From: gary hall [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 12 June 2004 09:48
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: CFP: Culture Machine 7 - Biopolitics
CALL FOR PAPERS
CULTURE MACHINE 7
February, 2005
http://www.culturemachine.net
Biopolitics
Editors for this issue:
Melinda Cooper and Andrew Goffey
The last two decades have witnessed an unprecedented economic, social
and cultural valorisation of the life sciences and its technologies.
While the integration of 'biological life' into the strategies of
capital accumulation is far from new, the scale, scope and modalities of
the current endeavour surpass any previous attempts. The language of
molecular biology has not only brought all the branches of the applied
life sciences (agricultural, pharmaceutical, biomedical) under one
genetic standard, it has also provided a pervasive set of tropes for the
organisation and understanding of social relations and cultural
exchange. At the same time, the extension of patent law to cover the
generative elements of biological life is transforming our legal
conceptions of invention, property and life itself. It is not
surprising, then, that the same period has been one of intense
theoretical debate within the life sciences, opposing the champions of
genetic determinism to various anti-reductionist critiques, including
the new perspectives opened up by chaos and complexity theory.
In the wake of the Human Genome Project, it could be argued that the
'biotechnological revolution' is already entering its second
'post-genomic' phase, embarking on new experiments in stem cell and
tissue engineering as well as investing in the field of bioterrorism. It
is all the more important, at this point, then, to take stock of both
the recent past and emerging futures of the life sciences.
It is in the context of these events that the Foucauldian concept of
'biopolitics' has acquired a renewed signficance within the humanities.
Theorists such as Giorgio Agamben and Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri
have extended the concept of 'biopolitics' far beyond the original
context in which Foucault deployed it, but with what effect? The
indiscriminate use of the term 'biopolitics' and its cognate 'biopower'
as it is currently encountered in the humanities tends to remain
abstracted from the scientific, cultural and political complexities of
the life sciences per se.
The aim of the Biopolitics issue of Culture Machine is to create a
discursive space in which the life sciences and the humanities are open
to mutual encounter and challenge. It is hoped that this will stimulate
the development of a more productive and more focused theoretical
framework for thinking through the question of 'biopolitics'.
Contributions concerned with the contemporary social, cultural,
techno-scientific, economic and political issues in and around the life
sciences are currently sought. Interdisciplinary contributions are
especially welcome.
Anyone with material they would like to submit for inclusion is invited
to contact the editors for this issue:
Melinda Cooper [log in to unmask]
Andrew Goffey [log in to unmask]
Final deadline for accepted articles: 15 October 2004
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Contributing to Culture Machine
Culture Machine publishes new work from both established figures and
up-and-coming writers. It is interactive, fully refereed, and has an
International Advisory Board which includes Robert Bernasconi, Lawrence
Grossberg, Peggy Kamuf, Alphonso Lingis, Meaghan Morris, Paul Patton,
Avital Ronell and Nicholas Royle. Among the distinguished contributors
to the first six editions of Culture Machine are Mark Amerika, Alain
Badiou, Geoffrey Bennington, Timothy Clark, Simon Critchley, Jacques
Derrida, Diane Elam, Johan Fornäs, Henry A. Giroux, Su Golding, Lawrence
Grossberg, Stevan Harnad, N. Katherine Hayles, Peggy Kamuf, David Kolb,
Ernesto Laclau, J. Hillis Miller, Anna Munster, Michael Naas, Mark
Poster, Melinda Rackham, Tadeusz Slawek, Bernard Stiegler, Kenneth
Surin, Gregory L. Ulmer, Hal Varian, Cathryn Vasseleuand Samuel Weber.
Culture Machine welcomes material from Britain, Australia and the United
States, and is particularly interested in acquiring contributions from
those working outside the usual Anglo/Australian/American nexus that
currently seems to dominate so much of Cultural Studies/Cultural Theory.
Appropriate unsolicited articles of any length from academics,
post-graduates and non-academics will all be accepted for publication,
as will contributions which respond to or seek to engage with work
previously published in Culture Machine. So-called 'inter-active' texts
are welcomed, as are any forms of contribution that take advantage of
and explore the uses and limitations of digital technology.
Culture Machine publishes one edition of the journal each year, with
Culture Machine 7 appearing at the beginning of 2005. All contributions
to the journal are refereed anonymously. Authors should follow the
Culture Machine Style Manual in preparing their articles
(http://culturemachine.tees.ac.uk/papers.htm#submissions).
--
Dr Gary Hall
Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies, Middlesex University
Co-editor of Culture Machine http://www.culturemachine.net
My website http://www.garyhall.info
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Distributed through Cyber-Society-Live [CSL]: CSL is a moderated discussion
list made up of people who are interested in the interdisciplinary academic
study of Cyber Society in all its manifestations.To join the list please visit:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/cyber-society-live.html
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