[P2P-F] Fwd: [NetworkedLabour] Call for Papers: State of Power 2017

Sat Jun 25 01:21:47 CEST 2016

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nick Buxton <nick at tni.org>
Date: Thu, Jun 23, 2016 at 9:34 PM
Subject: [NetworkedLabour] Call for Papers: State of Power 2017
To: networkedlabour at lists.contrast.org

Hi folks, This list has always been a great place for some thinking around
these issues. Welcome any contributions! Nick

Call for Papers: State of Power 2017
<https://www.tni.org/en/article/call-for-papers-state-of-power-2017> *The
Transnational Institute (TNI) in the Netherlands is issuing an open call
for essays/short papers for its forthcoming State of Power report launched
in late January 2017 to coincide with the World Economic Forum in Davos. In
2017, we are particularly looking for accessible, engaging essays that
interrogate the relations** between culture and power.*

TNI’s annual State of Power reports have, since their launch in 2012,
become a must-see reference point for citizens, activists and academics
concerned with understanding the nature of power in our globalised world in
order to inform struggles for justice. With a mixture of compelling
infographics and insightful essays, State of Power has examined dimensions
of power (economic, political, social), exposed the key players who control
power, and highlighted movements of counter-power seeking to transform our
world.
Power and Culture

There is growing public awareness of the concentration of economic power in
the world, and TNI has in previous reports exposed the legal, political and
international processes that have facilitated this power grab. However,
power only becomes hegemonic when it is reinforced continuously through
cultural processes that make the exercise of power seem ‘natural’ and
irreversible. This is the process that has converted neoliberalism into an
accepted fact of everyday life, rather than an ideology that has been
designed to benefit certain interests. Cultural hegemony has also sustained
powerful structures from the military through to the banking sector.

At the same time, culture is a key arena for struggles and has provided
dynamism and force to the most effective social movements; and one could
argue is the most important area for work if we are to really embed and
sustain transformative practices in our communities and states over the
long-term.  Most of all, at a time when the world seem beset by multiple
crises and the disturbing rise of reactionary forces, it seems apt to
remember what Antonio Gramsci once wrote: “The crisis consists precisely in
the fact that the old is dying and the new is yet to be born. And in the
interregnum, a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.” How ultimately can
social movements assert their own power through cultural forms to reject
the dangerous symptoms of morbidity and bring the new into being?

Here are a number of important and diverse questions that we would like to
interrogate:

   -

   What are the cultural roots that have bolstered neoliberalism or more
   generally capitalism?
   -

   What have been the main cultural mechanisms for embedding and
   reinforcing power structures in politics, institutions and everyday life?
   -

   How do cultural norms reinforce unjust power relations in different
   spheres of life – schools/universities, parliaments, governments,
   corporations, the military? What shape is this likely to take in the future?
   -

   What role does the media play in reinforcing structural power and
   cultural hegemony? How has growing concentration and consolidation of the
   media industry played a role? What examples are there where media has
   played an important role in confronting entrenched power? What can we learn
   from this?
   -

   What role have thinktanks, policy experts, academia and civil society
   played in reinforcing political and economic concentrations of power?
   Conversely what role have some institutes and researchers played in
   confronting unjust power structures?
   -

   What role has the technology industry played in reinforcing power or
   confronting power? How has the concentrated power in the ‘Silicon Valleys’
   of the world used cultural exchange and shaped culture to further increase
   their power – and the power of other elites?
   -

   What examples are there where cultural norms that bolster entrenched
   power have been successfully challenged?
   -

   How have cultural memes been used successfully to build counter-power or
   to embed new transformative practices?
   -

   How have corporations used culture and the arts to bolster their power?
   And how have activists successfully countered this power through cultural
   expression?
   -

   What cultural shifts do we need to imagine and construct just
   alternatives? How we build a culture that reinforces values of the commons,
   solidarity, and harmony with nature?

This is not an exclusive list. We welcome a wide range of perspectives and
analysis on the broad theme, however TNI does appreciate essays that relate
to areas we most closely work on such as corporate impunity, trade and
investment policies, land and agrarian issues, resource grabbing, public
services, security and civil liberties, social movements and counter-power
(see https://www.tni.org/en/projects)

To encourage submissions from activists on low-incomes and people from the
Global South , we also have a small number of grants of 600 euros for
selected essays from individuals that fit this category. Please indicate
with evidence in your submissions whether you would like to apply for this
grant. The money will only be distributed if your essay is chosen for the
main report.

For an idea of the kind of essays we are interested in, please read the
essays featured in State of Power 2016:
<http://www.tni.org/stateofpower2016>http://www.tni.org/stateofpower2016
Style

TNI is a research and advocacy organisation but not an academic
institution, and seeks to provide accessible analysis that can be read and
used by a broad range of activists and social movements. We are therefore
looking for analysis that is not over-theoretical and written in a style
that is accessible.

We are interested in new and insightful analysis, and also encourage the
use of:

   -

   stories
   -

   concrete examples
   -

   metaphors
   -

   journalistic techniques

We discourage the overuse of academic jargon literature analysis and
academic debates that mean little to the public. In our experience the more
accessible the material, the more widely it is used and shared.

Process

The final report will be made up of a mixture of essays from this open call
and a number of pre-commissioned essays. We have designed a process to
feature what we consider the best essays in the main report. The decision
on which papers are featured will be decided by an Editorial Panel made up
of the Director, the editor of the report and the Communications Manager.
The selection process will follow three stages:

   1.

   In the first stage, researchers will be asked to provide abstracts, a
   short bio and some links to previous work. It will help your application if
   your previous work is not just limited to academic texts but includes some
   more accessible journalistic pieces. Abstracts can be based on existing
   papers or be provisional ideas of what you hope to explore. If you would
   like to apply for the grant – available to low-income participants – please
   indicate this at this stage.
   2.

   Those whose abstracts are chosen will be asked to submit an essay. The
   top four or five essays will be selected for the report by the Editorial
   Panel.
   3.

   The selected essays will go through a final round of revisions based on
   feedback by the Editorial Panel, and subject to final copyedit. We hope to
   feature one essay as an infographic.
   4.

   Essays that do not make the top eight – and are considered good essays
   by the Editorial Panel - will be available as downloadable PDFs linked from
   the main report. *Remuneration unfortunately won’t be available though
   for these essays that don’t appear in the main report. *

*Instructions for submission*

Abstracts must be emailed to <stateofpower at tni.org>stateofpower at tni.org by
16 September 2016. Final essays will be due on 4 November 2016.

   -

   Abstracts/essays must address the issue of power from a critical
   perspective, seeking to provide useful knowledge and analysis for movements
   engaged in the struggle for social and environmental justice
   -

   Abstracts/essays can be based on reworked versions of existing or
   previously published essays/papers but must be made accessible to a
   non-academic audience
   -

   TNI particularly welcomes submissions by young scholars and people based
   in the Global South.
   -

   Abstracts and essays can be written in English or Spanish.
   -

   Abstracts must be a maximum of 1000 words. They do not need to be of
   continuous prose but must capture the main arguments of the essay and can
   be expanded outlines. Bios should be 200 words.
   -

   Essay length: 5000 words. Shorter essays are acceptable, but not longer
   than 5000 words.
   -

   *Style: TNI has five basic criteria for its research and publications
   that will also be used to assess the abstracts and essays:*
   -

      Credible: Well researched and evidence-based
      -

      Accessible: Readable by a broad non-specialist audience (in other
      words please avoid too much academic jargon) and try to use stories,
      examples
      -

      Additional: Adds depth, new insights or detail to existing
      knowledge/research
      -

      Radical: Tackles the structural roots of critical issues
      -

      Propositional: Does not just critique, but also where relevant puts
      forward just alternatives
      -

   Please include an abstract at the top of the paper (maximum 500 words)
   and add a short bio (150 words)
   -

   Do not include references in brackets within the text. Instead provide a
   bibliography at end of essay and/or provide endnotes for references,
   preferably in Chicago style. Please do not overdo it on the endnotes (no
   more than 40 for each essay)– use it mainly for referring to facts/evidence
   that may be surprising, questioned or challenged.
   -

   *Please send as .doc file or .docx file*
   -

   *The decision of the Editorial Panel is final. If your abstract or essay
   is chosen for the book, please be ready to respond to peer reviews and
   copyediting comments based on the timeline below.*

*Timeline*

June Call for abstracts/papers

16 September Deadline for submission of abstracts

22 September Notification of chosen abstracts for final essays

4 November Submission of essays

11 November Notification of chosen essays and suggested comments for final
draft

25 November Final version submitted by author

9 December Copyedits sent to author for final check/revision

19 January Launch

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------
NICK BUXTON
Communications

m: +1 530 902 3772
e: nick at tni.org
twitter: @nickbuxton
skype: nickbuxton
w: www.tni.org
-----------------------------------------------------
Read my latest book, The Secure and the Dispossessed (November
2015)www.climatesecurityagenda.org

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