“We’re people, not parts of people. Even with what little they gave us these are our lives. no one gets to just turn you off” - (Severance, S1.8)

Forming an interdisciplinary study across twenty-first century texts, this edited collection seeks to draw connections across contemporary culture, neoliberalism and affect. One of the most salient aspects of neoliberalism is the way its pervasiveness extends to the personal sphere, subjecting it to market logics. Such omnipresence trains individuals to view themselves as competitive entrepreneurs in all facets of life including private emotions, which become commodities to be administered and owned. Thus, this collection will address representations of the self-management of emotions in the workplace, in the personal sphere, and in relation to aesthetic experiences such as sports and the arts. Shows like Severance, novels like The Corrections, and exhibitions like MOCAK’s Contemporary Models of Realism illustrate, via different media and from different ideological perspectives, vividly illustrate the centrality these points have come to retain in the arts.

We are keen to encourage contributions from a broad range of fields including digital humanities, social sciences, politics, visual arts, performance arts, popular culture, psychology, philosophy, and economics. 

We welcome abstracts for 6000-word chapters from scholars at any stage of their research, in any discipline.

Topics may include but are not limited to:

·        The Neoliberal Workplace

·        Career-Centricity

·        The Neoliberal Success Narrative

·        Affect Theory

·        Spaces of Performance

·        The Ways Emotions are Managed Under Neoliberalism

·        Interdisciplinary Studies

·        Politics, Ideologies and Revolution

·        Flow and Gamification

·        Playbour

·        Bodily self-management and healthism

·        Mindfulness and Self-Help

Please send abstract proposals of no more than 400 words, with a brief biographical note (about 150 words) and an academic CV to neoliberalismandcontemporaryculture@gmail.com by 7th November 2024.

Please reach out if you have any questions.

Many thanks,

Holly and Tommaso 

contact emails:

hparker@lincoln.ac.uk

tvilla@lincoln.ac.uk