Call for Papers: Junctures Issue 24 (2024) "network"

Junctures invites article submissions on matters relating to the concept of ‘network,’ which speaks to connections between phenomena variously proximate and distant, human and non-human, and across disciplines. The network might be considered in such terms as ‘assemblage,’ ‘constellation,’ and ‘ecology,’ and as a space of ontology, or a ceaseless production rather than representation of knowledge. It invokes ‘actor-network theory,’ post-humanism and the turn away from anthropocentric thinking, highlighting the extent to which human beings are not autonomous or alone in possessing agency, but immersed in fields of agentic forces. Recognition of such entanglement inevitably entails questioning judgements based on Western rationalist binaries, and this comes to the fore in responses to the rapid normalisation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) across many social domains, raising questions of agency, authenticity and authorship. Four decades ago, Donna Haraway’s ‘Cyborg Manifesto’ intimated the potential in human-machine hybrids to challenge patriarchal ‘antagonistic dualisms.’ A considerably longer history of human situatedness, non-binary knowledge systems and respect for the liveliness of all things, can be found in indigenous world views. There is scope too for reflecting critically on the extent to which recent ‘new materialist’ and Deleuzian philosophy can be seen to offer meaningful paths beyond anthropocentric thinking, of the limits of what can be articulated or revealed at the edges of language and representation, and of the prevailing values in humanist, cognitivist, constructivist, activist and other human-centred concerns. The editors welcome contributions to any of the following areas of research, and to other critical inquiries relating to networks not specified here:

• AI, nature/culture, authorship and intellectual property/copyright, creativity and judgement
• Whakawhānaukataka, making connections, networking, finding kin, forging relationships
• Unexpected connections, surprise, chance, ontology, potential, ‘intra-action’
• Ecology, sustainability, entanglement

Submission details:

Please submit a title and abstract of between 500 and 750 words for a finished paper of between 4,000 and 6,000 words accompanied by a short biography including your institutional affiliation by 31 March 2024. Please enquire about submission guidelines for other formats.
Confirmations: We will let you know if your abstract has been accepted by 14 April 2024.
Final draft of submission: due by 2 June 2024
Peer review process: completed by 31 July 2024
Envisioned publication: October 2024

Editors:
Scott Klenner, Director | Research & Postgraduate Studies at Te Pūkenga | Otago Polytechnic. scott.klenner@op.ac.nz
Ed Hanfling, Dunedin School of Art| College Te Maru Pūmanawa | Creative Practice & Enterprise at Te Pūkenga | Otago Polytechnic. ed.hanfling@op.ac.nz

 

For more information and further enquiries please email junctures@op.ac.nz.