CfP – Makings Journal – Disruption
BCMCR is home to a growing number of journal publications developed by researchers in the centre. As part of the our 2021/22 annual research theme of Disruption several of our journals are planning special issues dedicated to the theme. First out of the blocks with a Call for Papers is Makings Journal, an open-access, peer-reviewed journal on the cultural and creative industries.
Call for Papers – Makings Journal – Disruption
The editors of Makings – an open-access, peer-reviewed journal on the cultural and creative industries – invite researchers at all stages, including PhD, MA, and BA students, to submit 300-word abstracts for the journal’s next issue, themed “Disruption”.
Please submit your abstracts (with bios) to the editors:
Kateryna Sivak kateryna.sivak@mail.bcu.ac.uk
Vincent Obia vincent.obia@mail.bcu.ac.uk
This year’s theme, it seems, best explains our collective experience given the disturbing effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Along with other major disruptive changes – Brexit, the climate crisis, blockchain economics, to name a few – it has had an immense influence on arguably all areas of our life; and the cultural and creative industries (CCIs) are not an exception (OECD, 2020; Casadei, 2021; Deloitte, 2021). CCIs are known to be vulnerable with glaring features of precarious work conditions, signs of systemic issues, which have been exposed by the Covid-19 disruption (Comunian and England, 2020). As the pandemic eases, there have been talks of the “new normal”, the suggestion being that creative practitioners are to return to the pre-Covid state of affairs defined by instability, vulnerability, and precarity. A different way of viewing this is to see the present disruption as likely to cause lasting and wide-ranging structural changes, with the potential for more unsettling realities across creative sectors.
Cardinal amongst these changes is the use of digital technology, which has largely been celebrated. We note, however, the need to critique the nature, conditions, consequences, and power relations evident in the shift to online and hybrid delivery of creative content. Even before the pandemic, technology represented a major source of disruption within CCIs. Cinema is an illustrative example here – the digital revolution embodied by players such as Netflix has challenged the value chain set-up and traditional means of operation in the sector (Salvador et al., 2019). In this sense, disruption happens when a “new logic” captures the core of an industry, presenting opportunities for some and obstacles for others (Skog et al., 2018, p. 436).
It is important to emphasise that such disruptions are felt not only at an industry or sector level but also by individual creative workers and businesses. In this thematic issue, therefore, we would like to explore the diverse “disrupted realities” of working within the creative, media, and cultural industries both at the micro level (involving sole players in the creative industries) and/or the macro (involving organisations and supporting institutions). We invite abstract proposals that critique disruption in the cultural and creative industries, including in film, music, craft, fashion, theatre, cinema. We are interested in a range of topics, including but not limited to:
- Disruption and the cultural and creative industries
- Pandemic disruption
- Disrupted past, present, and future
- The nature, conditions, and consequences of disruption
- The response of creative workers to disruption
- Creative labour, precarity, and disruption
- Climate disruption
- Technological/digital disruption in CCIs
We are also interested in conceptual reflections from traditional and practice-based researchers on various ideas of and approaches to disruption in the creative industries.
The topics we have highlighted are by no means exhaustive; and we welcome any other proposals that deal with disruption and the creative industries.
The deadline for 300-word abstracts is 26 November 2021. Along with the abstract, please add a short bio, including your name, institution (if appropriate) and contact email.
The decision on the abstracts will be communicated by December 2021 and the full submissions (up to 6000 words) will be expected by March-April 2022. All submissions will go through a double-blind peer-review process.
Please check contributor guidelines for more details.
Alongside journal articles, we also welcome shorter think-pieces, observations, and experimental works up to 500-1000 words or in the form of write-ups, podcasts, videos, images etc., which will be published in the Studio section of the journal. If you are interested, please send across an abstract and bio as normal indicating a preferred format of your proposed contribution.
Please submit your abstracts (with bios) or any questions you have to the editors:
Kateryna Sivak kateryna.sivak@mail.bcu.ac.uk
Vincent Obia vincent.obia@mail.bcu.ac.uk