[UPDATE]: MOB/RIOT CULTURE & PUBLIC PROTEST IN THE 21st CENT., FEB. 10, 2012

full name / name of organization: 
K. A. Wisniewski / Stevenson University

CFP: MOB/RIOT CULTURE & PUBLIC PROTEST IN THE 21st CENT.

New technologies, new ways of communication, and, in some cases, new approaches to old problems and debates have emerged with the new millennium. With these changes, old tensions resurface and new conflicts arise. The past decade, and more recently in these past months, we have witnessed how these tensions create a variety of public protests and riots. This proposed collection aims to examine these acts: how and why they were initiated; how they have impacted their respective local, national, or even global communities; and how individual citizens, various groups and organizations, and even governments have responded to these acts.

Offering a host of perspectives, this anthology hopes to investigate the contemporary mob. What's changed or changing about crowd or mob culture? How is its definition evolving, and what elements or characteristics are sustained from previous generations or earlier cases/periods of abundant crowd or mob activity? Scholarly essays will be tentatively divided into four categories: theoretical responses to/explanations of the mob; mob/crowd culture in history; the contemporary mob or mob culture in the United States; and, lastly, comparative studies of the mob on the global scale. Focus should be geared towards the contemporary.

Essays are needed to complete a new anthology on mobs and protests in the 21st century. Essays covering the following topics are encouraged but all submissions will be considered:

Mass Protests and mobs in Africa and Asia
Crowd violence following sporting matches
Case studies on the Arab Spring, specifically Egypt, Libya, and Syria
The Occupy Movement (local, national, or global)
Crowd psychology and mass emergencies and disasters
Policing, Public Policy, and Criminal Justice

Please send a 300-500 word abstract attached (as a .doc or .docx file) to an email with a brief bio or C.V. (containing the author's name, institutional affiliation, and contact information) in the email text to: kevin_wisniewski@hotmail.com.

Abstracts are due by Friday, February 10, 2012. Completed essays of 5,000-7,000 words will be due in June 2012.

Please address inquiries and send abstracts to the editor at the email above or at the following:

K.A. Wisniewski
Public History Department
Stevenson University
1525 Greenspring Valley Road
Stevenson, MD, 21153-0641