The call for papers for Brief Encounters, Issue 7 is now closed. 

The Editors of Brief Encounters are pleased to open a call for papers for the journal’s seventh issue and warmly invite research students and staff at CHASE-affiliated institutions to submit a short article, review, or creative piece of work for publication. The deadline for submission of an abstract is Friday, 30 September 2022. 

Brief Encounters is an open-access, interdisciplinary, peer-reviewed, postgraduate journal organised by CHASE. All postgraduate research students, regardless of their funding status, are welcome to submit to the journal – as are all affiliated staff and CHASE alumni. 

The journal aims to encourage the exchange of ideas beyond the traditional disciplinary and institutional boundaries of academia. It provides a space where researchers can publish short articles and share findings, which might not be long enough for publication in a more conventional academic journal. Besides stimulating academic discussion and review, the journal also offers individuals a place to share their creative work.

For research students in particular, publishing in the journal offers the opportunity to experience the peer-review process, to give their research exposure, and to build their publication record.

If you are interested in submitting your work, please send the following to chasedtpjournal@gmail.com by Friday, 30 September 2022:

• A brief academic bio, including your title, name, and institutional affiliation.
• An abstract of your paper (approximately 250 words) – this can be an outline of the proposed work for creative submissions.

Editorial decisions will be based on the submitted abstract, whereafter full papers of 500 to 4,000 words will be required. We cannot accept previously published work or simultaneous submissions. Authors retain all rights to their work. The acceptance of an abstract does not commit a research paper to inclusion in the journal; only after submission of full papers or other formats can the editors provide a decision, before the peer-review period.

A detailed outline of this issue’s themes, alongside suggestions for critical and creative contributions, can be found below. 

We look forward to hearing from you.

Augusta, Anna, Cecilia, and Filippo

Editors of Issue 7

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Encounters in times of polarisation

Today’s world is increasingly polarised – from the conflict in Ukraine to the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the constitutional right to abortion. The inherent hostility of these and other encounters does not allow for dialogue, compromise, or negotiation; the opposing parties are instead pitted against each other resulting in a political and ideological stalemate. 

Issue 7 of Brief Encounters responds to the adversarial nature of these encounters by reframing conflict and debate as a productive form of knowledge exchange. By engaging with ideologies from across the globe that both overlap and compete with our own, we are encouraged to consciously examine our own intellectual assumptions and preconceptions. This conversation also offers an exciting opportunity for the exchange of experiences and ideas across social, ideological, cultural, philosophical, and geographical boundaries. 

In view of the potentialities inherent in the very concept of encountering, our objective is to invite new and creative ways to illuminate and challenge differences and polarisations. We wish to draw on all the potentialities and rich connotations of the expression ‘encounter’ to instigate vigorous debate, profound insights, and intriguing creative work. To ‘encounter’ is to engage in dialogue, to confront, to collide, to meet someone by chance, to unexpectedly experience something or someone new. As a consequence, the mission of encountering means to probe, and, by that, to embrace complexity, diversity and indeterminacy without being imprecise or losing consistency of argument. 

The Editorial Team welcome academically rigorous and original articles (500 to 4,000 words), reviews on an area of emerging scholarship (500 to 1,000 words), and creative work, such as fiction, short stories, poetry, video essays, documentaries, musical compositions, posters and photography (accompanied by a critical commentary of 500 to 4,000 words). 

We invite proposals from all disciplines and institutions, addressing possible topics such as:

• Encounters in international relations – e.g., Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
• The encounter of ideas and identities in world politics – e.g., Roe v. Wade.
• Instances of encounter in mainstream culture.
• Cultural and social movements constructed around notions of encounter.
• How transcultural encounters – ideological, aesthetic, and cultural – can inform our experiences and challenge our established values.
• Encounters on all levels in the arts, history, or philosophy.
• Encounters as a discussion of unexpected meetings between ideologies or figures that will reveal something new in their contrasts.
• Encounters  as a means for creativity.
• Encounters as a means for analysis and interpretation.
• Creative responses to the theme of encounter that invite self-reflexivity on your role as a researcher. 

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