Call for Papers

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Reconstruction 10.2 Searching for Knowledge as Expertise and the Technocratic Generation

The concept for this special 10th-anniversary issue of Reconstruction stems from two intersecting strands. First, Engelbaert and Licklider’s original conception of what has become the Internet was a device for the "augmentation of human intellect." Second, when Theodore Roszak conducted his seminal study on the "counter culture" of the 1960s, among his conclusions was the centrality of technocrats and the technocracy as the pre-eminent authority in North American culture and as the target of youthful resistance.

Not surprisingly, "I can always find out: Searching for Knowledge as Expertise and the Technocratic Generation" has two distinct halves. The first half, in which "always" means "every time," considers the ways in which the ability to find knowledge has become synonymous with expertise and examines the elements that have fostered this situation. In this regard, factors such as the range of software and hardware--from Wikipedia and FAQs to cellphones and iPods--which anticipate or "think" for the user but also require constant updating are both rationale and outcome for their youthful consumers. When combined with the downloading and broadening of elementary and secondary curriculum at an ever-increasing rate, the range of everyday devices which involve "looking up" information the results in technocrats whose expertise is searching. Thus, the second half, in which "always" means the lexical case, "as a last resort." This entails a consideration of the effects of a particular kind of expertise on knowledge and on creativity--namely, a generation of youth who are technocrats themselves. As a result, the assumption "I can always find out" becomes the conclusion "I don’t need to know because I can find out if I must" and in turn, the resignation of "I don’t need to know."

This special issue envisions three broad areas of inquiry: defining the expertise, the technical/cultural sites of such expertise, the effects of the phenomena on creativity and expression. Scholars are also invited to theorize, including extensions or developments of existing paradigms, on the situation. Other general areas of inquiry might include:

* expertise vs knowledge in the classroom, including specific experiences
* pedagogical strategies for remediation or intervention
* cultural productions requiring such expertise
* curriculum downloading and its implications
* technocrats I have known
* software and hardware that thinks
* governmentalism and youthful technocracy
* the broadening of the youthful demographic

Please send proposals, abstracts, completed essays, multimedial performances, etc. to Marc Ouellette at reconstruction.managing_at_gmail.com by 21 July 2009 or completed papers by 1 October 2009. We are happy to consider abstracts and proposals prior to this date. Publication is expected in the third quarter of 2010. All submissions are refereed. Papers must follow the Reconstruction guidelines for submission <http://reconstruction.eserver.org/guidelines.shtml>.

Reconstruction 10.1: Religion and Popular Culture

Guest Editors: Nate Hinerman and Michael Benton 
Contact: religionculture@gmail.com
Deadline: 15 May 2009

At a time when many in the U.S. and around the world encounter religion as a polarizing subject, one especially revered by some and utterly contested by others, this issue of Reconstruction seeks to explore questions arising at the intersection of religious experience and popular culture. To engage the relationship of religion and popular culture requires discipline-based, trans-disciplinary, and inter-disciplinary approaches in order to interpret these broad ranges of human experience.

Over the past three decades, scholarship in the Humanities evaluating the relationships between religion and popular culture has increased dramatically. This particular issue seeks a broad array of perspectives that explore, analyze, and/or interpret the myriad interrelations and interactions that exist between religion and popular culture. Despite some recent attention, the role popular culture plays in religious experience is often undervalued. Popular culture not only presents and portrays religious ideas and norms, it also operates as both a vehicle and medium through which religious meaning is communicated and understood. Submissions need not be directed toward any particular religious tradition or geared for any single definition of religion. Instead, religion might be imagined in any (or none) of the following ways: as an expression of doctrinal beliefs and/or core values, as an on-going movement between an individual or community and a larger socio-cultural matrix, or as essentially a cultural construction. Theological investigations that engage cultural studies from a faith perspective are certainly encouraged. We also welcome perspectives that interrogate the stability of meaning(s) assigned to such terms ("culture," "religion," "popular," etc.) and their complex inter-relations.

Specifically, submissions should be framed with at least one of the following four rubrics in mind: religion within popular culture, popular culture within religion, religion as popular culture (and vice versa), or religion in tension with popular culture.

We welcome manuscripts that produce conversations engaging historical, ethnographic, normative, literary, anthropological, philosophical, artistic, political or other terms that elaborate a relationship between religion and popular culture. For example, submissions might investigate religious expression(s) in relation to any of the following realms of contemporary popular culture:

* Music
* Literature
* Film
* Broadcast media (particularly religious broadcasting)
* Journaism
* Athletics
* Comic books
* Novels / poetry / short story
* Television
* Radio
* Print media
* Internet / technology
* Popular art / architecture
* Sacred vs. profane space
* Advertising
* Consumerism
* New religious movements/religious subcultures
* Socio-political religious movements (liberation theologies, Zionism, right-wing Evangelicalism, etc.)

Note: This list is representative, but certainly not exhaustive.

Please send proposals, abstracts, completed essays, multimedial performances, etc. to Nate Hinerman and Michael Benton at religionculture@gmail.com by 15 May 2009. We are happy to consider abstracts and proposals prior to this date. Publication is expected in the first quarter of 2010. All submissions are refereed. Papers must follow the Reconstruction guidelines for submission.

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Open Issues

Contact: Reconstruction Submissions Editor

We are continually accepting submissions for upcoming open issues, and can promise a prompt reply.

Submissions may be created from a variety of perspectives, including, but not limited to: geography, ethnography, cultural studies, folklore, architecture, history, sociology, linguistics, psychology, communications, music, philosophy, political science, semiotics, theology, art history, queer theory, literature, criminology, urban planning, gender studies, education, graphic design, etc. Both theoretical and empirical approaches are welcomed.

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Guest Editor of Upcoming Themed Issue

Contact: Reconstruction Managing Editor

Reconstruction is always interested in proposals for future themed issues. If you are interested in proposing a themed issue, please review our FAQ for Prospective Guest Editors and contact the Reconstruction Managing Editor for further information.

FAQ for Prospective Guest Editors

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