CFP--Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies Vol. 48 No. 2 “Cultures of Travel: Tourism, Pilgrimage, Migration”

Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies

Vol. 48 No. 2 | September 2022

Call for Papers

Cultures of Travel: Tourism, Pilgrimage, Migration

Guest Editor

Candida Syndikus (National Taiwan Normal University)

Deadline for Submissions: January 15, 2022

 

Traveling has become a natural part of modern life. As a result of the worldwide crisis caused by the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020/21, however, it is no longer a self-evident right to move from one country to the other or even to travel within national boundaries.

This issue of Concentric intends to offer an opportunity to reflect critically upon the history and nature of human mobility, exploring physical and intellectual traveling as ways of investigating unknown territories, cultural exchange, and spiritual or religious experience. Human migration, whether by choice or involuntarily, is as old as humankind itself. Since time immemorial, epic records of various cultures explored the reasons and effects of migratory movements in history, myth, and religion, from the impacts of the sack of Troy in Greco-Roman literature to the events recorded in the Book of Exodus.

Dating back to antiquity, the positively connoted act of cultural traveling reached its first zenith during the Renaissance and Enlightenment. Motivated by creative curiosity and economic interests, artists traveled around Europe fostering exceptional cross-fertilization of ideas. During the 17th and 18th centuries, young members of the British upper class used to undertake the legendary Grand Tour to the Continent to widen their horizon and to acquire manners and language skills. Unlike any other area in Europe, it was Italy that—due to its abundant cultural remains and delightful landscapes—attracted artists and literati. The travelers benefited from the infrastructures of the land and sea routes that were customarily used by merchants for transferring essential trade goods between the countries.

When understood in a figurative sense, traveling could be substituted by a journey of the mind or soul. This practice was widespread from antiquity to pre-modernity and beyond, whether the spiritual journeys of the Jewish and Christian apocalypses, of Dante and Milton, or the travels of the imagination by the likes Cervantes and Ariosto. Pilgrimages too are celebrated, whether in the tales of Chaucer or the Golden Legend, where Jacopo da Voragine describes such mental journeys—mentales diaetae—with their healing effect for both the imaginary pilgrim’s mind and body.

This issue of Concentric calls for research from the fields of art history, history, literary history, cultural studies, religious studies, philosophy, and classical studies. We expressly welcome papers that investigate the cultural dialogue between East and West. We would further appreciate research work that—under the above topic—marks the 700th anniversary of the death of the great Italian poet Dante Alighieri (c. 1265–1321).

Please send complete papers of 6,000-10,000 words, 5–8 keywords, and a brief biography to concentric.lit@deps.ntnu.edu.tw by January 15, 2022. Manuscripts should follow the latest edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. Except for footnotes, which should be single-spaced, manuscripts must be double-spaced in 12-point Times New Roman. Please consult our style guide at http://www.concentric-literature.url.tw.

 

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Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies, indexed in Arts and Humanities Citation Index, is a peer-reviewed journal published two times per year by the Department of English, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan. Concentric is devoted to offering innovative perspectives on literary and cultural issues and advancing the transcultural exchange of ideas. While committed to bringing Asian-based scholarship to the world academic community, Concentric welcomes original contributions from diverse national and cultural backgrounds. In each issue of Concentric we publish groups of essays on a special topic as well as papers on more general issues. http://www.concentric-literature.url.tw/.

For submissions or general inquiries, please contact us at: concentric.lit@deps.ntnu.edu.tw.

 

CFP-48.2-Cultures of Travel

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