Deadline for submissions: December 18, 2017
Full name/name of organisation: Community Change Journal
Contact email: maryryan@vt.edu
Special Theme Issue
Pursuing Democratic Community Change in the Time of Trump
Issue Topic:
The 2016 presidential election has brought changes and challenges to the United States. During his campaign, then-candidate Donald J. Trump declared that Mexican migrants were criminals, called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States, and told supporters to engage in violence against opponents. In these ways, Trump brought xenophobia, nativism and political violence directly into the nation’s political discourse. Hate crimes have spiked since Trump’s narrow electoral victory and neo-Nazis and white supremacists have been emboldened to mount a number of very public displays and rallies. This heightened level of activity has pressed fringe groups into broader public consciousness. Executive actions and legislative attempts by the Republican-controlled Congress have tried to roll back health insurance for millions, civil rights protections, environmental safeguards and regulatory oversight of the banking and securities industry. Against this backdrop, we conceive of democratic community change as progressive, emancipatory, and liberatory in character.
Community Change’s second issue invites articles that explore new ways of thinking to maintain exiting protections as well as analyze popular, community, and legal responses to Trump’s claims and activities. We solicit scholarly articles (4,000-6,000 words), book reviews (1,000-1,500 words), multimedia, and artwork that analyze responses to the evolving political and social landscape since the 2016 election. These might include, but are not limited to: 1) explorations of new initiatives, on-going activism, and community organizing and how they have changed since the 2016 campaign and election; 2) analyses of historical movements that have informed or might inform current responses; and 3) pieces on tactics and strategies employed to resist, counter and educate citizens concerning the dangers for democracy and self-governance of nativism, xenophobia, white supremacy and other reactionary ideologies or political doctrines.
Key Dates:
Call for submissions open – October 11, 2017
Submission deadline – December 18, 2017
Author notification of selection – January 8, 2018
Online publication – May 2018