Special Revival Issue | 2023

[The Apollonian is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that is published bi-annually.]

The Apollonian: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies (ISSN 2393-9001) invites submissions for a special revival issue of the journal. After a gap of three years and witnessing the impacts of a global pandemic we are reviving the journal with a special issue. The already fragmented world has further descended into more chaos. The biological and virological anxieties along with political and ideological paroxysms, have made a world a different place. In the lieu of a more askant and diversified global culture we aim to project new philosophical and analytical dimensions through well researched papers.

The journal welcomes Academic Essays (within 5000 words), Short Essays (within 1500 words) and Book Reviews (within 2000 words) which would be published in four different segments. The primary topics and sub-topics to be considered for publication are given bellow: 

On Literature: “Consumerism and Literature”

“Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amount.” (Wikipedia)

The global cultural zeitgeist today has effectively blurred the lines between media, promotion, art and commodity. The urge to ‘consume’ and coalesce has given rise to economic and subsequent identity and theoretical quandaries. In the light of this planet wide cosmopolitan syndrome we are seeking submissions that explore the fluidity and the dynamics of this concept from various theoretical or interdisciplinary vantage points. Possible topics include but are not limited to: 

• Consumerism in Literature
• Subcultures of Consumerism Behaviour
• Consumerism with Race, Gender and Identity
• Consumerist Cannibalism
• Literature as Consumable Commodity 
• Consumption and Digital Culture 
• Consumerism and Neo-Colonialism in Literature
• Literature and Mass Media in a Consumerist Age
• Consumerism and Death as a theme in Literature
• Consumerism and the Gothic
• Consumerism and the Politics of Illness
• Consumerism and Space
• Identity and Consumerism 
• The Consumable Body in Literature

On Cinema: “South Asian Cinema”

South Asia and South East Asia has emerged from the last century as a kaleidoscopic epicentre for narratives of colonial hangover, partition studies, trauma studies, memory studies and psychoanalytical paradigms encompassing the impacts of various historical, economical and colonial epochs throughout the last one hundred years on the collective psyche. The Pan Asian cinema as a paradigm has superseded the Western gaze into harrowing narratives of immensely profound pieces of works. The journal seeks submissions that study the intertextual, theoretical and philosophical dimensions of these films and project new codification and articulation of this art form. Possible topics include but are not limited to: 

• South Asian Cinema as a culture
• Historical, Political and Archetypal layers in South Asian Cinema
• Intersections between Cinema, Media and Art in South Asian Cinema. 
• South Asian Cinema and Neo-Colonialism
• Capitalism and Ideology
• Gender, Race and Ethnicity in South Asian Cinema
• Trauma, Memory and Existentialism
• Acquisition of Social, Political and Psychological Space in South Asian Cinema
• South Asia and the World
• Minor Literature and Third Cinema 
• Cinema and Theatre
• Literature and Cinema
• Consumerism and Cinema
• Cinema as Ideology

On Visual Cultures: “Cyberpunk in Anime, Manga and Video Games”

Cyberpunk as a genre originated during the mid to late 20th Century. Technology as an ambivalent and polarising entity has risen from the cultural anxieties after the WWII. The mass destruction and annihilation caused the focus to shift from anthropocentric narratives to anthropomorphic ones. The non-binary nature of Cyberpunk genre has posed wide ranging questions regarding human and non-human, body and Cyborg and inevitably art and non art. Harraway’s revolutionary Cyborg aesthetics further fuelled dilemma towards the politics body with a mass social and cultural decay/demise. In the 21st Century where AI controlled algorithms rule our parasocial and economic identitites we seek papers that analyse the development and metamorphosis of this global phenomena with unravelling various tandems of representation in multifaceted media and artistic platforms. Possible topics include but are not limited to: 

• Cyberpunk in Anime and Manga
• Cyberpunk in Video Games
• Cyberpunk as a Cultural Zeitgeist
• Phenomenology and Cyborg
• AI, Algorithms and the revolutions of Everyday
• Cyberpunk and the Orient
• Cyberpunk and the Superflat
• Non Binary and Human Body
• Cyberpunk and Disability
• Body and Politics of Prosthetics
• Development and History of Cyberpunk

Book Reviews: 

Reviews of books not older than two years are invited. We may consider submissions of book reviews on fiction, non-fiction, academic volumes (monographs/edited volumes/anthologies), or poetry volumes provided they are written in accordance with our stylistic requirements. 

We are also inviting proposals and submissions for concept essays (photo or video essays, interviews, mixed media submissions, animation, original art) that address any of the areas mentioned. Please reach out to us if you think you have a concept essay premise addressing any of the specific sections or otherwise.

We follow MLA 8th Edition guidelines citations. Font to be used is Times New Roman, size 12, spaced at 1.2 pt, and only unlinked endnotes (no footnotes). Submissions should be prepared for blind peer review (cover page containing abstract, keywords and bio with no identifiers from the second page onwards).

Deadline of abstract submission:  31 Jan, 2023.

Deadline for final submission: 28 feb, 2023.

For enquiries and submissions please mail to: apollonianjournal@gmail.com