CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS
Proposal Submission Deadline: April 30th, 2021
(DE)CONSTRUCTING CORONA: THE LANGUAGE OF CONSPIRACY, POWER AND INDIFFERENCE IN COVID -19 HEALTH DISCOURSES
To be edited by:
HAMEED TUNDE, ASIRU, Ph.D
Department of English and French, Umaru Musa Yar’adua University, Katsina-Nigeria
asiru.hameed@umyu.edu.ng
&
DANIEL OCHIENG, ORWENJO, Ph.D
Department of Linguistics, The Technical University of Kenya, Nairobi-Kenya
orwenjo@daad-alumni.de
Introduction
The Coronavirus disease was pronounced a pandemic by the World Health Organisation on 11th March, 2020. As a consequence of the psychological distress that people are undergoing concerning the effect of the pandemic, the pronouncement birthed several opinions about China’s role in the origination of the disease. Different postulations were advanced by the general public to conceptualise the pandemic. While some sources tag the disease ‘China Disease’/’Wuhan virus’, not necessarily for its origination from Wuhan in China but because they believed the virus was intentionally created as a bioweapon programme which was deliberately or accidentally released, others hold the belief that the disease was contracted through animals. Those who support the laboratory postulation believe that the programme is meant to achieve geopolitical or economic gains (Bernard et al., 2020). Moreover, other important stakeholders such as the World Health Organization, leaders of countries, scientists and health practitioners across the globe also hold several opinions about the pandemic. Some see the disease as a deception to change the world power structure, or an attempt to change the economic standings of China and throw other countries into economic recession. All these suppositions are referred to as conspiracy theories. They emerge when tragic event such as the Coronavirus is explained or popularized by rejecting the accepted narrative. They are usually driven by a strong desire to unveil social forces that are self-relevant, important, and threatening (Reid, 2010).
Amidst all the contentions, the media has greatly played a critical role as avenue of ‘massive infodemic’ (World Health Organisation) of false and accurate information about the novel coronavirus. The popular beliefs are the existence of some secret plots which the powerful elites hide from the public purposely for political manipulation, population control and social control, among others. To further strengthen the conspiracy theories, many people across the globe have become indifferent about the pandemic because they see no ‘generally acceptable’ vaccine in place to treat the disease as health practitioners prescribe different drugs such as hydroxychloroquine, anti-viral drugs Like lopinavir/ritonavir, and recently vaccines such as Oxford, Astrazeneca vaccine, among others.
Against the above backdrop, scores of studies have been conducted to understand the nature of the disease, its cure and impacts on the socio-economic well-being of people and nations. The studies have emanated especially from Sciences, Medical and allied studies, Social Sciences and other fields. Little effort has however been devoted to examining the language usages which are indicative of the different beliefs and postulations of the global community. This proposed book intends to examine the discursive construction of conspiracy, power and indifference as major issues in the discourse of the pandemic. The proposed book is considered timely as it would explore the affordances in language and literary studies to unveil the overt and covert ideological beliefs which are reflective of conspiracy, power and indifference in the pandemic discourse.
Objectives
The proposed book will investigate the dynamism in language use in relation to the pandemic. Specifically, the concepts of conspiracy, power and indifference will be explored within the domains of Semantics, Pragmatics, Discourse Analysis, Stylistics and Sociolinguistics. This will afford readers to know how language is being used as a veritable instrument in constructing conspiratorial beliefs about the pandemic, negotiating power and control as well as showing indifference among the people concerning the pandemic.
Target Audience
Researchers, academicians, graduate students, policy makers, linguistics enthusiasts, non-governmental organizations, and the general public will find the book as a good reference for further researches about conspiracy, power and indifference in Coronavirus discourse and to make reliable conclusions about their linguistic manifestations.
Recommended topics
The proposed book will cover both empirical and theoretical chapters covering a wide range of topics which include, but not limited to, the ones listed below:
a. Language of indifference in doctor-patient interaction;
b. Discursive Construction of Collective Identities in COVID-19 discourses;
c. Language of conspiracy in media representation of the pandemic;
d. Discursive construction of power in media representation of the pandemic;
e. Power construction and legitimation in Covid-19 discourses;
f. Discursive Construction of Conspiracies in COVID-19 discourses;
g. Construction of Conspiracy theories in political speeches on Covid-19;
h. Metaphorical construction of Conspiracy in Covid-19 discourses;
i. Metaphorical construction of power in Covid-19 discourses;
j. Metaphorical construction of indifference in Covid-19 discourses;
k. Neologisms in Covid-19 discourses;
Submission Procedures
Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit their abstract/proposal of about 300 to 1,000 words clearly explaining the mission and concerns of the proposed chapter on or before April 30th, 2021. Authors will be notified by May 10th, 2021 about the status of their proposals.
Full chapters are expected to be submitted by August 30th, 2021. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis.
Publisher
As soon as we take decisions on the proposals, we will negotiate with a reputable publisher such as Palgrave Macmillan, Routledge, Peter Lang, etc.
Note: There are no submission or acceptance fees for manuscripts submitted to this book publication, “(De)Constructing Corona: The Language of Conspiracy, Power and Indifference in COVID-19 Health Discourses”. All manuscripts are accepted based on a double-blind peer review editorial process.
All proposals should be submitted to either of the following email addresses:
a) asiru.hameed@umyu.edu.ng
b) orwenjo@daad-alumni.de
Important Dates
- April 30th 2021: Proposal Submission Deadline
- May 10th, 2021: Notification of Acceptance
- August 30th, 2021: Full Chapter Submission
- September 30th, 2021: Review Results Returned
- October 30th, 2021: Revised Chapter Submission
- November 15th, 2021: Final Acceptance Notification
- December 30th, 2021: Final Chapter Submission.
Inquiries can be forwarded to:
Hameed Tunde, ASIRU, Ph.D
Department of English and French,
Umaru Musa Yar’adua University, Katsina, Nigeria
asiru.hameed@umyu.edu.ng
Hameed Tunde, ASIRU, Ph.D
Department of English and French,
Umaru Musa Yar’adua University, Katsina, Nigeria
asiru.hameed@umyu.edu.ng