Call for Papers: Southern Cultures Special 25th Anniversary Issue

Guest Editor: Charles Reagan Wilson

Southern Cultures, the award-winning quarterly of the UNC Center for the Study of the American South, is planning four special issues in 2019 to mark its 25^th year of publication. The four themes— Backward/Forward, Inside/Outside, Left/Right, and Here/Away—will highlight where the South is coming from and where it’s going, who’s included and who’s left out, how it’s changing and how it’s not, what’s near and what’s far. We’d like contributors to interpret these themes broadly and creatively, mixing serious interpretations of the South’s history, future, space, and politics with reimagined takes on what these tropes should mean going forward.

We’re leading off with Backward/Forward in Spring 2019. Through September 30, 2018, we’re inviting submissions on that general theme from scholars, writers, and visual artists at https://southerncultures.submittable.com/submit .

Backward/Forward will explore and document the South’s past and future. What counts as the southern past? Is it finally past? Is the southern past “usable,” either in the present or the future? What will that future look like? Will it be “southern”? How will we know? We’re looking for solidly grounded studies on major themes, speculations about what’s coming, reflections on the distant past or future, and snapshots of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We aim to break out of old frameworks and see the past and the future in new ways.

Submissions can cover any topic or theme related to southern history and culture. We seek pieces that examine the South across time, explore new understandings of the region and its peoples, identify current communities and concerns, and address ongoing struggles for justice and expression going forward. We welcome explorations of the region in the forms Southern Cultures publishes: scholarly articles, memoir, interviews, surveys, photo essays, and shorter feature essays.

 Possible topics and questions to explore might include (but are certainly not limited to):

• Politics
• Identity
• Making a living
• Environment and climate change
• Health and health care
• Memory and memorials
• The past and future of Southern Studies
• What have been the most significant changes or turning points for the South during Southern Cultures’s first 25 years? What will they be in the next 25?
• What are overlooked topics in the study of the South that relate to change over time?

As Southern Cultures publishes digital content online, we encourage creativity in coordinating print and digital materials in submissions and ask that authors submit any potential video, audio, and interactive visual content with their essay or introduction/artist’s statement.

We encourage authors to gain familiarity with the tone, scope, and style of our journal before submitting. Those with access to Project Muse can read past issues for free. To read our current issue and our submission guidelines, or browse our content, please visit www.southerncultures.org .