Call for Book Chapters Proposals: "Affective Territories: Objects, Embodied Memories, and Other Post-Human Perspectives"

In a changing social world, a constant reinvestigation of its agents, their capacities, their relations, and the way their interactions unfold is imperative. In times of crises, peril, precarity, and uncertainty–and in moments before, after, and co-occurring, we find ourselves questioning the foundations of our perspectives and actions. In the age of what we deem as the anthropocene or capitalocene, there is a movement towards more grounded posthuman frameworks in the social sciences to better understand, explore, navigate, and act. These posthuman frameworks have accounted for objects, amongst many things; but it becomes increasingly important to re-question these accounts. To ask: what kind of agency do objects have in the social order? What kinds of affective and emotional territories ensue? How are these notions experienced, and how do we explore this experience? What tools do we have, or need, to explore these nuances? How do we ground this work in the everyday, and explore its potential?

This edited volume explores the question of post-human agency and its impact on the social order, particularly the affective and emotional potential fostered by our interactions with objects, and the non-human in the everyday . We invite scholars from various disciplines (sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, etc.) to contribute chapters that explore the multifaceted role of objects in our everyday lives.

Relevant broader themes include (but are not limited to):

• Material culture
• Object-oriented ontology
• Human/non-human relations and posthumanism
• Embodiment and sensory experience
• Affect
• “The everyday”
• Social construction of meaning
• Commodification, consumption and consumerism
• Social change, uncertainty and continuity
• Religion and ritual performance
• Gift-giving/exchange
• Storytelling and narratives

Suggested ideas include (but are not limited to) examining:

• How do objects, through their materiality and histories, shape our understanding of the social world?
• How do people develop relationships with objects, imbuing them with meaning and emotion?
• How does a study of objects and the non-human affect our understanding of memory in the social world?
• In what ways do objects act as agents, influencing our moods, memories, and sense of self? How does the agency of objects become particularly salient during times of uncertainty, providing comfort, anchoring us, and offering avenues for remembering?
• How does the commodification of memory (e.g., “nostalgia marketing”) affect the ways we interact with objects?
• How are memories and social relations embodied in objects? In commodities? To what extent, if there is, is there a distinction between object and commodities?

Ethnographic Approaches and Methodologies

We encourage the use of ethnographic methodologies, including interviews, participant observation, and material analysis, to explore these questions. Examining personal narratives and the ways people interact with objects in their daily lives will be particularly valuable. This is merely a suggestion, though, and is open to interpretation and alteration depending on the suggested topic.

Chapter Proposals (approx. 500 words, not including the short biography)

Proposals should include:

• A clear and concise statement of the chapter’s topic.
• A discussion of the theoretical framework and key arguments.
• The intended methodology and ethical considerations.
• A brief outline of the chapter structure.
• Short biography (approx. 200 words): Author information (name, affiliation, email address).

Final chapters should be approximately 5000-8000 words.

Submission Deadline:

Please submit proposals to: aliashaddad@aucegypt.edu

We look forward to receiving your proposals!