Tag Archives: memory studies

CFP – Close encounters, displacement and war

Posted on by

Close Encounters in War Journal – n. 1
Call for articles
Thematic Issue: “Close encounters, displacement and war”

Close Encounters in War Journal is a peer-reviewed journal aimed at studying war as a human experience, through interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches ranging from the Humanities to the Social Sciences. The second issue (n. 1) of the journal will be a thematic one, dedicated to the experience of displacement as a consequence of war and conflict, and titled “Close encounters, displacement and war”.

Wars in general are cultural phenomena, among the most ancient and deeply rooted aspects of human cultural evolution: investigating their meaning, by reflecting on the ways we experience wars and conflicts as human beings is therefore essential. Conflictis deeply intertwined with language, culture, instincts, passions, behavioural patterns and with the human ability to represent concepts aesthetically. The concept of “encounter” is therefore fundamental as it involves experience, and as a consequence it implies that war can shape and develop our minds and affect our behaviour by questioning habits and values, prejudices and views of the world.

Displacement is one of the most affecting consequences of war. Armed conflicts move people from one place to another, often trigging extensive phenomena of mobility that can influence societies in depth. The United Nations estimate that in the last few years 65 million people have been displaced by war and prosecution, whereas Malcom Proudfood famously calculated that no less than 60 million people were displaced from their homes during the Second World War and in its aftermath. Among them, there were those who had been forcibly deported by the Nazis, the soldiers who had moved with the armed forces and, most notably, a mass of civilians who became refugees.

Today, the refugee crisis represents one of the most urgent problems internationally, and it has a deep impact on political choices especially in Europe. Fleeing from combat zones has always been the only chance of survival for non-combatants, and refugees are among the most vulnerable groups involved in armed conflicts. Nonetheless, displacement can be multifaceted and not always explicit. Long periods of absence from home (e.g. as members of occupation troops or as POWs) may produce significant psychological and social effects on combatants, who would find it difficult to come back to their society, family and cultural environment. Fighting in colonial armies or being involved in civil wars, too, are sometimes perceived as cultural, social and moral displacement. On a broader scale displacement could trigger interesting phenomena of social, anthropological, cultural and transnational mobility capable of affecting national identities and shaping cultures.

Displacement is such a critical problem for modern societies that many institutions, scholarly or otherwise, commit to the study and research of migration from the ethical, legal and humanitarian point of view.

Issue n. 1 of CEIW Journal will aim to investigate displacement by exploring its facets both on a micro-scale, by studying individual testimonies and experiences, and on a broad scale by observing macro-phenomena of displacement throughout history with comparative, critical and cultural methodologies.

We invite articles which analyse the experience of displacement from ancient to modern and contemporary periods, from the perspective of the encounter, reaching beyond the study of military tactics and strategy and focusing on the way human beings ‘encounter’ each other with and within the experience of displacement. Contributions are invited to promote discussion and scholarly research from established scholars, early-career researchers, and from practitioners who have encountered irregular warfare in the course of their activities.

The topics that can be investigated include but are not limited to:
· Social impact of war displacement
· Displacement and transnational history
· Psychological aspects of war displacement
· Violence and trauma
· Cultural encounters and identity
· Displacement and colonial wars, civil wars, international conflicts
· War captivity and other forms of deportation
· Forced displacement, war crimes, ethnic cleansing
· Displacement and transitional justice
· Representations of otherness, race, and gender
· Religion and politics
· Testimonies, personal narratives
· Oral history and memory studies

The editors of Close Encounters in War Journal invite the submission of 300 words abstracts in English by 1st June 2018. Decisions will be made by 30th June 2018 and the completed articles (6000-8000 words including footnotes, bibliography excluded, in English) will be expected by 1st November 2018. All contributions will go under a process of blind peer-review.

Abstracts can be sent to: simona.tobia@closeencountersinwar.com and gianluca.cinelli@closeencountersinwar.com

CfP: Close Encounters in War – Special Issue

Posted on by

Close Encounters in War Journal is a new independent and peer-reviewed journal aimed at studying war as a human experience, through interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches ranging from the Humanities to the Social Sciences. The launch issue (n. 0) of Close Encounters in War Journal will be a Special Issue dedicated specifically to irregular warfare and titled “Close encounters in irregular and asymmetric warfare”.

Wars in general are cultural phenomena, among the most ancient and deeply rooted aspects of human cultural evolution: investigating their meaning, by reflecting on the ways we experience wars and conflicts as human beings is therefore essential. Conflict is deeply intertwined with language, culture, instincts, passions, behavioural patterns and with the human ability to represent concepts aesthetically. The concept of “encounter” is therefore fundamental as it involves experience, and as a consequence it implies the idea that the fact of encountering war shapes and develops our minds and affects our behaviour, questioning habits and values, prejudices and views of the world.

One of the most ancient types of warfare is what today is referred to as ‘irregular warfare’, as opposed to ‘conventional warfare’, which is a relatively more recent development. The combat strategies and tactics used by tribal warriors, modern guerrillas, resistance fighters and terrorists have recently been attracting the attention of military historians, strategists and intelligence experts due to the widespread terror threat, but how do human beings experience this particular type of warfare? Does it seem more threatening and scary because it can involve civilians more deeply? or because it blurs the traditional idea of war as open confrontation with a recognisable enemy? What drives non-combatants to arm themselves and become fighters? Is irregular warfare more violent, brutal and dehumanising than conventional warfare and if so, why? What is their cultural, linguistic and anthropological impact? And finally, is irregular warfare adopted also by regular armies? What is the impact of such warfare on the war-experience of the combatants involved?

For the launch issue (n. 0) of Close Encounters in War we invite articles which investigate irregular and asymmetric conflicts from ancient times to modern and contemporary periods, reaching beyond the study of military tactics and strategy and focusing on the way human beings ‘encounter’ with and within this type of armed conflict. Contributions are invited to promote discussion and scholarly research from established scholars, early-career researchers, and from practitioners who have encountered irregular warfare in the course of their activities.

The topics which can be investigated include but are not limited to:

Irregular, asymmetric and unconventional warfare
Insurgency and counterinsurgency
Resistance and partisan war
Terrorism and counter-terrorism
Violence and trauma
Cultural encounters and identity
Representations of otherness, race, and gender
Religion and politics
Testimonies, witness-representations, oral history and memory studies

The editors of Close Encounters in War invite the submission of 3-500 words abstracts in English by 15th November 2017. Decisions will be made by 2nd January 2018 and the completed articles (6000-8000 words including footnotes, bibliography excluded, in English) will be expected by 15th April 2018. All contributions will go under a process of blind peer-review.

Contact Info:
The editors of CEIW Journal can be contacted via the website
or at:
simona.tobia@closeencountersinwar.com
gianluca.cinelli@closeencountersinwar.com

CfP: Third Issue of the Journal of Studies in History & Culture

Posted on by

Events to commemorate the centenary of the First World War have been organized since 2014 and would continue through 2018. It has already sparked of various retellings on the war in fiction and celluloid. The third issue of JSHC attempts to offer renewed perspectives on the First World War. While war and society is the general theme for this issue, all the content in our issues have never been restricted to the pre-decided theme alone. Therefore, we welcome contributors for wide ranging perspectives and discussions on general issues beyond the present theme.

To understand war in the longue durée one needs a comprehensive understanding. We encourage papers which examine comprehensive studies of war using panoptican views, by means of theoretical, political or philosophical scalpels; and papers from diplomacy, strategy and international relations perspectives, as well as papers on individual lives. Besides, papers from a military history vantage point are equally welcome. Papers from a memory studies perspective looking at collective memorialisation around or with relation to a particular war would be particularly interesting for us to consider for publication.

We are also looking for papers from comparative literary perspectives which study literature produced during war or with war as a thematic reference. Analyses of diverse hagiographies and/or their influence on formal histories could also be an important aspect to this. Papers from an environmental perspective are equally welcome.

For historians war has been both a historical schema, within which one could study societal changes as well as a chassis, to locate micro histories of soldiers, technology, techniques, formations, strategies, etc. The moral supremacy attached to professional warriors, wrote Marc Bloch, continuing till present times is symbolic of the divergence between the peasant and the knight right from the emergence of the feudal age. Bloch fought in both World Wars. He was a part of the French Army in the First World War. The experiences affected his personality and his historical output. His experiences during the war produced Memoirs of the War, 1914 – 1915 and is also said to have influenced Réflexions d’un historien sur les fausses nouvelles de la guerre (1922). The Second World War was more defining though. From the campaign of June 1940 to a part of the resistance press, the Second World War affected him personally as a Jew in Germany. This time there was to be no memoir, no Réflexions. He was tortured by the Germans in 1944, inside the fortress of Montluc and finally assassinated on June 16 at St. Didier, near Lyons. In line with Bloch’s work we encourage authors to submit papers looking at variety of topics right from propaganda to underlying conditions of society, in a comparative historical framework.

That said, papers not related to the theme are also welcome.

Increasing budget cuts in the humanities have been seen by many as part of a larger plan to dissolve the humanities. Therefore, papers situating war within the context of epistemological invasions are also welcome.

However, such attempts at dissolution are not merely a warning sign for the humanities but higher education in general, and anything certified as unprofitable by the market. With market forces gnawing into whatever little space for decision making was left within the academia, JSHC sees this as a moment of opportunity – opportunity to seek greater collaboration among disciplines, wherein they can come together in evolving mutually beneficial frameworks for academic exchanges, as well as myriad forms of resistance on scholarly fora to stand united in solidarity against the onslaught.

The last date for submission is 30th of November, 2017. Check out the previous issues on www.jshc.org. Papers can be sent in to editors.jshc@gmail.com. For any specific inquiries write to info@jshc.org.