Category Archives: Call for Papers

Call for Papers – Grounding the Nation: The Role of National Anniversaries

What is the role of national commemorations in the endurance of nationalisms worldwide? How do collective memories compete with each other and feed existing group conflicts? Why do ordinary citizens celebrate or mourn their national past? These questions are particularly important in the rapidly changing times in which state-society relations become more unstable. In recent years, elements of ritualism and commemoration have also been used extensively by social movement organizations seeking to counter their regimes’ national narratives in countries and regions like Hong Kong, Cyprus, Thailand and Myanmar, to name a few. Another element adding to the importance of the study of national commemorations is that the COVID-19 has brought about new dynamics to them, sometimes giving way to virtual forms of commemoration, yet at other times being used by governments as a tool to clamp down on dissenting narratives.

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Call for Papers: Special Issue on the Contentious Politics of Autonomy Movements

Deadline: July 1, 2021

Autonomy claims are often associated with formal, institutionalized politics – such as party politics – especially in multinational democracies. Yet, autonomy claims have also sometimes originated in civil society and been influenced by the broader dynamics of contentious politics in given regions. At the same time, formulations and reformulations of autonomy demands by civil society actors have also been influenced by formal centre-autonomy dynamics.

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Call for Papers – Special Issue on Identity Politics and African Armies: A Comparative Analysis

Across sub-Saharan Africa, countries are developing security and military capacities to deal with emerging and existing threats. While many of these threats are contemporary —Islamic jihadism and terror cells —other threats originate from structural imbalances that date back to how African states were formed during and after the colonial periods. Although the rivalry between groups (ethnic, tribal, communal, etc.) existed before colonial periods, competition between groups was exacerbated during colonisation periods1. Indeed in sub-Saharan Africa, the impact of colonisation has continued to shape the way societies form, distribute wealth, support elites’ structures and manipulate institutions. Many sub-Saharan African societies, for example, continue to function through colonial identity-based systems based on ethnic lineages, clans, tribes, and family structures, which influence social, economic, political and inter-communal institutions in these states2. In the context of security institutions in the region, many sub-Saharan African states have continued to use the colonial tradition of employing identity-based criteria to develop their armies, recruit forces and provide professional training, which has shaped how military actors and state leaders respond during a crisis.

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Call for papers for a special issue on Violence and Nationalism

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DEADLINE: NOVEMBER 20, 2019

In recent years, the world has witnessed a significant increase in incidents of violence, which have been largely contributed to the rise of nationalism. Polarisation of public sentiments and seismic shifts in the confidence of the public in governance structures in the Western world have contributed to the rise of far-right sentiments and support. This was demonstrated in the 2016 Brexit referendum in the UK, as well as during the rise of anti-immigration sentiments in Europe and the US post-2011 amid one of the worst humanitarian crises in the Middle East. 

Conceptually, “violence” remains to be one of the most elusive and most difficult concepts to define and measure in the social sciences (Imbusch, 2003). An extremely complex phenomenon that invites a breadth of interdisciplinary research, the Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism (SEN) is launching this call for papers for a special issue on Violence and Nationalism. Though the interplay between both concepts has become the subject of much consideration both in the media and academia in recent years, our interest extends beyond recent events. We particularly welcome interdisciplinary research approaches.

The following is a non-exhaustive list of research areas and topics we would be interested in for this special issue: 

  • Theoretical analysis of the concept of violence in relation to nationalism
  • Migration, violence and nationalism
  • Radicalisation, religion and nationalism
  • CVE/PVE and nationalism
  • Comparative nationalism and violence in small states
  • Technology and violence
  • Populism, activism and nationalism 
  • Proto-insurgencies
  • Poverty, nationalism and violence
  • Identity politics, citizenship and violence
  • Minority rights and violence
  • Everyday violence and its narratives
  • Regional perspectives on nationalism and violence
  • Brexit referendum and its aftermath
  • Post-9/11 US politics and violence

* Imbusch, Peter (2003). “The Concept of Violence”: 13-39 in Heitmeyer, Wilhelm, and Hagan, John. International Handbook of Violence Research. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Process and Deadlines:

With this call we aim to cast our net wide and to attract scholars working on violence, which is a theme of particular interest to the editors of SEN beyond this call. For this special issue, we welcome both individual and group proposals for consideration for publication. Individual paper proposals will be evaluated in their own merit even if submitted as part of a group submission. Papers of significant contribution and quality that are not selected for this special issue (due to considerations of relevance or “fit” with the rest of the papers in the issue) will be considered for publication separately in our regular issues. 

Important deadlines:

October 16: Call for Papers launch

November 20: submission of paper proposals and expression of interest:

  • Individual scholars interested in submitting an individual paper proposal are invited to submit: (1) a proposed title; (2) 500 words proposal/abstract; and (3) a biography of author(s). 
  • Scholars interested to submit as a group (of 5-6 individual papers) are invited to submit: (1) a biography of the proposed guest editor and authors; (2) proposed titles and 500 words proposal/abstract for each individual paper; (3) 200 words on the importance of the theme of the group submission. 
  • Scholars interested in submitting short feature articles on the topic are also welcome to express interest separately to the editors by submitting: (1) a proposed title; (2) a short 250 word abstract; and (3) a biography of the author. 

If authors already have a paper ready for submission, they are welcome to submit it already at this stage, which will facilitate and accelerate the peer-review and publication process.

December 1: Editors will inform authors whose paper proposals have been accepted for consideration for publication in the special issue on violence and nationalism. All submitted papers will go through a double-blind peer-review process once finalised and submitted. 

The editors will approach all other authors to discuss possible avenues of collaboration. SEN is considering setting up a research network on the topic in the future. 

January 20: submission of final papers for peer-review. The papers will go through an accelerated double-blind peer-review process. 

We expect the papers to be published in SEN’s October 2020 issue. Accepted authors and interested scholars in the topic, who express interest as part of this call, will be invited to attend SEN’s 20th Anniversary Event in London in November/December 2020 (university venue is yet to be decided), which will focus on violence and nationalism.  

Please send all submissions to SEN’s Editors (Dr Dina Mansour-Ille: dmansourille@sienjournal.com and Dr Anastasia Voronkova: a.voronkovadr@gmail.com) clearly stating “Violence and Nationalism Special Issue” in the subject line.  

About Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism:

Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism (SEN) is a fully-refereed journal on ethnicity, identity and nationalism, published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Association of the Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism (ASEN). The sources and nature of ethnic identity, minority rights, migration and identity politics remain central and recurring themes of the modern world. The journal approaches the complexity of these questions from a contemporary perspective and, based on the latest scholarship, draws on a range of disciplines including political science, sociology, anthropology, economics, international relations, history and cultural studies.

SEN publishes three issues per volume, including regular special issues on themes of contemporary relevance. The journal aims to showcase exceptional articles from up-and-coming scholars across the world, as well as concerned professionals and practitioners in government, law, NGOs and the media, making it one of the first journals to provide an interdisciplinary forum for established and younger scholars alike. The journal is strictly non-partisan and does not subscribe to any particular viewpoints or perspective. All submitted articles to SEN go through a double-blind peer-reviewed process by scholars specialists in their respective fields.

SEN Special Issue – Call for Papers

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Special Issue on “Empires and Nationalism”

Guest Editors: Ho-Fung Hung; Sefika Kumral

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Empires became the center stage for resistance by nationalist movements; and were eventually superseded by nation-states in the 20th century. With the turn of the 20th century, it was predicted that nation-states, and nationalism for that matter, will share the fate of empires and cease to be a central form of political organization and discourse. Curiously, in the first two decades of the 21st century, when empire has long faded from academic discussions on current politics, and nationalism as a historical force is predicted to decline, we witness the dual resurgence of ‘empire’ and ‘nationalism’ as central concepts and reference points for political movements, organizations, and leaders in various countries, including Putin’s Russia, Abe’s Japan, Erdogan’s Turkey, CCP’s China, and Modi’s India. These various “trends to re-imagine” historical empires as part of “reactionary nationalist fantasies” (Anderson, 72) by political leaders and movements also find surprising popular following. This re-imagination is more than cultural revivalism and has various geopolitical implications in the form of territorial disputes, annexations, and regionalism– such as the Russian annexation of Crimea; disputes in territorial claims among China, Korea, Japan, and Southeast Asian states; and Iran’s often-expressed desire to be the regional hegemon. We also witness new state-seeking movements with expansionary agendas, such as the Islamic State, which claims to re-establish the caliphate and build an Islamic empire. The current special edition seeks contributions to analyze these current developments as well as historical analyses that inform current debates on empires and nationalism. Possible themes include:

  • Re-imagining empires by nationalist organizations, governments, and leaders as diverse as Russia, India, Japan, Turkey, China, etc.
  • Revivalism in social movements, including religious, fascist, and populist movements
  • Geopolitical repercussions of reemergence of empire such as territorial disputes, annexations, and regionalism
  • Financialization, economic crises and revival of imperial nationalism
  • Relation between the above trends with US global power
  • Historical analyses on empires and nationalism that would inform today’s discussions including:
    • Nationalism and ethnic mobilization as a resistance to empires
    • Politics and processes of nation-building during and after empires
    • Ethnic interaction, making and unmaking of ethnic boundaries during and after empires.

The editors welcome contributions from established scholars, post-doctoral fellows, lecturers in the early stages of their career and Ph.D. students. For submissions to be considered for publication in the special issue please ensure your paper reaches us by September 15, 2016. The word limit is 8,000 words, excluding bibliography and references.

Please send all your submissions and inquiries to Ho-Fung Hung (hofung@jhu.edu) or Sefika Kumral (skumral1@jhu.edu).

For author guidelines and additional information, please visit the SEN website: http://www.wiley.com/bw/submit.asp?ref=1473-8481&site=1