Configurations Special Issue

Call for Papers: 

Science, Technology, and Literature During Plagues and Pandemics

In The Parasite, Michel Serres argues that “the parasite intervenes, enters the system as an element of fluctuation. It excites it or incites it; it puts into motion, or it paralyzes.” Throughout the world, COVID-19 continues to interrupt and alter daily life while it simultaneously compels governments to rely on technology and science to combat its spread. Configurations is seeking articles that examine intersections of science, technology, and literature with myriad contemporary and historical contexts relevant to COVID-19.

Suggested Topics:

• Pandemics, mitigation, and mapping (including data, graphics, and tracking)
• Colonialism, imperialism, and the spread of disease
• Industry and disease
• Plague representations
• Disease narratives in social media, mass media, and science
• Representations of disease and socio-economic inequalities
• Abstraction, Naturalization, and Disease as Other
• Response and control during times of outbreak
• Human connection, screen technologies, and social distancing
• Misinformation and science skepticism
• Experimentalism, cures, and vaccines
• Disciplinarity, academia and the pandemic
• Literature and Science and Science and Technology Studies during science crises

Please note: We realize that COVID-19 and the various governmental responses to its spread have left many in precarious situations. This special issue represents extra labor that may be burdensome during this time. However, we believe it is paramount to create and offer outlets for scholars to contribute their expertise during the current pandemic. We are asking for shorter essays so that we have space to include as many voices as possible.

Editors:

Timothy Urban (Guest Editor)

Melissa M. Littlefield (Co-Editor)

Rajani Sudan (Co-Editor)

Author’s Guidelines:

Deadline for submission of abstracts: July 31, 2020; notifications emailed by August 31, 2020

Abstracts should be 100-200 words and submitted to: configurations@smu.edu

Articles due January 15, 2021

Article word limit: 5,000 words