Public Knowledge: the Academy and Beyond
A special issue of New Formations: A journal of culture / power / politics
Now in its fifth decade of publication, New Formations maintains an international reputation for publishing rigorous peer-reviewed scholarship in the critical humanities and social sciences. The journal accepts contributions within a wide range of disciplines, while specialising as a forum for debates and discussions around the political and analytical uses of cultural theory.
The journal editors have decided to commission an issue on the politics of the academy and other sites of social knowledge-production, now in the past and in the future.
With the university in ruins, what forms of public and collective institution could prove hospitable to radical pedagogy, research and knowledge-production? Can we use new media and new modes of social engagement to make new forms of learning and teaching possible? Are podcasts and YouTube the future? What lessons can we draw from the history of Workers Education, Workers Inquiry, Free Universities and democratic schooling? What remaining role can critical education play in the post-neoliberal school or university? How can workers in these institutions collaborate with students and other stakeholder to reclaim their resources and their legitimating power? How can we respond to direct attacks on progressive history and theory on educational curricula caught in the culture wars? What is the politics of ‘open access’ publishing in the case both publicly and privately funded research? How will competition for international students continue to reshape both educational institutions and the societies in which they are embedded? How can classic and / or recent texts in cultural, social and political theory help us to think about these issues? What role can ideas and practices such as consciousness-raising, art-as-education or ‘fugitive study’ play in formulating new responses to these question?
Please send abstracts (250-300 words) and a biographical note to nfsubmissions@me.com and j.gilbert@uel.ac.uk. The deadline for receipt of abstracts is November 21st 2022.
Decisions will be made about inclusion in the special issue by December 7th, 2002
Deadline for receipt of contributions will be May 31st 2023. All contributions will be subject to standard blind peer review, and publication of the volume is planned for November 2023.
For information about New Formations see https://journals.lwbooks.co.uk/newformations/
Open Access Policy: The journal is not published open access, being a major income-stream for Lawrence & Wishart, one of the UK’s oldest progressive publishers. A selection of articles from each issue is always made available open access, but we cannot guarantee in advance that this will apply to any particular article. Institutional fees for conversion of articles to open access are generally negotiated ad hoc, but fall within normal industry ranges. The journal is available via the usual digital outlets for scholarly publications, such as Ebsco and Project Muse.
This call can be found and shared here: https://jeremygilbertwriting.wordpress.com/2022/10/18/call-for-contributions-to-new-formations-special-issue/
Mark Carrigan 