The editors of the biannual journal “Porównania” kindly invites submissions for volume 2(32)/2022 entitled:
Migration discourses in 21st century literature,, and culture of Central Europe
“The 21st century will be a century of migraton” – wrote the philosopher, Thomas Nail in the book The Figure of the Migrant published in 2015 on the verge of the migratory crisis. In the third decade of the century, in times of further crises, migration has become a fundamental element of the political discourse and an issue studied by social sciences and the humanities. Each of these sciences projects their own profit and loss analyses connected with the rise in mobility. However, they agree on one point – that in the nearest future migrations will intensify.
As a literary phenomenon migration is a frequent topic in private stories. The two poles of mobility – tourists and refugees – delineated over two decades ago by Zygmunt Bauman in Globalization – remain a relevant way of problematizing identity, alienness, pleasure and aversion. The story of an intimate experience of leaving behind of what is one’s own is usually interwoven with global processes: deportations, ethnic and religious persecution, military conflicts, the effects of the climate crisis and economic inequalities.
In the 21st century Central European literature the topic of migration is undergoing another renaissance due to its inherent geopolitical reasons. These works of art topicalise old migrations after border transitions, political and economic migrations by exploring individual and collective memory. It also reacts to the increase in xenophobic sentiments after the 2015 migratory crisis. Another area are the artistic initiatives that have arisen in the region and which raise social awareness on the topic of compulsory migration.
At the same time, it is visible in the research on the issue that the interpretation of migratory literature depends on the background of the researcher. The background may include a subdiscipline of literary studies (e.g. Polish, German or Hungarian studies) but also the country in which migratory research is carried out (e.g. Polish studies in Poland and abroad).
We invite researchers of migration in the newest literature, art and culture in Central Europe to submit proposals to this issue of “Porównania”. We strive to create a comparative multi-voice on migration discourses in cultural texts seen from various methodological perspectives.
Suggested issues:
– sources and significance of migration in new cultural texts
– migratory discourse in current humanities
– migrations as a topic in comparative studies
– topics and narrative strategies in the newest migratory literature including i.a. the migrant; the refugee; the migrant as a writer, artist
The deadline for proposals in the form of an abstract is 31 November 2021 (emailed to issue editors). The deadline for final text submission is 31 March 2022. You can submit texts in Polish, English or German. Please find submission guidelines at the homepage of “Porównania”.
dr hab. Małgorzata Zduniak-Wiktorowicz, prof. UAM
mzduniak@amu.edu.pl
dr Emilia Kledzik
emilia.kledzik@amu.edu.pl