journals and collections of essays

Call for Book Chapters

Portrayals of the Fourth of July in American Culture and Literature:
Reimagining American Identity at USA 250

Extension: September 15, 2025 

Rust Belt Studies Special Issue
The Regenerative Rust Belt: Environment, EcoLogy, Ecosystems

For too long, the narrative of the Rust Belt has been one of emptiness, decay, decline, and vacancy —
and often, our stories are neglected in the national sphere or controlled by cultural outsiders.

In this issue, we will consider the following and more :

How can the humanities imagine regenerative Rust Belt futures and learn from industrial history?
How can the humanities activate the environmental movement in new ways in the Rust Belt?
How can we use art, literature, and music to teach the environmental Rust Belt in the classroom?
How can we use the humanities to reflect on ecosystems both natural and human?

This is an updated CFP for an edited collection representing contemporary “conservative cultural criticism” of books, film, TV, and other media. We are taking a broad view of what conservatism entails, but common influences cited by contributors include Russell Kirk, C. S. Lewis, Paul Elmore More, and Roger Scruton. I have 12 chapters so far on the following topics / authors:

Tinta regada (Spilled Ink) a multilingual publication, invites submissions for a Series on Travel Writing (Literatura de viajes). 

The editors of the literary magazine of the Instituto Nuevos Horizontes welcome personal commentaries, essays, poetry, short story and other forms, in any language, up to 2,500 words.

Send questions and submissions to nuevos.horizontes.uprm@gmail.com. 

            As a vital medium of resistance, literature has long served as a cultural expression of oppression, displacement, censorship, and violence, offering both testimony and critique. Resistance narratives respond to the structures of domination that are colonial, patriarchal, racial, economic, and ecological. These texts often articulate alternative modes of existence, agency, and solidarity. While resistance may take multiple forms, it remains grounded in a shared ethical impulse: to challenge authority, expose injustice, and envision transformation.

Call for Articles

Special Issue: (Re)articulating an Old Ideal: Self-Care and Self-Help in Contemporary Culture

Guest Editors: Alexandra Bacalu (University of Bucharest) & Dragoș Manea (University of Bucharest)

Pasados Special Issue: Against the Past/Contra Pasados

Co-edited by Jesse Alemán (University of New Mexico) and Evelyn Soto (Rutgers University—New Brunswick)

Deadline: January 15, 2026

The forthcoming non-thematic issue proposes to engage in an interdisciplinary manner with the varied

ways in which women continue to face discrimination and marginalisation in the socio- economic, cultural

and political arena. Around the world, millions of women, irrespective of their age groups, social classes,

locations or cultures face a series of risk factors ranging from physical and psychological violence, sexual

abuse and coercion to human trafficking. Women’s vulnerability is little addressed in the developmental

policies of governments and the capitalist expansion of market economies. We invite papers that critically

Every recipe has an origin story. Much like a legendary superhero, cunning villain, or even the kernel of an idea behind a compelling pop culture conference paper or book chapter, each dish carries a narrative infused with creativity, nostalgia, or transformation. Reflecting this spirit, we ask you: what recipe mirrors your own unique PopCRN origin story?

For an edited volume on "Datafied Decision-Making", we invite scholars at different career stages to submit short abstracts (400-500 words) from the disciplines of political science, law, sociology, environmental studies, science and technology studies, critical data studies and related fields that offer a critical perspective on the ethical, legal and societal consequences of algorithms and data practices.

More information on the call can be found here. 

                      Gendered Bodies and Digital Selfhood in Short-form Videos: Research from the Global South

                                                             CFP for  Special Issue of Journal of Gender Studies

ReFocus: The Films of Gerard Damiano

From the iconic Orient Express to the shadowy alleys of urban noir, and to the contemporary invisible highways of cyberspace, transportation and mobility have long played an important role in crime fiction. Traditional detective fiction often relied on transportation as both setting and symbol, underscoring how mobility can conceal, isolate, or reveal, shaping the very structure of mystery and detection. In the digital age, mobility is no longer confined to physical movement; it also encompasses virtual travel, data flows, and algorithmic surveillance.

Simon J James was a prolific scholar and a pioneer of Victorian and Edwardian studies. He passed away on 11 June 2025 and this issue is dedicated to his memory. Simon wrote on H. G. Wells, George Gissing, Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, George Du Maurier, and Sherlock Holmes. His monograph, Maps of Utopia: H. G. Wells, Modernity and the End of Culture (Oxford University Press, 2012), remains the finest and most comprehensive study of Wells’s aesthetics to date.