Call for Papers

Journal of Narrative Theory (JNT)

Special Issue (Fall 2027)

Contemporary Narratives and Storytelling Cultures

Concept Note

“Narratives constitute a particular form of discourse that does more than depict reality; narratives suggest, through linguistic patterns, what reality ought to be” says Johan Nordensvard in his article on “Populism as an Act of Storytelling”. Narratives as complex entities have long intrigued scholars across various disciplines. From ancient ballads and folktales extending to contemporary literature, blog posts, video games, and digital narratives, humankind has been telling story after story. While narratives have roles in communication, knowledge transmission, and cultural preservation, they also possess a constitutive potential whereby they create a certain reality and its experience. They shape the ways societies understand reality, identity, memory, politics, culture, and truth perception.

Jerome Bruner calls narratives a version of reality whose acceptability is governed by convention and ‘narrative necessity’ rather than by empirical verification and logical requiredness, although ironically, we have no compunction about calling stories true or false and acting upon them. Reading that alongside Mark Currie’s statement in connection with Postmodern Narrative Theory that narrative plays a pivotal role in shaping identity representation, whether in personal recollections and self-portrayal or in the collective identity, it becomes evident that storytelling cultures are not only deeply embedded within the material, political, technological, and epistemological conditions of their time but they act as social agents constructing systems of normality around such conditions.

The formation of narratives involves community, language, and channels of communication, which are differentially distributed in society in terms of various social identities and relations. Consequently, narratives also construct realities and experiences in uneven and differential ways. In this way narratives are inherently linked to certain power structures and ideological agents in the society. A major task of contemporary narrative studies is to decenter dominant narrative structures that historically dominated and controlled language use, community structures, and communication media across. Questions like who narrates, to whom it is addressed, why a particular story and no other versions, what medium of narration is used, who all are included/excluded in the narrative, and how each is depicted etc. can expose the underlying politics of narratives.  Then one can see that the production, circulation, and reception of narratives are essentially an act of power and societal position. In S. T. Moreman’s terms, narratives are the product as well as the process of writing (as Écriture, as an active process of inscribing) that is also a performance. Shaping the production of social spaces and relations, narratives emerge as a formative and performative force.

In contemporary society, narratives and storytelling cultures are undergoing significant transformations. The emergence of digital platforms, algorithmic systems, content economy, globally networked media environments, and transnational communication systems has profoundly altered the production, circulation, and reception of stories. In what has frequently been described as a ‘post-truth’ era we started talking about ‘media echo-chambers’ and ‘alternative facts’. Such developments redefined the traditional authenticity and truth value associated with history, knowledge, material facts and norms. We deal with perspectives today; narrative perspectives to be precise, where we have multiple competing ‘true stories’ coexisting simultaneously. Moreover, new-era narratives increasingly move across literary, cinematic, visual, social, and digital spaces, generating new forms of authorship, participation, cultural intersections, affect, and ideological influence.

Against the backdrop of these discussions, the special issue (Fall 2027) of JNT: Journal of Narrative Theory invites contributions that explore the changing nature of narratives and storytelling cultures in contemporary times. JNT: Journal of Narrative Theory is a refereed, international journal published by the Department of English, Eastern Michigan University, since 1971. The journal publishes scholarship on narrative theory and narrative practices across disciplines and contexts but discourage quantitative research that is more suited for linguistics, sociology, or anthropology journals.

The proposed special issue aims to explore questions such as:

• How do narratives shape the ways individuals and societies understand their lived, ideological and affective contexts?
• How are narratives and storytelling practices evolving across literary, cinematic, digital, visual, and social media environments?
• What roles do emerging technologies and global media networks play in the production and circulation of narratives today?
• How do narratives influence questions of memory, ideology, power, belonging, resistance, and cultural imagination across different societies and spatialities?
• What new forms of storytelling, audience participation, authorship, and interpretation are emerging within contemporary media and communication cultures? How can we theorize these changes?
• How are narratives constructed, circulated, contested, mediated, and transformed across diverse cultural and socio-political contexts today?
• How can contemporary narratives and storytelling cultures be theorized through an interdisciplinary and intersectional lens?

Suggested topics include (but not limited to):

• Narrative theory and contemporary storytelling practices
  • Literature, cinema, and visual storytelling cultures
  • Digital storytelling, platform cultures, and social media narratives
  • Emerging narrative forms, algorithmic cultures, and machine mediation
  • Political narratives, nationalism, ideology, and resistance
  • Gender, caste, race, sexuality, and intersectional storytelling practices
  • Myth, folklore, religion, and storytelling traditions in contemporary contexts
  • Memory, trauma, affect, and archival storytelling cultures
  • Narrative economies of labor, affect, and attention economies
  • Ecological, posthuman, and transhuman narratives
  • Fan cultures, participatory cultures, and interactive storytelling
  • Gaming narratives, virtual worlds, and immersive media cultures
  • Language, translation, multilingualism, and narrative cultures
  • Education, pedagogy, and storytelling methods
  • Transnational, intercultural, and diasporic storytelling cultures

Submission Guidelines

Please submit:

• An abstract of 300–500 words, in PDF
• A brief bio-note (100 words, PDF)
• Email - dhanesh.m@christuniversity.in

• Selected contributors will be invited to submit full-length essays of approximately 7000–8000 words.
• Articles should follow the formatting and style requirements of JNT: Journal of Narrative Theory. There is no APC.

Tentative Timeline

• Abstract Submission Deadline: 31 July 2026
• Notification of Acceptance: 31 August 2026
• Full Paper Submission: 05 January 2027

Submission & Queries

ü  Please send abstracts and inquiries to: dhanesh.m@christuniversity.in

ü  Please use the keyword “JNT 57.3” in the subject line of all correspondence and submissions.

ü  Further details regarding formatting and submission procedures will be communicated to selected contributors. The same is already available on the journal website. https://journalofnarrativetheory.com/

ü   

Issue Editor:
Dr. Dhanesh Mankulam
Department of English and Cultural Studies - Bannerghatta Road Campus
CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru, India

Journal Published by:

Eastern Michigan University, Department of English Language and Literature

Indexing:

The journal is indexed in SCOPUS (generally holds Q2), WEB OF SCIENCE ( Core Collection),