Publication date: Spring 2018



The peer-reviewed online journal *“Middle East – Topics & Arguments” (META)* is
calling for submissions for its tenth issue on the topic of “
*Infrastructure*”.



Infrastructure points to the ultimate conceptual debates of social science;
it highlights the strong connections between material things, lives, and
practice with immaterial and ideational aspects of human life. Furthermore,
infrastructural matters like pipes, dams, walls, grids, cables, etc. reveal
and, even more so, complicate the relationship between nature and humanity.
We believe that studying infrastructure leads to new horizons of
understanding people’s socio-political, moral and affective worlds and how
they relate to conceptions of nature. Infrastructure as the topic for the
tenth issue of Middle East – Topics & Arguments (META) offers a variety of
conceptual approaches from many disciplines, such as history, anthropology,
sociology, political science, cultural studies, media studies and economics
(among others), as the topic connects the research on practices of everyday
life with questions of planning, state politics and local and global
neoliberal developments. Further, Infrastructure provides an interesting
departure point to study the material entanglements of infrastructure with
modes of its facilitation and representation.



Infrastructures, such as transportation, energy and water networks,
facilitate everyday life, while at the same time rupture it at any given
moment. They assemble all kinds of actors and agents once they are brought
into being. As manifestations of diverging interests, infrastructures are
always bound with relations of power and domination. They hence do not only
embody and reproduce power relations, but also engender sites of resistance
and subversion in times of social crises. These understandings of
infrastructures will help us to study them as much more than technological
accomplishments of the present, but rather as cultural semiotics that are
deeply embedded in everyday politics and social relations.



For this META issue, we are looking for submissions that not only
interrogate infrastructural networks as spatial arrangements that lay out
social organization, but also look back into the temporality of
infrastructures: histories of colonialism and imperialism that once shaped
Middle Eastern and North African societies and the post/neo-colonial
continuations of material networks that facilitate and control communities.



From the symbolic meanings to its material effects, its embeddedness in
everyday politics and role in negotiations of power and resistance,
infrastructures are indeed the key point for scrutinizing technological and
developmental progress, neoliberalism and modernity at large.

We welcome abstracts for proposed articles from scholars that employ
infrastructure as a key conceptual instrument in understanding and
researching commonalities and differences of the political, social and
cultural worlds in the Middle East. Some suggested themes are:



   - *Infrastructural Histories*

The tendency to consider infrastructural systems as timeless is a job half
undone, and we welcome papers that discuss the ways in which the “life
stories” of infrastructures are directly relevant to the emergence of not
only modern nation-states, colonialism, and neoliberalism, but also
political histories of post-colonial contexts in the MENA region.



   - *States, Expertise and Politics of Infrastructure*

Infrastructural elements are what bind bodies, households and communities
together. And sometimes they are what tear them apart. The public shapes
and is shaped by these concrete and technical entities. A crucial aspect of
how infrastructures are perceived is that they unveil the contested
relations between the states and societies driven by power and exchange. We
seek to understand the relational aspects of infrastructures; not only
between state actors and their constituents, but also amongst the world of
expertise – namely, the engineers, technicians, and workers who build,
oversee, and manage these life structures and how they relate to the public
sphere.



   - *Infrastructures in Crisis: Rupture, Violence and Securitization*

Throughout the last decade, many spaces have become increasingly
securitized and militarized. In “war zones” and in many urban settings all
over the world, the role of security in times of “war against terror” has
become paramount to urban planners, state institutions and private security
firms. As public goods, infrastructures such as airports and buses, but
also pipelines, etc., have become increasingly targeted by terror attacks,
which has warranted constant intervention from state agencies and private
security firms. The security of infrastructures often comes along with an
increase in the application of infrastructures of security: constant
surveillance, racial profiling, the use of drones and other intelligence
means. Hence, infrastructures can be seen as specific spatial assemblages
that reflect and manifest, but often also evade these efforts of
securitization. The goal is to explore the ways in which infrastructures
can not only be tools for securitization and surveillance in the hands of
state and private actors, but also can be employed as spaces of dissidence
that defy total control and can thus become spaces of resistance to (state)
power.



   - *Mobilities through space and time*

We welcome abstracts that focus on the key concept of *mobility* in regard
to infrastructures of urban and rural spaces in the Middle East. At the
heart of many struggles between city residents and their governments are
not only inter-city/state highways and city transportation, but also the
provision of services such as electricity, water and garbage collection.
What is more is that this struggle heavily involves our natural
surroundings and resources. Mobility has become a key term, not just with
respect to the (in)ability to move from one place to another, but also in
terms of social and cultural mobility. Here the goal is to contribute to
the conceptualization of the mobility of people, goods, and resources
through scrutinizing the use, manipulation of and negotiations around
designing and facilitating these infrastructural systems.



Other themes that could be tackled under the umbrella of infrastructure
could be:

   - How does the planning, implementation and running of infrastructure
   affect the construction of gender roles and reflect the ongoing social
   construction and negotiation of public and private spaces?


   - How can infrastructure be conceptualized with regard to its economic
   importance? Infrastructures are increasingly important when it comes to
   business investments all over the globe. As huge entities that create the
   need for human resources, expensive materials, time and capital,
   infrastructures reflect the global politics of capitalism and its
   asymmetric functioning. Not only in war-ridden areas such as Iraq, Libya
   and Syria, but also in other Middle Eastern countries, infrastructures are
   targeted as places that reflect the global economic dynamics. These
   technological systems create a network that enhance the reach of the global
   market. Keeping this in mind, how do the implementation, investment and
   privatization of infrastructures impact the global economic order that is
   manifested continuously in the Middle Eastern context?



We call for articles from a broad array of disciplines, including
sociology, anthropology, political science, literature studies, cultural
studies, media studies, history and economics, which critically engage with
concepts of infrastructure related to the MENA region, or which present new
empirical findings



Submissions relating to the issue’s focus topic are published in the FOCUS
section and reflect original research. Articles in this section should be
between 2,800 to 4,600 words. In addition to papers for the FOCUS section,
we call for contributions for META's special sections:

The CLOSE UP section features a short written portrait of a person who has
a special relation to the issue’s main topic, e.g. a researcher who has
constitutively contributed to the field. It links that person’s biography
with their contribution to the field. Article length is 1,500 to 3,000
words.



The META section also relates to the issue’s focus topic, with the papers
in “meta” discussing the main topic from a theory-centered perspective.
Regional scope is not limited to the Middle East, but may also consider
theoretical approaches involving other world regions. Article length is
2,800 to 4,600 words.



The ANTI/THESIS section juxtaposes two rivaling positions that highlight
different lines of argument, pros and cons, and/or competing narratives.
These can be presented either by one author together, or by two different
authors in two different articles. Article length for each paper is
1,500-3,000 words. All articles that fall into the general framework of the

journal, but do not relate to the special topic “Infrastructure”, will be
taken into consideration for the OFF TOPIC section.



Prior to developing a complete manuscript, authors are asked to submit an
abstract (300 words max.), a short CV (150 words max.), and 3-5 key
bibliographic sources. Please clearly indicate the research question, the
method to be used, and the empirical material your research will be based
on. Papers are accepted in English only.



The editors will make a preliminary decision regarding the topic’s
relevance to the journal’s aims and scope and may provide suggestions for
developing the manuscript. Please consult our website for further
information about the journal’s concept, sections, and authors’ guidelines.



*The deadline for abstract submissions
is http://airmail.calendar/2017-07-03%2012:00:00%20GMT+3
<http://airmail.calendar/2017-07-03%2012:00:00%20GMT+3>*


*The deadline for article submissions is September 30
<http://airmail.calendar/2017-09-30%2012:00:00%20GMT+3>th 2017*


Proposals, manuscripts and other editorial correspondence should be sent
to: *[log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>*

*Co-editors: Ezgican Özdemir (CEU), Amina Nolte (JLU Giessen)*



Ezgican Özdemir
PhD Candidate at the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology
Central European University
[log in to unmask]
+905332446777 <//+905332446777>
+905338749854 <//+905338749854>
+36705791786 <//+36705791786>

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