The Race and Yoga editorial board is currently seeking articles, personal narratives, and creative works for the sixth issue of the journal featuring a thematic cluster on “Yoga During COVID-19: Perpetual Pandemics.”

The impact of COVID-19 has been felt globally, with many people significantly altering their daily lives due to the deadly virus. Still, some Black and Indigenous perspectives highlight the reality that many have been living under colliding pandemics since the onset of colonization, with COVID-19 exacerbating already inequitable and unlivable conditions.[1] These issues extend to yoga practices, and particularly relate to the practice’s (in)accessibility. We invite theoretical, empirical, personal, or creative work that interrogates the ways COVID-19 has transformed yoga practices – limiting and expanding access due to the differential distribution of online capacities, intensifying disability and chronic illness considerations, and providing a healing practice amidst calls for social justice and ongoing physical separation.

Possible topics may include:

Health and Wellness

Chronic Illness and Disability in Yoga

Conceptions of “Health” in Yoga (e.g. Physical, Mental, Spiritual)

Mental Health and Physical Distancing 

Systemic Health Inequities 

COVID-19 Recovery and Yoga

Colliding Pandemics and Social Justice

Anti-Blackness as a Pandemic 

Whiteness/Trump as a Pandemic 

Settler Colonialism as a Pandemic

Capitalism as a Pandemic 

Environmental Racism

COVID-19 and Black and Indigenous Communities

Black Lives Matter and Yoga 

South Asians for Black Lives Matter

Land Back and Yoga 

Yoga as Protest/“Naked Athena”

Spiritual Bypassing

Whitewashing/Erasure

Yoga and Accessibility

Online Yoga (e.g. Youtube, Instagram, Zoom)

Who Teaches and Who Attends? (e.g. Race and Gender)

Political Economy and Yoga

Visa, Immigration, and Travel Issues

Volunteers or Visitors in Prison Yoga Programs

Economic Crises and Yoga Teachers, Students, and Studios

Exclusivity, Inclusivity, and Yoga 

Branding and Performing Authenticity, Authority, and Expertise

Yoga, Western Capitalism, and Attention Economies

Retreats and Teacher Trainings during COVID-19

Open Call

In addition to our thematic cluster on COVID-19, Race and Yoga invites additional submissions on any topic that aligns with the journal’s Aims and Scopes.

Aims and Scope

Race and Yoga is the first peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary academic journal committed to examinations of the history and practice of yoga in the West; the journal brings together critical yoga studies and critical race theory/ethnic studies to examine issues surrounding the history, racialization, sex(ualization), and inclusivity (or lack thereof) of the yoga community. Race and Yoga is published through The University of California Press’s e-scholarship division. Race and Yoga accepts original, unpublished manuscripts (no simultaneous submissions or previously published works) only.

Peer Review Policy

Race and Yoga editors vet each submission to ensure alignment with the journal’s scholarly goals. If selected, the submission is sent to two anonymous referees.

Submission Instructions

Article manuscripts should be limited to 8,000 words, including endnotes and references. Review essays should be limited to 4,000 words. Review essays may survey recently published literature, films, art exhibits, or popular culture related to the field. Papers should be left-justified and use a non-decorative font (e.g. Times New Roman). An abstract that does not to exceed 250 words should be included. For endnote and reference formatting, follow the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition (author-date style). Papers that do not adhere to submission guidelines will be returned to the author for revision.

Personal narratives should be 2,000-3,000 words.

Upload your abstract, manuscript, and 150 word bio (as the supplementary file) to: https://escholarship.org/uc/crg_raceandyoga

Please send all inquiries to raceandyoga@gmail.com

CFP link: https://escholarship.org/uc/crg_raceandyoga/callForPapers

*revised* DEADLINE: March 19, 2021

[1] Curtice, Kaitlin, and Esther Choo. “Indigenous populations: left behind in the COVID-19 response.” The Lancet 395, no. 10239 (2020): 1753; Evans, Michele K. “Covid’s Color Line—Infectious Disease, Inequity, and Racial Justice.” New England Journal of Medicine 383, no. 5 (2020): 408-410; Leonard, Kelsey. “Medicine lines and COVID-19: Indigenous geographies of imagined bordering.” Dialogues in Human Geography 10, no. 2 (2020): 164-168; Pirtle, Whitney N. Laster. “Racial capitalism: A fundamental cause of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic inequities in the United States.” Health Education & Behavior 47, no. 4 (2020); Power, Tamara, Denise Wilson, Odette Best, Teresa Brockie, Lisa Bourque Bearskin, Eugenia Millender, and John Lowe. “COVID‐19 and Indigenous Peoples: an imperative for action.” Journal of Clinical Nursing 29, no. 15-16 (2020): 2737-2741.