Editors: Magdalena Bogusławska and Angelika Kosieradzka
The 24th volume of the journal Slavia Meridionalis will be devoted to the ways in which elements of traditional, indigenous, native Slavic cultures and ideas about Slavdom are being transposed into the globalized contemporary culture. The aesthetic, ludic and ecological fascinations with the material and symbolic heritage of the Slavs, as well as contemporary Slavophilism are spreading, consolidating their position as an important component of cultural transmission. A change in the registers in which Slavic themes and motifs circulate is also increasingly apparent. Institutionalized forms of exploring and processing Slavic (especially pre-historic) knowledge are giving way to grassroots activities, becoming fodder for art, pop culture and also an inspiration for egalitarian areas of social activity, as well as various associations, subcultures, fan communities, etc.
Imaginary, uncanny, mythical, phantasmal, ghostly, recovered…. all these terms by which Slavdom is sometimes labeled today show the impossibility of giving this phenomenon a decisive defining contour. They also express the need to indicate the place that Slavicness occupies in global networks of identification. Despite its indefiniteness, or perhaps because of it, Slavdom does not cease to be an inspiration in many spheres of social activity. It is being revived in more and more new guises, seeking anchorage in various currently popular cultural texts, social practices, as well as in the ideas, ideologies and discourses that form their background. All this makes the subject matter once again a tempting research challenge for historians, folklorists, ethnographers, cultural scientists, religious scholars, Slavists…
The aim of our proposal is an attempt at critical reflection on the logic, causes and directions of updating the categories of Slavdom and Slavicness. We also pose the question about the ideological conditions of their transfer to the circulation of global culture and the impact of postmodern dynamics and knowledge processing technologies on the way these contents are reactualized. The planned volume is also intended to provide an opportunity to recall the historical phenomena that mark the tradition of interest in Slavdom, Slavs and Slavicness.
We propose the authors think about the following sub-issues:
- Slavic heritage in identity discourses and practices;
- Museum and reconstruction initiatives, festivals of Slavic culture;
- Slavic ideas in political concepts and discourses;
- Slavic spirituality in new contexts, vitality of Slavic beliefs, parareligious movements, native beliefs, Rodnovery;
- “fantastic Slavdom” in literature, films, computer games, comic books and others;
- indigenous Slavic traditions in environmental projects;
- Slavic traditions as inspiration in visual arts and music;
- (ancient) Slavic history in conspiracy theories;
- Proto-Slavic heritage in modern language;
- Inter-Slavic language – ideas and applications.
We also remain open to other theme-related proposals. We will also consider publishing papers in English outside the main topic – in the “Imponderabilia” section, intended for contributions addressing particularly important issues within the thematic scope of the journal.
Slavia Meridionalis is a multidisciplinary Open Access journal presenting research on the South Slavic countries and their connections with other cultural regions. It is indexed in Scopus (Elsevier) and Emerging Sources Citation Index (Clarivate Analytics), as well as CEEOL, DOAJ, EBSCO, ERIH Plus, Google Scholar, and other databases.
Authors are invited to submit English-language papers of up to 40,000 characters with spaces (including bibliography).
Please submit articles via the journal’s OJS platform.
Deadline for submission: 30 April 2023
Planned date of publication: 2024
Detailed information and guidelines for authors can be found on the journal’s website, under the bookmark “Submissions”.