prevalent society, of the times, and in the context of ever wider world-historical landscapes.
As noted in the founding statement of the journal, “Human Architecture provides a forum for the exploration of personal self-knowledges within a re-imagined sociological framework. It seeks to creatively institutionalize new conceptual and curricular structures of knowledge whereby critical study of one’s selves within an increasingly world-historical framework is given scholarly and pedagogical legitimacy. The journal is a public forum for those who seek to radically understand and, if need be, change their world-historically constituted selves. It is a research and educational microcosm for fostering de-alienated and globally concerned, self-determining human realities.”
The editor invites contributions that make serious and innovative efforts at developing the author’s sociological imagination in dialogue with scholarly sources, relevant theoretical frameworks and concepts, and various other texts such as films and works of art. Solicited also are papers by teaching faculty who self-reflectively explore their strategies for the cultivation of sociological imaginations among their students (and in themselves) regardless of the disciplinary field in which courses are taught. Papers may include as appendices exemplary syllabi used, but these only as an aid to the narrative explorations and presentations of the pedagogical approaches invented and used by faculty in the course of their teaching career. Faculty-student co-authored papers will also be especially welcomed.
All submissions should be sent as email attachments to the journal’s editor mohammad.tamdgidi@umb.edu. Contributors whose papers are selected and published will receive a complimentary hard copy of the journal upon publication. Authors are solely responsible for obtaining by the time of submission copyright permissions for the quotes, figures, or any other material borrowed from other sources; authors submitting to the journal will be assumed to have obtained such copyright permissions and can furnish them upon request.
Please submit papers only electronically as a Microsoft Word attachment (RTF format) set in Times 12 font. Include in the same file a title page stating full institutional affiliation(s), a specializations/publications bio of about 50-100 words in length, and email, academic, and (if available) web addresses. Papers should be accompanied, in the same file and after the title page, by an abstract of about 100-200 words in length. Please double-space all text except for the abstract, foot/endnotes, bibliography, and any quotations blocks—which should be single-spaced. There is no need to send blinded versions of the file. If there are figures, please provide them as part of the Word document and separately, as a jpeg or standard graphic file (Tiff or eps, for instance) set at medium resolution.
Student papers previously published in Human Architecture are regularly used as required or recommended readings in course instruction. For examples of student and faculty-student co-authored papers published in earlier issues of Human Architecture please visit the website of the journal (at http://www.okcir.com) or consult the Sociological Abstracts, SocINDEX with Full-Text, or ProQuest's Social Science Journals full-text database for more systematic search of the journal's contents.
Submission Guideline Notes
The editor adheres to a firm scheduling timeline in order to compile and publish the issues of each volume during and by the end of every summer. Given the scheduling constraints, there will not be time for revision/resubmission considerations. Papers will be selected on accepted or rejected basis ONLY. For this reason, submissions need to be final, as far as BOTH content and form are concerned, and therefore it is possible that a paper may be rejected purely due to technical reasons such as significant grammar and spelling errors, structural shortcomings, inadequate citations, or inaccurate bibliographic data.
Given scheduling considerations, authors will not have a chance to reread any galley proofs and the editor reserves the right to correct any obvious grammatical, spelling, or other errors or shortcomings to expedite the annual publication schedule. In regard to citations, as long as authors are consistent in using their preferred disciplinary styles, they will be acceptable. However, if possible and in doubt, please use the ASA Style Guide, a brief summary of which can be found online at http://www.calstatela.edu/library/bi/rsalina/asa.styleguide.html.
Human Architecture is open to the republication of previously published articles provided written permissions are sought and furnished from the original publisher(s). Contributors publishing in Human Architecture are welcome to publish their papers elsewhere for further exposure to other specific target audiences; if so, acknowledgment of previous publication in Human Architecture will be appreciated. Authors retain copyrights to their works and share the same with Human Architecture for hard copy and online publication and databasing of their contributions.