*CFP* "IMAGINING THE UNSEEN: 20 PICTURES OF DEBT'S EMPIRE, THEN AND NOW", CHAPTER BOOK

The proposed edited collection, imagined as both a thoughtful introduction and a meaningful contribution to ongoing conversations, addresses the entanglements of debt, finance, empire race and colonialism through a series of short, accessible and image-driven essays. Made up of contributions by artists, activists, scholars, journalists and other thinkers, each chapter “unpacks” a significant and illuminating image: for instance, an artwork, a map, an advertisement, an artifact or a picture of a building.

This book project follows the success of a 2017 gathering at Goldsmiths (“Colonial Debts, Imperial Insolvencies, Extractive Nostalgias”), a recent 2019 gathering at Sussex (“Finance Capital and the Ghosts of Empire”), and a 2018 special focus section of Discover Society each of which brought together artists, activists and scholars. It is the companion project to the production of a special issue of a scholarly journal special issue.

The goal of this collection is to offer diverse readers a venue to think through the complex tangle of forces at work in the creation of the economy, historically and today. The collection will maintain a special focus on the way the legacies of empire, race and colonialism persist in the present: from the transatlantic slave trade to today’s racialized global working class, from the early days of settler colonialism to contemporary extractive industries, from direct colonial rule to our worldwide empire of debt. Equally, we envisage contributions which emphasize the traces that financial exploits deposit in wider social and cultural landscapes, from architectural forms to communications infrastructure.

Since the 2008 financial crisis plenty of accessible books on finance and the broader trend of financialization have appeared. There has also recently been a renewed attention to the economic legacies and present-day manifestations of the racial hierarchies of empire and colonialism. This will be among the first collections to bring these themes together.

Uniquely, this collection seeks to bring together not only scholarly experts but also artists, activists, journalists and others to offer a multifaceted approach. It is written for newcomers to this conversation, providing an entry point into debates about finance for those who might feel ‘uninitiated’, but doing so with rigour and nuance. It will mobilize images as a means to tell a complex and interwoven story about how our current financial and (post)colonial moment came about.

Overview for contributors

Towards an exploration of these themes, the editors invite contributions along the following dimensions.

All chapters will open with an image, selected by the author. In the case of artists, this might be a single image of/from their work; in the case of academics and others this might be a particularly striking, demonstrative or iconic image related to their research.

The chapters are structured around explaining the image and its contexts and significance to a broad, thoughtful but diverse audience. We encourage authors to imagine first- or second-year undergraduate students. Don’t feel the need to develop a close reading of the image itself: we’re interested in how the image presents a jumping-off point for discussing the bigger issues at play.

We are seeking pitches (200w) for short chapters that tell a story of the way today’s forms of debt, finance and/or money are entangled with the histories of race, empire and/or colonialism. 

Chapters of roughly 2,500 words will focus on a single demonstrative Image (eg. artwork, map, artifact, advertisement) as a means to illuminate these entanglements. 

The collection will be geared towards a general audience and oriented towards use in classrooms. Talks are underway with several presses to ensure the best fit.

Chapter might be guided by the following questions:

• What is this image and what are its origins? What does it represent? 
• How does this image or what it pictures help us think about the intersections of finance/financialization and the histories, legacies and presents of colonialism, imperialism and/or racism? 
• What are the stakes and the important dimensions of the problems the image reveals? 
• We encourage approaching these chapters as storytelling. 
• While we can offer some limited assistance, it is unfortunately the responsibility of authors to secure the reproduction rights to images. 
• We prefer authors keep citations to a minimum. While details of preferred citation style will be distributed later in the process, please include a short “further reading” section with some of the texts you found most illuminating.

To submit a pitch, please use this short online form.

Please submit pitches by July 19, 2019

Drafts of selected chapters due by September 2019

Edited by Clea Bourne, Paul Gilbert, Max Haiven and Johnna Montgomerie.

For more information, contact: Max Haiven - mhaiven@lakeheadu.ca