Following the recent success of Don’t Panic: the Apocalypse in Theory and Culture, a two day postgraduate conference held at the University of Kent, we are calling for contributions to a future issue of Skeps,: the online interdisciplinary research journal, run by postgraduate students of the University of Kent’s School of European Culture and Languages, and now in its fifth year.
In an effort to capture and expand the broad and interdisciplinary interest in the Apocalypse, we are seeking to gather ideas, explorations, critiques and theories that examine this topic. Recent crises, such as those of the world economy, terrorist/counter-terrorist attacks and ecological collapse provoke a reconsideration of the Apocalypse. Hence, the apocalyptic discourse in a wide range of disciplines has been rekindled. Is it still possible and politically advisable to consider the end as something that can be resisted, deferred and, by extension, is a revival of apocalyptic discourse needed?
Some of the questions in which we are interested include: What does a return of the apocalypse mean today? How should theory respond in times of crisis? What do our narratives of the Apocalypse tell us about our perceptions of the end?
Suggested topics include the following and their interrelations:
- Capitalist crisis
- Bio-politics, bio-economy
- Post-humanism
- Eco-theory
- Apocalypse in literature and Film (Zombie, disaster genres, etc.)
- Cultural and sociological studies of the apocalypse
- The theology and mythology of the Apocalypse
Submissions are invited from academic staff, postgraduate students and independent scholars. Any of the submitted articles selected by the Editorial Board after peer review will be published in a forthcoming issue of the journal, to be published in Autumn 2013.
Articles, which should not exceed 5,000 words, should be sent, together with an abstract of about 250 words and brief biographical details about the author, to:
skepsi@kent.ac.uk
The deadline for submission is 21 December 2012
