The editors of MFS seek essays that cast in a postcolonial and global frame Heidegger’s question: What does it mean to dwell? This Special Issue will explore Heidegger’s concept of dwelling within the context of contemporary fiction, focusing on late 20th-early 21st-century texts portray the distinction between merely occupying a space or building and truly dwelling.
Building on cross-disciplinary conversations among such fields as postcolonialism, globalization and postglobal studies and race and gender studies, as well as more traditional fields such as geography and phenomenology, the special issue takes its title from Heidegger’s essay “Bauen Wohnen Denken” [“Building Dwelling Thinking”], in which he defines dwelling in terms of volkstümlich, traditions that define individuals and peoples and that are, necessarily, steeped in blut [blood]. This blut in turn is what binds individuals to both a shared tradition and the land that both nurtured and maintains it. This Special Issue will examine how the systematic disenfranchisement or marginalization (both historically under colonialism and in our own globalized age) of those who would otherwise dwell constitutes a denial of dwelling itself, the most visible marker of the oppressor’s violence. Submissions to this Special Issue should problematize the concepts and challenges of dwelling in a global age, offering a vista into the present complexities of this oldest of human ideas.
Essays should be 7,000 – 9,000 words, including all quotations and bibliographic references, and should follow the MLA Style Manual (7th edition) for internal citations and Works Cited. The deadline for submissions is July 1, 2015.
Please submit your essay via the online submission form at: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/mfs
Queries should be directed to Grant Farred (gaf38@cornell.edu) or Alfred J. López (alopez@purdue.edu).