CFP: The Rise of “Alt-Right” Discourse, the Backlash against Social Justice, and Resistances (Atlantis, EXTENDED: 1 Aug 17)

Nathan Rambukkana Announcement
Location
Ontario, Canada
Subject Fields
African American History / Studies, Communication, Cultural History / Studies, Graduate Studies, Race Studies
Call for Papers Atlantis: Critical Studies in Gender, Culture & Social Justice/Études critiques sur le genre, la culture, et la justice sociale Deadline: August 1, 2017 Issue 39.2 Thematic Cluster: The Rise of “Alt-Right” Discourse, the Backlash against Social Justice, and ResistancesEditors: Sara Matthews & Nathan Rambukkana In a Daily Intelligencer article dated November 6, 2016, Rembert Browne coined the term “the intersectionality of hate” as a way to frame how the so-called “alt-right” coalesced and mobilized their various populist platforms of hatred in support of then Presidential candidate Donald J. Trump.1 This affinity politics of the far-right was an ideological coup: it worked the energies, synergies, and discourses of social justice politics but for opposite interests and inverted motivations. Since the U.S. election, the North American “alt-right” movement continues to provide a politics of shared identity to White Supremacists/Nationalists and others who identify racial justice as reverse-racism; to Men’s Rights Activists (MRAa) who experience feminisms as an endangerment to men; to Pick Up Artists (PUAs) whose promotion of rape-culture as date-culture finds purchase on college and university campuses; to precarious workers sold on the false consciousness of “immigrants taking their jobs,”; and to old-school gamers who encounter the “new games journalism” and female identified designers as a conspiracy to “ruin gaming.” The rise of the far-right—re-packaged, rebranded, and sanitized as the “alt-right”—is backlash politics writ large. It is what happens when ensconced privilege is displaced and traditional power is questioned or eroded.  This Atlantis cluster aims to address these “alt-right” formations from a social justice perspective that refuses the cooptation of its practices, discourses, and languages. We seek contributions that consider multiple approaches to the “intersectionality of hate” as anchored in three interconnected focal points: alt-right “discourse,” the attendant backlash against progressive culture and work, and resistant politics. Contributions should address at least one of these points, but would ideally address two or all three. In keeping with Atlantis’s scope, which includes scholarly articles but also creative works such as poetry, short stories, and/or other creative/experimental work, we also encourage submissions from those with outside-the-scholarly-box ideas. Possible topics include (but are not limited to): * The discourse/semiotics/mythology of the “alt-right”* The identity politics surrounding these issues, including self-identifications and labeling of others such as Social Justice Warriors (SWAs)/white knights/snowflakes/the far (alt) right/gamergaters/Pick Up Artists (PUAs)/Men’s Rights Activists (MRAs)/cucks and cuckservatives* The mobilization of “post-truth” and “alternative-facts” narratives to assault consensus reality and weaponize the hyperreal* The psychic structures of populism and hatreds* The intimacies formed through moments of contact and cultures of resistance* Strange alliances and new solidarities emerging from this, such as former White Supremacists or conservative personalities such as Glenn Beck, Fox News, and National Post writers breaking ranks * Continuities/discontinuities with previous periods of backlash such as anti-Civil Rights and antifeminist backlashes in the 60s, 70s, 80s* The mobilization of memes (such as those featuring “alt-right” mascot Pepe the Frog), and social media platforms in perpetuating these discourses of organizing resistances (such as “Rogue” and “Alt” governmental twitter accounts in the US)* The politics of identification, desire and destruction (such as the “punch a Nazi” meme and video game)* Reports from the field such as from the Women’s Marches, Scientist March, Women’s Strike, General Strike or other protests If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the editors at smatthews at wlu dot ca and nrambukkana at wlu dot ca. For full details on Atlantis formatting and submission policies for all formats of submission, please see http://journals.msvu.ca/index.php/atlantis/about/submissions. 1 Rembert Browne, November 9, 2016, “How Trump Made Hate Intersectional,” Daily Intelligencer, http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/11/how-trump-made-hate-intersectional.html
Contact Information

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact the editors at smatthews at wlu dot ca and nrambukkana at wlu dot ca. For full details on Atlantis formatting and submission policies for all formats of submission, please see http://journals.msvu.ca/index.php/atlantis/about/submissions.

Contact Email
nrambukkana@wlu.ca