Call for Papers: Special Issue on Material and Visual Cultures of Religion

Call for Papers: Special Issue on Material and Visual Cultures of Religion in the American South

We are pleased to announce a joint call for papers for a special issue of the Journal of Southern Religion in collaboration with MAVCOR Journal (published by the Center for the Study of Material and Visual Culture of Religion). The special issue is titled “Material and Visual Cultures of Religion in the American South.”

Please note that we are not just interested in traditional, scholarly essays – though we are, of course, very interested in articles. Both the JSR and MAVCOR are born-digital journals. This allows for much more creativity in the kinds of work we publish. Readers have probably noticed that we’ve published more articles with images in the past few years. This collaboration with MAVCOR continues this interest in multi-modal material.

If you have an idea but are uncertain if it fits the call for papers, don’t hesitate to contact either Emily Clark (clarke2@gonzaga.edu) with the JSR and/or Emily Floyd (emily.floyd@yale.edu) with MAVCOR.

A quick word on the origins of this collaboration. Let’s just say that amazing things happen when two Emilys meet. Emily Clark and Emily Floyd met at the 2016 meeting of the American Academy of Religion during a MAVCOR event and chatted again after The Digital Futures of Religious Studies wildcard session (where Emily C talked about teaching and Doug Thompson presented on the history of the JSR). Emily F had the great idea for a special issue. The JSR and MAVCOR Journal share a lot in common: both are born-digital, peer-reviewed, open-access publications in a field that doesn’t have many of these. This unique identity offers a space for creativity that traditional journals don’t have. This collaboration allows us to explore that space together.