News

CALL FOR PAPERS: Disaster Dialogues: Representations of Catastrophe in Word and Image

Published: 13 June 2011

 

 

The Japanese tsunami on March 11, 2011 makes timely the need to explore representations of disaster. Following the 8.9 magnitude earthquake that struck off the east coast of Sendai city in Japan’s north, the ubiquity and potency of images depicting destruction caused by the tsunami not only calls into question the position of humanity within its constructed and naturally occurring environment, but simultaneously draws attention to the representational forms which portray the personal trauma and memory central to such public incidents of catastrophe. 

While the media is the arbiter determining the initial form of an event’s representation, the various formations of narrative thereafter become central to representing disaster in a manner which engenders meaning. As image is fundamental to conveying that which cannot be articulated, as exemplified by footage of the cataclysmic surge of sea water which overwhelmed regions of Japan on March 11, 2011 this issue of Social Alternatives aims to explore the tensions between private and public representations of catastrophe via word and image. 

This edition invites the following submissions which exploring the abovementioned themes: 

• Referenced academic articles (3000 words) and commentary; 

• Short stories (500 to 2500 words), poetry, graphics and photography. 

 

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 30 January 2012 

RELEASE DATE: October 2012, Vol 31, Issue 3 

 

 

Direct contribution proposals and enquiries to (Guest Editor): 

Dr Ross Watkins 

University of the Sunshine Coast

rwatkins@usc.edu.au

Contribution Guidelines: http://www.socialalternatives.com/contributors.htm