Call for Papers – Forum Edition Spring 2021
We are inviting expressions of interest for a forthcoming forum edition of the Anthropological Journal of European Cultures to be published in early 2021. The theme of this edition is ‘Cultural Heritage Across European Borders: Bridges or Walls?’ and will be edited by Philip McDermott and Sara McDowell (Ulster University).
AJEC serves as an important platform for ethnographic research in and on Europe, which in this context is not defined narrowly as a geopolitical entity but rather as a meaningful cultural construction in people’s lives. The proposed forum, therefore, will align closely with these wider aims and engage with questions around the social and cultural transformations of contemporary European societies.
Final forum pieces will be no longer than 3000 words including references and should provide a brief discussion around challenges relating to the edition’s theme. We particularly welcome contributions from early career scholars and postgraduates – although we also welcome submissions from established scholars too. The thematic focus of the edition is described in more detail below.
Cultural Heritage Across European Borders: Bridges or Walls?
Contemporary political debate has raised questions about the future of globalisation and the re-emergence of the nation state as a tightly bounded entity with clear policies of inclusion and exclusion. Frequently, we have heard soundbites from political elites about the need to build fences or reinforce borders to keep people ‘out’ and those on the other side ‘safe’. Heritage practices play a fundamentally important role in articulating nationalism, fostering senses of identity and communality as well as emphasising difference.
Regardless of the political rhetoric, people continue to cross European borders en-masse, either by force or by choice. Moreover, Europe is already a patchwork of borderlands where cultural communities come into contact in ways that transcend the notion of political barriers and frontiers. Often these engagements have manifested over centuries and survived the frequent redrawing of maps, usually in the aftermath of conflict.
The cross-border dynamics of heritage, however, do face challenges in this era of heightened populism and questions arise in the heritage space as to whether the idea of walls or bridges, both physical and imaginative, has taken hold. This forum edition invites short 3000-word contributions on the theme of ‘Cultural Heritage across European Borders: Bridges or walls?’. This topic is deliberately broad to engender discussion on how the theme is understood and approached within academic scholarship and especially within the context of the journal’s aims.
Themes which might be dealt with include:
- Cross-border cooperation on cultural heritage in European border regions, sites and senses of ‘place’.
- The impact of political dynamics on cultural identities at European border regions.
- The notion of transnational identities amongst diaspora communities living in Europe and beyond.
- Ideological shifts in the lens that Europeans use to look at the ‘other’s’ heritage.
- The impact of digital technology on European border heritages and identities.
A short expression of interest outlining your proposed chapter (circa 300 words) should be sent to the editors of this forum, Philip McDermott (p.mcdermott@ulster.ac.uk) and Sara McDowell (sp.mcdowell@ulster.ac.uk), by Friday 26th June.
For successful submissions the final piece would be due for submission in early October 2020 for publication in February/March 2021.