Journal of International and Intercultural CommunicationCall for Abstracts: Special Issue
The subcontinent speaks: Intercultural Communication perspectives from/on South Asia
We are calling for 200-500-word abstracts for a special issue of the Journal of International and Intercultural Communication. This special issue is dedicated to showcasing cutting-edge intercultural communication research from/on South Asia, a geopolitical entity that corresponds to the nation-states of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The internationalization of the discipline of Communication continues to engender critical questions around the locus of knowledge production and theorizing in its various sub-fields. Rather than conceive of South Asia as a unitary or monolithic cultural space, we hope to showcase, through this special issue, the multiple, contested and conflicting understandings around culture, identity and power that inhabit the South Asian context.
While this call is broadly defined and open to all kinds of theoretical, methodological and philosophical approaches, we seek to emphasize that:
The construction of “from/on” South Asia throughout the call is deliberate and strategic, as is the proposed title of this special issue. We especially encourage submissions from scholars based in South Asia, even as we endeavor to be inclusive, multi-paradigmatic and multi-locational in the selection of work that goes in to the issue.
We are especially interested in showcasing critical perspectives to intercultural communication as they apply to research from/on South Asia. By “critical,” we refer to perspectives that highlight “macro contexts, power, relevance, and the hidden and destabilizing aspects of culture” (Martin and Nakayama, 2000, p. 2). Following Shome’s (2013) observation that the terminology and theoretical register of critical intercultural scholarship continues to be overwhelmingly US-centric, one of the aims of this special issue is to showcase how forms of domination, control and resistance (including, but not limited to power, race, gender, caste and class) are articulated and challenged within the South Asian context.
We are also interested in how the popular claims for “de-centering” or “decolonizing” Eurocentric theorizing and disciplinary claims are taken up in the South Asian context in the current political moment, in the backdrop of culturally revanchist political movements (India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka) that seemingly use the language of anti-colonialism to further reactionary, populist and fundamentalist ideologies.
While the preponderance of published research in this area has historically been from India, we strongly encourage submissions from regions that have typically been underrepresented in this area of research, and hope to challenge the inherently India-dominated idea of this cultural space.
We are looking for original research articles and essays that reflect these broad themes, but are open to projects that are broader in scope. Potential areas of interest may include (but are by no means limited to) issues of mediated identities, diasporic politics, cultural appropriation, digital technologies and surveillance, social media use and politics, sovereignty and citizenship, popular culture, globalization and deglobalization, culture and health, and so on. Please contact the guest editors for questions and discussions around potential topics and “fit.”
Proposed Timeline
Abstracts Due: January 31, 2019
Abstracts shortlisted, authors contacted: Feb-March 2019
Full Papers Due: May 31, 2019
Full Papers sent for review: June/July 2019
2020: Special issue published
Editorial information
Guest Editor: Shaunak Sastry, University of Cincinnati (Shaunak.sastry@uc.edu)
Guest Editor: Srividya Ramasubramaniam , Texas A&M University (srivi@tamu.edu)