<div dir="ltr"><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Nick Buxton</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:nick@tni.org">nick@tni.org</a>></span><br>Date: Thu, Jun 23, 2016 at 9:34 PM<br>Subject: [NetworkedLabour] Call for Papers: State of Power 2017<br>To: <a href="mailto:networkedlabour@lists.contrast.org">networkedlabour@lists.contrast.org</a><br><br><br>
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
Hi folks, This list has always been a great place for some thinking
around these issues. Welcome any contributions! Nick<br>
<br>
<h1><a href="https://www.tni.org/en/article/call-for-papers-state-of-power-2017" target="_blank">Call
for Papers: State of Power 2017</a></h1>
<i>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</i><i><strong> between culture and power.</strong></i>
<div> </div>
<br>
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.
<div>
<h3>Power and Culture</h3>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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?</p>
<p>Here are a number of important and diverse questions that we
would like to interrogate:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>What are the cultural roots that have bolstered
neoliberalism or more generally capitalism?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>What have been the main cultural mechanisms for embedding
and reinforcing power structures in politics, institutions
and everyday life?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>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?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>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?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>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?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>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?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>What examples are there where cultural norms that bolster
entrenched power have been successfully challenged?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>How have cultural memes been used successfully to build
counter-power or to embed new transformative practices?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>How have corporations used culture and the arts to bolster
their power? And how have activists successfully countered
this power through cultural expression?</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>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?</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>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 <a href="https://www.tni.org/en/projects" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://www.tni.org/en/projects</a>)</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>For an idea of the kind of essays we are interested in, please
read the essays featured in State of Power 2016: <a href="http://www.tni.org/stateofpower2016" target="_blank"></a><a href="http://www.tni.org/stateofpower2016" target="_blank">http://www.tni.org/stateofpower2016</a></p>
<h3>Style</h3>
<p>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.</p>
<p>We are interested in new and insightful analysis, and also
encourage the use of:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>stories</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>concrete examples</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>metaphors</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>journalistic techniques</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Process</p>
<p>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:</p>
<ol>
<li>
<p>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.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>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.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>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.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>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.<strong> </strong><strong>Remuneration
unfortunately won’t be available though for these essays
that don’t appear in the main report. </strong></p>
</li>
</ol>
<p><br>
<strong>Instructions for submission</strong></p>
<p>Abstracts must be emailed to <a href="mailto:stateofpower@tni.org" target="_blank"></a><a href="mailto:stateofpower@tni.org" target="_blank">stateofpower@tni.org</a> by
16 September 2016. Final essays will be due on 4 November 2016.</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>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</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>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</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>TNI particularly welcomes submissions by young scholars and
people based in the Global South.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Abstracts and essays can be written in English or Spanish.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Abstracts must be a maximum of <a href="tel:1000" value="+661000" target="_blank">1000</a> 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.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Essay length: 5000 words. Shorter essays are acceptable,
but not longer than 5000 words.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Style: TNI has five basic criteria for its research
and publications that will also be used to assess the
abstracts and essays:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Credible: Well researched and evidence-based</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Accessible: Readable by a broad non-specialist audience
(in other words please avoid too much academic jargon)
and try to use stories, examples</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Additional: Adds depth, new insights or detail to
existing knowledge/research</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Radical: Tackles the structural roots of critical
issues</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Propositional: Does not just critique, but also where
relevant puts forward just alternatives</p>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>
<p>Please include an abstract at the top of the paper (maximum
500 words) and add a short bio (150 words)</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>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.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>Please send as .doc file or .docx file</strong></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><strong>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.</strong></p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3><br>
<strong>Timeline</strong></h3>
<p>June Call for abstracts/papers</p>
<p>16 September Deadline for submission of abstracts</p>
<p>22 September Notification of chosen abstracts for final essays</p>
<p>4 November Submission of essays</p>
<p>11 November Notification of chosen essays and suggested
comments for final draft</p>
<p>25 November Final version submitted by author</p>
<p>9 December Copyedits sent to author for final check/revision</p>
<p>19 January Launch</p>
</div>
<pre cols="72">--
-----------------------------------------------------
NICK BUXTON
Communications
m: <a href="tel:%2B1%20530%20902%203772" value="+15309023772" target="_blank">+1 530 902 3772</a>
e: <a href="mailto:nick@tni.org" target="_blank">nick@tni.org</a>
twitter: @nickbuxton
skype: nickbuxton
w: <a href="http://www.tni.org" target="_blank">www.tni.org</a>
-----------------------------------------------------
Read my latest book, The Secure and the Dispossessed (November 2015)
<a href="http://www.climatesecurityagenda.org" target="_blank">www.climatesecurityagenda.org</a>
CONNECT WITH TNI
- Sign up to TNI's e-newsletters: <a href="http://www.tni.org/subscribe" target="_blank">http://www.tni.org/subscribe</a>
- TNI on Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TransnationalInstitute" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/TransnationalInstitute</a>
- TNI on twitter: <a href="https://twitter.com/TNInstitute" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/TNInstitute</a>
</pre>
</div>
<br>_______________________________________________<br>
NetworkedLabour mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:NetworkedLabour@lists.contrast.org">NetworkedLabour@lists.contrast.org</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.contrast.org/mailman/listinfo/networkedlabour" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank">http://lists.contrast.org/mailman/listinfo/networkedlabour</a><br>
<br></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div>Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: <a href="http://commonstransition.org" target="_blank">http://commonstransition.org</a> </div><div><br></div>P2P Foundation: <a href="http://p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://p2pfoundation.net</a> - <a href="http://blog.p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://blog.p2pfoundation.net</a> <br><br><a href="http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation" target="_blank"></a>Updates: <a href="http://twitter.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/mbauwens</a>; <a href="http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens</a><br><br>#82 on the (En)Rich list: <a href="http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/" target="_blank">http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/</a> <br></div></div></div></div>
</div>