Yo boys.
Would you be interested in something looking at representations of family, christmas and commercialisation in women's housekeeping magazines from the 1930's onwards? I have a stack of back copies from my Nan from about 1932 - 1970 ish... Dying to use them for something!
Is just an idea at the moment, in fact just thought of it right now on the train :o)
xxx
-----Original Message-----
From: Critical Perspectives on Work, Management and Organization [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Philip Hancock
Sent: 22 June 2009 15:07
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Call for Papers - Special Issue of Organization
Apologies for Cross Postings
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:
http://www.sagepub.com/journalsProdDesc.nav?
level1=600&currTree=Subjects&catLevel1=&prodId=Journal200981.
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
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