Special issue of Southern Cultures: Backward/Forward (Spring 2019)

Guest Edited by Charles Reagan Wilson
Deadline for Submissions: September 30, 2018

Southern Cultures, the award-winning quarterly of the UNC Center for the Study of the American South, is planning four special issues in 2019 to mark its 25th year of publication. The four themes—Backward/Forward, Inside/Outside, Left/Right, and Here/Away—will highlight where the South is coming from and where it’s going, who’s included and who’s left out, how it’s changing and how it’s not, what’s near and what’s far. We’d like contributors to interpret these themes broadly and creatively, mixing serious interpretations of the South’s history, future, space, and politics with reimagined takes on what these tropes should mean going forward.

We’re leading off with Backward/Forward, which will explore and document the South’s past and future. What counts as the southern past? Is it finally past? Is the southern past “usable,” either in the present or the future? What will that future look like? Will it be “southern”? How will we know? We’re looking for solidly grounded studies on major themes, speculations about what’s coming, reflections on the distant past or future, and snapshots of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We aim to break out of old frameworks and see the past and the future in new ways.

Submissions can cover any topic or theme related to southern history and culture. We seek pieces that examine the South across time, explore new understandings of the region and its peoples, identify current communities and concerns, and address ongoing struggles for justice and expression going forward. We welcome explorations of the region in the forms Southern Cultures publishes: scholarly articles, memoir, interviews, surveys, photo essays, and shorter feature essays.

Possible topics and questions to explore might include (but are certainly not limited to):

As Southern Cultures publishes digital content online, we encourage creativity in coordinating print and digital materials in submissions and ask that authors submit any potential video, audio, and interactive visual content with their essay or introduction/artist’s statement.

We encourage authors to gain familiarity with the tone, scope, and style of our journal before submitting.

 

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