Call for Papers for the Second Issue

Social sciences in East-Central Europe and other (semi)peripheries: Colonization, partnership or autonomy?

The second issue of Intersections. East European Journal of Society and Politics aims at a critical reflection on the epistemological position and the public authority of social sciences in European and non-European (semi)peripheries. It investigates the distinct regional voices in social sciences of (semi)peripheries and their comparative position in global knowledge production.

In order to overcome national parochialism and the constraints set by the local political and intellectual environment, and to get integrated into the international academic community scholars from the (semi)peripheries have learnt how to use Western mainstream approaches, funding and publication opportunities. Earlier debates have already revealed the limits of intellectual freedom and financial autonomy of social sciences in East-Central Europe and raised the problem of ‘colonization’ by Western scholars and sponsors. It was claimed that scholars from East-Central Europe were ascribed the role of mere data suppliers who at the same time were also experiencing a massive brain drain. As a reaction many of them adopted an “Ossi posture” of victimisation or became neophytes of the mainstream Western approaches while losing their sociological imagination or even the social relevance of their work.  

Building on the analysis of the local and global academic knowledge production we invite colleagues to participate in this special issue with papers reflecting on various aspects of authority and agency of social sciences in East-Central Europe and how academic and public constrains have affected research agendas, methodologies and theories. As the position of East-Central European social scientists is not unique we also invite scholars working in other (semi)peripheries of the academic world to contribute to this issue.

We encourage potential authors to send a proposal including an abstract (which should not be longer than 800 words), a short bio and the main questions and arguments of the paper under preparation by December 10, 2014. The deadline for paper submissions is January 30, 2015. Details concerning the style and format of manuscripts can be found here:

http://intersections.tk.mta.hu/index.php/intersections/about/submissions#authorGuidelines