Race and Yoga Journal 6.1 (2021) Open call + Special Cluster on Yoga During COVID-19: Perpetual Pandemics
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.