*CFP* "IMPASSE", THIRD ISSUE, SOAPBOX : A GRADUATE PLATFORM/JOURNAL FOR CULTURAL ANALYSIS

For the third issue of Soapbox: a graduate platform/journal for cultural analysis, we invite submissions that critically engage with the concept of 'Impasse.' Dwelling on the term impasse provides space for speaking of the unresolvable, of the disorienting (what is outside of time and space, alter/outer), of the failure of connection, and finally, of loss, of the unretrievable and the necrotic. The notion of impasse comes to mind all the more in the context of the ongoing pandemic and of transmission through physical contact or proximity.

In its most literal meaning, an impasse indicates a border that arises in our way. In everyday life, it is what prevents one from moving forward, for instance from entering onto a property one is not allowed to be in or arriving at a dead end. Supposedly, the only possible counter-action, the exit from an impasse, is either the risk of trespassing, of having to turn around, or ending one’s journey. An impasse can also denote a specific kind of liminal spatiality. It is a space of thein-between; where one gets stuck or does not know how to proceed. As a state of unknowing, the impasse is constantly being re-configured. How can we orientate ourselves in a space that is always becoming?

 

Author Milan Kundera states that “an impasse is the place of [...] most beautiful inspirations” (“une impasse est le lieu de mes plus belles”). The impasse, then, is perhaps not always a negative dead-end or stalemate, but can also provide a space for hope and new possibilities. A standstill may allow for a moment of rest and recovery, which is needed for overcoming obstacles, bridging gaps or tending to open wounds.

 

We invite students, PhD candidates, and young researchers of media and communication studies to submit proposals that discuss 'contamination' directed towards, but not limited to, the following topics:

• States of the in-between, the liminal, the uncertain
• The concept of care (also in relation to a shared experience of the impasse)
• Caring over distance and how it alters perception of space
• Practices of mourning, healing, renewal
• The impasse as crisis (climate crisis, health crisis)
• Representation of the impasse in literature, film, visual art, etc.
• Politics of power in the impasse, and the active and the passive
• Border studies (limits, figurative borders)
• (Post)colonial studies
• Futurity
• Trespassing, exceptions
• Hope, possibility
• Periods and states of contemplation and (mis)understanding
• (The pausing of) conflict
• Reaching compromise/agreement
• Stretching out of time (the immediate and the gradual)

Please submit your proposal (800-1000 words) or already written paper following the MLA formatting and referencing style (maximum 5000 words) to submissions@soapboxjournal.com by January 10th 2021. If you hand in a proposal or outline, please consider that the first draft of the full papers (3000-5000 words) are due February 17th. If you have any questions regarding your submission, do not hesitate to contact us. No article processing fees will be charged.

We also accept submissions for our website all year round. We encourage a variety of styles and formats, including short-form essays (around 2000 words), reviews, experimental writing, and multimedia. Please get in touch to pitch new ideas or existing projects that you would like to have published on our website.

Contact us on web@soapboxjournal.com for any web related questions and submissions.