CFP 09.03.2016

Nostalgia

Birkbeck College, University of London
Eingabeschluss : 20.04.2016

Dandelion Editors
The Dandelion editors seek submissions on the theme of NOSTALGIA for their forthcoming issue.
Nostalgia is a ubiquitous presence in contemporary culture. Images and fantasies of the past permeate cultural and political discourses: from the mediated recycling of retro culture and popular history, to nostalgia as a method of political renewal (for example, Donald Trump’s campaign slogan ‘Make America Great Again!’ and Ken Loach’s The Spirit of ‘45).

Nostalgia is readily apparent in the current popularity of culture that celebrates our national past, while self-styled ‘progressive' cultural institutions are increasingly turning to the past in order to better understand the contemporary: for instance, the reproduction of Richard Hamilton’s installations ‘Man, Machine and Motion’ (1955) and ‘an Exhibit’ (1957) at the ICA, London, in 2014. As the RetroDada manifesto declares ‘why shouldn’t a .gif run backwards as well as forwards?’

To this end we ask: why the resurgence of nostalgia? Is it merely a displacement strategy for a world convulsed by social, political, economic, and environmental crisis, or is there something salvageable in its longing for a prior wholeness, in its desire to seek out a moment when the new was still possible? Should nostalgia be condemned as an ethical and aesthetic failure? Is nostalgia a hindrance to making it new; a symptom of lateness, of a loss of the future? Or can nostalgia be a productive force that provides, both for the self and society, insights into our present?
This journal invites submissions that address the theme of nostalgia across the spectrum of Arts and Humanities research.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Genealogies of nostalgia: from its earliest expositions in medical science through its Romantic and now latest twenty-first century phase
• Homesickness, exile and diaspora
• Nostalgia, nationalism and the nation
• Postcolonial nostalgia
• Institutionalised nostalgia: heritage, memorials and/or museums
• Life writing and memoirs
• The restaging of exhibitions and past live art events
• Nostalgia and film: remakes, mediating history through dramatic reconstruction, retro-soundtracks
• Nostalgia and digital technologies
• Genres of nostalgia: ranging from the Romantics to the return of the long novel and to science-fiction, steampunk, and retro-futurism
• Nostalgia for the avant-garde and avant-garde nostalgia
• Communist and fascist nostalgia: utopia
• Temporalities of nostalgia: late time and belatedness
• Scenes of nostalgia: the ruin, the country house, reconciliation with nature

We welcome short articles of 3000-5000 words, long articles of 5000-8000 words and critical reviews of books, film, and exhibitions. We also strongly encourage submissions of artwork including visual art; creative writing; podcasts and video footage (up to 10 minutes). We would be happy to discuss ideas for submissions with interested authors prior to the submissions deadline.

Please send all submissions to maildandelionjournal.org by 20th April 2016.

Please also include a 50-word author biography and a 200-300-word abstract alongside your submission. All referencing and style is required in full MHRA format as a condition of publication and submitted articles should be academically rigorous and ready for immediate publication. Complete instructions for submissions can be found at www.dandelionjournal.org under ‘About’.

Quellennachweis:
CFP: Nostalgia. In: ArtHist.net, 09.03.2016. Letzter Zugriff 28.03.2024. <https://arthist.net/archive/12422>.

^