Diffractions - Graduate Journal for the Study of Culture
Call for Articles
Crisicism – The Cultural Discourse of Crisis
Deadline for submissions: February 28 2013
At the end of 2012, “Crisis” has become a widespread buzz word. As
moments of disruption, crises challenge and subvert the existing order
of things, creating uncertainty and altering daily life. Occurring
both at a personal or socio-political level, as in the case of
catastrophes, financial meltdown, environmental disasters,
institutional turmoil or political instability, crises are turning
points that call our foundations into question and suggest the need
for change. On the other hand, as fractures in time, crisis can
trigger a renewed understanding of the past and cast a new light on
the needs and demands of the present. Indeed, Reinhart Koselleck went
so far as defining crisis as the “signature of the modern era”,
acknowledging its diagnostic and predicative meaning which underlies
modern society’s self-consciousness and critical awareness.
Yet, if crises may be seen as system disturbances, as interruptions of
the normal order, as critical moments that promote self-reflexion and
generate change, they seem nevertheless to have become the new order
of things, a condition that morphed into norm. This noun has grown
from the grammatical nominative to be a symbolic adjective, signifying
a permanent state (of crisis). As Agamben argued about the new
governmental state of exception, the recurrence of crises over the
last century and particularly over the last few years (in response to
various circumstances ranging from 9/11 to global economic recession)
has turned the exception into norm, into what he designates “[…] the
dominant paradigm” of global politics (Agamben, 2005: 2). And as
Slavoj Zizek has also pointed out, crisis ceases to be regarded as an
intermission and becomes naturalized into a “way of life” (Zizek,
2010).
Indeed, at a time of generalized disorder and insecurity, crisis seems
to have become the dominant discursive paradigm, threatening to turn
into the master narrative of the 21st century. This issue wishes to
engage in a critical assessment of the rhetoric of generalized crisis
– or “crisicism” – and discuss its impact and effects in the field of
culture. Crises are interwoven into both ethical and aesthetical
reality, are given sustenance and channeled socially and culturally.
At the same time as the disruptive character of crisis defies previous
models of understanding, every new crisis is anchored in cultural
imagination and in a shared reservoir of behavioral and
representational patterns from which, in turn, societies will draw to
face and process them. This issue aims precisely at gauging the
effects of crisis upon the cultural structure and the way
representations not only articulate and sublimate collective meanings
of crisis, but also shape our understanding of crises and the way
societies negotiate, come to terms and remember them.
Themes to be addressed by contributors may include but are not
restricted to the following:
• The rhetorical dimension of crisis
• Crises as turning points
• Crises as exception and norm
• Crises and catastrophe
• Crisis, trauma and memory
• Politics, policies and crisis
• Crisis, globalization and mobility
• Crisis and space
• Artistic and literary representation of crisis
• Media framings of crisis
• The technocultural dimension of crisis
• Crises and post-humanism
• Agency and resistance
We look forward to receiving proposals of no more than 20 A4 pages
(not including bibliography) and a short bio of about 150 words by
February 28 2013 at the following address:
submissions@diffractions.net. DIFRRACTIONS also accepts book reviews
that may not be related to the issue’s topic. If you wish to write a
book review, please contact us at reviews@diffractions.net.
DIFFRACTIONS is an online, peer-reviewed and open access graduate
journal for the study of culture, publsished bi-annually under the
editorial direction of graduate students in the doctoral program in
Culture Studies at Catholic University of Portugal/Lisbon Consortium.
DIFFRACTIONS wishes to constitute a platform where graduate students
and junior researchers can showcase their current research as well as
reviews of the latest books of interest in the field. DIFFRACTIONS
aims at publishing innovative and critical scholarly work at the
intersection of disciplinary fields and make it accessible and
available to the international community.
Find us online at www.diffractions.net and facebook.com/
Call for Articles
Crisicism – The Cultural Discourse of Crisis
Deadline for submissions: February 28 2013
At the end of 2012, “Crisis” has become a widespread buzz word. As
moments of disruption, crises challenge and subvert the existing order
of things, creating uncertainty and altering daily life. Occurring
both at a personal or socio-political level, as in the case of
catastrophes, financial meltdown, environmental disasters,
institutional turmoil or political instability, crises are turning
points that call our foundations into question and suggest the need
for change. On the other hand, as fractures in time, crisis can
trigger a renewed understanding of the past and cast a new light on
the needs and demands of the present. Indeed, Reinhart Koselleck went
so far as defining crisis as the “signature of the modern era”,
acknowledging its diagnostic and predicative meaning which underlies
modern society’s self-consciousness and critical awareness.
Yet, if crises may be seen as system disturbances, as interruptions of
the normal order, as critical moments that promote self-reflexion and
generate change, they seem nevertheless to have become the new order
of things, a condition that morphed into norm. This noun has grown
from the grammatical nominative to be a symbolic adjective, signifying
a permanent state (of crisis). As Agamben argued about the new
governmental state of exception, the recurrence of crises over the
last century and particularly over the last few years (in response to
various circumstances ranging from 9/11 to global economic recession)
has turned the exception into norm, into what he designates “[…] the
dominant paradigm” of global politics (Agamben, 2005: 2). And as
Slavoj Zizek has also pointed out, crisis ceases to be regarded as an
intermission and becomes naturalized into a “way of life” (Zizek,
2010).
Indeed, at a time of generalized disorder and insecurity, crisis seems
to have become the dominant discursive paradigm, threatening to turn
into the master narrative of the 21st century. This issue wishes to
engage in a critical assessment of the rhetoric of generalized crisis
– or “crisicism” – and discuss its impact and effects in the field of
culture. Crises are interwoven into both ethical and aesthetical
reality, are given sustenance and channeled socially and culturally.
At the same time as the disruptive character of crisis defies previous
models of understanding, every new crisis is anchored in cultural
imagination and in a shared reservoir of behavioral and
representational patterns from which, in turn, societies will draw to
face and process them. This issue aims precisely at gauging the
effects of crisis upon the cultural structure and the way
representations not only articulate and sublimate collective meanings
of crisis, but also shape our understanding of crises and the way
societies negotiate, come to terms and remember them.
Themes to be addressed by contributors may include but are not
restricted to the following:
• The rhetorical dimension of crisis
• Crises as turning points
• Crises as exception and norm
• Crises and catastrophe
• Crisis, trauma and memory
• Politics, policies and crisis
• Crisis, globalization and mobility
• Crisis and space
• Artistic and literary representation of crisis
• Media framings of crisis
• The technocultural dimension of crisis
• Crises and post-humanism
• Agency and resistance
We look forward to receiving proposals of no more than 20 A4 pages
(not including bibliography) and a short bio of about 150 words by
February 28 2013 at the following address:
submissions@diffractions.net. DIFRRACTIONS also accepts book reviews
that may not be related to the issue’s topic. If you wish to write a
book review, please contact us at reviews@diffractions.net.
DIFFRACTIONS is an online, peer-reviewed and open access graduate
journal for the study of culture, publsished bi-annually under the
editorial direction of graduate students in the doctoral program in
Culture Studies at Catholic University of Portugal/Lisbon Consortium.
DIFFRACTIONS wishes to constitute a platform where graduate students
and junior researchers can showcase their current research as well as
reviews of the latest books of interest in the field. DIFFRACTIONS
aims at publishing innovative and critical scholarly work at the
intersection of disciplinary fields and make it accessible and
available to the international community.
Find us online at www.diffractions.net and facebook.com/
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