[Candrama] CFP - Themed Issue on 'Axes of Oppression in the Cultural Sector'

[Asif Majid]

 *Call for Papers – **Themed Issue on 'Axes of Oppression in the Cultural
Sector'* *- IPED International Journal*


*The Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Equality and Diversity** (IPED)*
international journal invites submissions to a special issue
<https://ipedjournal.com/2019/05/07/cfp-themed-issue-on-axes-of-oppression-in-the-cultural-sector-iped-international-journal/>
titled: ‘Innovations, Intersections, and Institutions: Axes of Oppression
in the Cultural Sector’.





There has been an increasingly visible discourse on diversity -- and more
precisely, the lack of it -- in many cultural sectors across the Global
North, particularly in major global ventures such as Hollywood (Hunt et al.
2019) and through national reporting practices (DCMS 2016). This increased
awareness is usually followed by discursive calls to increase diversity in
cultural institutions, as in the Arts Council England’s “Creative Case for
Diversity” and various institutional initiatives in the US, Australia and
others, which have been launched in the last decade. Furthermore, there
have been many activist calls to decolonise public spaces and cultural
practices, which are starting to make an impact on institutional practices.



However, the term diversity is a problematic one that often fails to
account for the importance of the intersectionality of multiple axes of
oppression and the interplay of varied social constructs such as
race/ethnicity and gender, religion, sexuality, class, disability, and so
on. Moreover, institutional diversity initiatives are typically the result
of an institution being reactive to short-term funding calls or political
agendas, and ultimately fail to address structural inequalities or
understand the artistic and economic value of diverse artists and content.



Artistic works that negotiate these intersections -- of oppression and
marginalisation -- often offer fertile ground for innovative artistic
processes to address the complexity of their subject matter and challenge
the hegemonic nature of the cultural sector. This special issue is
interested in highlighting these artistic negotiations, creative processes,
and survival strategies, as well as the contributions of ethnic minority
and decolonial artists, that unsettle hegemonic structures in the Global
North. A particular emphasis is on articulating and unpacking, in artistic
and ethnographic detail (Conquergood 1985), these creative processes and
the negotiations that marginalised artists/voices undertake while they are
creating new work.



Further, this special issue recognises the ongoing reinvention and
regeneration of the cultural sectors in the Global North, while aiming to
examine the grassroots efforts that are contributing to these changes.
These efforts could refer to new economic, artistic, and/or social
initiatives that are revitalising the sector from the bottom up. We welcome
contributions from a range of disciplines including cultural studies,
performance studies, sociology, and anthropology that take the form of
articles (4000-6000 words) or reflections (1000-2000 words) in response  to
one or more of the following questions:



1)     Using recent attempts to diversify cultural institutions in the
Global North as a point of departure, what processual value does the
mainstreaming of marginalised artists/voices add to the cultural sector as
a whole?

2)     How do multiple axes of oppression manifest in creative artistic
processes?

3)     What strategies of survival do marginalised artists/voices use to
create and showcase work in a cultural space dominated by hegemonic
institutions?

4)     Through engaging cultural production, how have marginalised
artists/voices instigated institutional and structural change?

5)     How do the recent calls to decolonise culture and public spaces
contribute to imagining alternative cultural spaces, and generating new
modes of cultural production?



Abstracts (250 words) with a title and a short bio (100 words) should be
sent to the editors: Roaa (roaa.ali at manchester.ac.uk) and Asif (
asif.majid at manchester.ac.uk) by* 1st of September 2019*. We expect that
contributors will submit first drafts by *February 2020*, but we are happy
to extend this - please let us know and we can negotiate a new submission
date. After receiving editorial and peer-reviewed feedback, second drafts
are due by * July* *2020*, with an expected publication date of *September
2020*. We may be able to accept submissions in languages other than
English, please contact Roaa for more details or if you have any questions.



*The Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Equality and Diversity*
<http://journals.hw.ac.uk/index.php/IPED/index> (IPED)
<http://journals.hw.ac.uk/index.php/IPED/index>is an open-access,
peer-reviewed journal open to academics and practitioners globally.


*References*

Conquergood, Dwight. 1985. “Performing as a Moral Act: Ethical Dimensions
of the Ethnography of Performance.” *Literature in Performance* 5 (2):
1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/10462938509391578

Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS). 2016. “Creative industries:
Focus on Employment”.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/534305/Focus_on_Employment_revised_040716.pdf

Hunt, Darnell, Ana-Christina Ramón, and Michael Tran. 2019. “Hollywood
Diversity Report.” *UCLA.*
https://socialsciences.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/UCLA-Hollywood-Diversity-Report-2019-2-21-2019.pdf
https://socialsciences.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/UCLA-Hollywood-Diversity-Report-2019-2-21-2019.pdf


-- 
*asif majid*
scholar | artist | educator
www.asifmajid.com
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