Special Issue Call for Papers - Gender & Displacement: Reconsidering Cultural Responses to Exile
Exile and migration to, from, and within Latin America have been commonplace throughout the history of the region, particularly during the latter half of the twentieth century, when political upheaval, military rule, dictatorships and civil war led to an unprecedented wave of forced displacement (Roniger et al 2018, 32). Although there have been many academic studies on the historical context of exile and the first generation of exiles - particularly male writers - the ongoing legacy of this displacement has remained underexamined, particularly when it comes to gendered, intergenerational and comparative approaches. Likewise, the concept of ‘exile’ itself has not received sustained theoretical scrutiny in spite of its ongoing importance to and across communities in Latin America, Europe and beyond. This Special Issue responds to renewed interest in literary and artistic works produced by women in exile and those born or brought up in exile, such as playwrights Victoria Szpunberg and Denise Despeyroux, writers like Ana Vázquez-Bronfman, Cristina Peri Rossi, Laura Alcoba and Carolina Trujillo, and artists such as Ana Mendieta and Anna Maria Maiolino. Many years later, for many of those forcibly displaced, there is no neat division between country of origin and country of exile; often encompassing multiple journeys and ‘returns’, these complex transnational subjectivities merit further investigation. We welcome contributions on any historical and contemporary experiences of exile(s). Through analyses of women writers, artists and filmmakers' engagements with the experience and legacy of displacement we seek to reconsider conceptualizations of Latin American exile in broad terms, while also foregrounding the specificities of displacement as a gendered experience.
We seek papers in English or Spanish that engage with, but are not limited to, the following topics:
- Expanding the canon of Latin American exile
- Reconceptualizations of homecoming and return
- Second-generation exiled writers, artists and practitioners
- Mobility as theme and form
- Displacement and gender identity
- Queer exile narratives
- Gendered domesticity in exile
- Multidirectionality and comparative exile studies (for example, Europeans exiled in Latin America, Cuban diasporas in the US, Southern-Cone exiles in the margins of Europe)
Please submit a 300-400-word abstract of your proposed article to Cara Levey (c.levey@ucc.ie) and Camilla Sutherland (c.g.sutherland@rug.nl), by 31st May 2024. You will be informed about the outcome of your abstract submission by 14th June 2024. If accepted, final articles of between 6,000 and 8,000 words must be submitted by 30th November 2024.
Mistral also accepts submissions that break with the conventions of traditional academic articles (creative critical writing, personal essays, testimonios, etc.), so please feel free to contact us regarding contributions of this sort.
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