FORUM Postgraduate Journal Call for Papers Issue 32: The Aftermath (2021)

09-Apr-2021

This is not the first time that we have been faced with these questions. The 32nd issue of FORUM aims to investigate representations of the aftermath of events and thus the way human beings look at themselves both individually and collectively.

Memories of past catastrophes help inform the process of building and re-building. The legacy of the Great War has allowed European countries to create founding myths which have facilitated the rise of totalitarianism on the continent. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the arts brought to light inequalities in the recovery effort, illustrated by Neorealism’s depiction of the unevenness of the post-war reconstruction in films like Bicycle Thieves (1948). Art and culture are the means by which we are able to create meaning out of chaos, and artists and writers have long recognised the potential of their work to explore or expose the implications of coping with the aftermath. Poets such as Wilfred Owen have challenged notions of patriotism in works like Dulce et Decorum Est (1920), revealing the cynical agendas underlying such discourses. The struggle of building civilisations is explored in William Goldman’s The Lord of the Flies (1954), while George Orwell’s allegorical novella Animal Farm (1945) reflects the events leading up to the Russian Revolution 1917 and then on to the Stalinist era of the Soviet Union. 

Alongside reacting to real events, artists and writers have responded imaginatively, considering what could have happened or what might come to pass. Alternative history fictions like Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle (1962), dystopian fictions such as Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), and post-apocalyptic cinematography from Metropolis (1927) to Black Mirror (2011-2019), all posit “what if?”.

Issue 32 of FORUM seeks contributions from a range of disciplines that engage with the concept of aftermath. Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

  • The Post-War
  • Construction, Reconstruction, & Degeneration
  • Nation Building & Founding Mythologies
  • The Post-Colonial
  • Memory & Trauma
  • The Left-Behind
  • Utopias & Dystopias
  • Technology
  • Re-interpretation of the Art and the Culture of the Past
  • Renewal & Reclamation
  • Ideologies
  • The Fin de Siècle

Papers must be between 3000 – 5000 words in length, formatted according to MLA guidelines. FORUM is also considering academic book reviews (1000 words) and multimedia and alternative presentations for publication. Please email your article, a short abstract and your academic CV in separate, clearly labelled DOC(X). files to editors@forumjournal.org by 14th May 2021. All eligible articles will be peer-reviewed prior to publication. Only one submission per author per issue is permitted.