Apologies for Cross-Posting
2nd Call for Papers for a Special Issue of Organization: The Critical Journal of
Organization, Theory and Society on:
'Organizing Christmas and Beyond'
Guest Editors: Philip Hancock, University of Warwick, UK Alf Rehn, Åbo Akademi
University, Finland
From Valentine*s Day to Diwali, from Thanksgiving to the Day of the Dead, cultural
festivities provide an excuse for producing, consuming and organizing. On a global scale,
however, few surpass the economic significance of Christmas. In countries where
Christmas is a state or religious sponsored festival it accounts for up to 60% of the
average retail store*s annual turnover. Even where this is not the case, its impact is
significant. In China, for instance, more is now spent at Christmas than during the
traditional Mid-Autumn Festival. Furthermore, in 2007 the country exported $13.4 million
worth of artificial Christmas trees and $142.6 million worth of Christmas tree ornaments
to the US alone, a trade that is, for some, associated more with the prevalence of
sweatshop working conditions than it is with the proliferation of peace and goodwill. It is
not purely as an economic event that Christmas and what one might term its associated
festivities are significant, however. They also require the mobilization of vast
organizational and logistical resources. In the UK, for instance, the Royal Mail delivers
around 150 million cards and packets during the pre-Christmas period; a figure that rises
to around 20 billion in the US. Festive events such as Christmas are also often high on the
organizational agenda of individual households as they cater for, and entertain, not only
their usual members but also scores of relatives, friends and casual acquaintances. In
order to manage what are often such stressful demands, a significant self-help industry
has emerged to service this increasingly profitable market. This ranges from the mass
provision of magazines and websites, to the individualized services of personal planners
and even Christmas consultants amongst others. Christmas, along with its associated
festivities, can, therefore, be viewed as a nexus at which a range of organizational
questions and problematics are thrown into stark relief. Yet despite this, they have
received little sustained consideration from within the field of organization studies. In
order to address this lack of attention we invite both theoretical and empirical
submissions that critically explore, but are not limited to, festive themes including:
The globalization and homogenization of festivity
Finance, markets and the Christmas hiatus
The festive labour process
Festive commercialization, organizational excess and waste
Ethnic and spiritual identity in the Christmas workplace
The aesthetic and spatial characteristics of festive business
Representation of festive organization
Festive tourism and cultural identity
Gender and the sexualization of festive labour
Domestic organization at Christmas and beyond
Submission: Papers must be submitted electronically by 30th April 2010, but not before
31st March 2010, to SAGETrack at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/organization.
Manuscripts should be prepared according to the guidelines published in Organization and
on the journal's website.
Papers should be no more than 8,000 words, excluding references, and will be blind
reviewed following the journal's standard review process.
For further information, please contact one of the guest editors: Philip Hancock
([log in to unmask]) or Alf Rehn ([log in to unmask])
|