CALL FOR PAPERS: Reconfiguring Identity and Power in Contemporary Humanities: Postcolonial, Gendered, and Digital Perspectives

Reconfiguring Identity and Power in Contemporary Humanities: Postcolonial, Gendered, and Digital Perspectives

 

1. Rationale and Scholarly Significance

Over the past two decades, the humanities have undergone profound epistemological and methodological transformations driven by globalization, migration, digitalization, ideological polarization, and renewed debates surrounding identity and belonging. Questions of nationalism, diaspora, gender, disability, xenophobia, religious discourse, and artificial intelligence are increasingly reshaping literary production, cultural representation, and pedagogical practice.

In contemporary contexts, identity is no longer a stable construct but a contested site negotiated through narrative, discourse, performance, and digital mediation. Literary texts, political and religious rhetoric, media narratives, and educational technologies have become central arenas where power structures are challenged, reproduced, and reimagined.

This Special Issue seeks to examine how identity, authority, representation, and discourse are being reconfigured across literary, sociolinguistic, cultural, and digital domains. By bringing together interdisciplinary scholarship, the issue aims to contribute to emerging global debates within contemporary humanities research.

The proposed theme aligns closely with the journal’s interdisciplinary scope and its commitment to advancing critical, globally relevant scholarship in advanced humanities.

1. Objectives of the Special Issue

The Special Issue aims to:

1. Investigate evolving constructions of identity and belonging in postcolonial and diasporic contexts.
2. Examine representations of marginalized subjects, including women, ethnic minorities, and persons with disabilities.
3. Analyze political, religious, and media discourse in relation to ideology and power.
4. Explore the aesthetic transformations of contemporary theatre and narrative forms.
5. Assess the impact of digital technologies and artificial intelligence on language education and cultural production.
6. Promote interdisciplinary dialogue across literary studies, discourse analysis, cultural studies, and digital humanities.

 

1. Thematic Areas
2. Postcolonialism, Diaspora, and National Identity

• Muslim diaspora and national belonging
• Identity negotiation in migrant narratives
• Islamophobia and cultural representation
• Decolonizing literature and performance

1. Gender, Disability, and Intersectionality

• Postcolonial feminist readings
• Representation of women with disabilities
• Trauma and racialized subjectivity
• Structural violence and honor-based narratives

1. Discourse, Ideology, and Power

• Political discourse analysis
• Religious discourse and pragmatics
• Xenophobia and language anxiety
• Media language and ideological framing

1. Aesthetic Transformations in Contemporary Literature

• Postdramatic theatre
• Bakhtinian carnivalesque and subversion
• Dystopian and magical realist narratives
• Posthumanist readings of literary texts

1. Digital Humanities and Language Education

• Artificial intelligence in language pedagogy
• Smartphone applications in Arabic education
• Interactive e-learning models
• Digital adaptation and cross-cultural translation

1. Scope and Interdisciplinary Contribution

The Special Issue will welcome:

• Theoretical studies
• Applied textual analyses
• Comparative research
• Interdisciplinary contributions bridging literature, linguistics, sociology, media studies, and educational technology
• Research in digital humanities

By integrating postcolonial theory, gender studies, discourse analysis, and digital transformation, the issue seeks to position the humanities as a dynamic field responsive to contemporary global challenges.

1. Structure of the Special Issue

The proposed volume will include:

• An Editorial Introduction (Guest Editor)
• 12–15 peer-reviewed research articles
• One extended review essay (optional)
• Selected book reviews (subject to journal policy)

All submissions will undergo a double-blind peer-review process in accordance with the journal’s publication standards and ethical guidelines.

1. Quality Assurance and Editorial Standards

• Double-blind peer review
• Plagiarism screening
• International reviewer pool
• Geographical diversity of contributors
• Target acceptance rate: 40%
• Emphasis on originality, theoretical rigor, and global relevance

1. Proposed Timeline 

• Call for Papers Announcement: March 8, 2026
• Full Paper Submission Deadline: June 30, 2026
• Peer Review Completion: July 30, 2026
• Final Revisions: August 15, 2026
• Publication: September 15, 2026

1. Contribution to the Journal’s Impact

This Special Issue is expected to:

• Attract international and interdisciplinary submissions
• Address timely global concerns (identity politics, migration, Islamophobia, AI in education)
• Enhance citation potential due to thematic relevance
• Strengthen the journal’s position within Scopus-indexed humanities research

 

Submission Guidelines

1) Include an abstract of not more than 200 words.

2) Include 4 to 7 key words in alphabetical order.

3) Your submission should have full name written in this format (First name, Last Name), institution of affiliation, country and contact details. Add your ORCID ID too.

4) References should conform to APA Referencing style. Do not add footnotes, instead use endnotes or indices at the end of the reference list. 

 

Publication Ethics

1)  The submissions should be original work of the author(s) and must not be published elsewhere. Submissions with plagiarized content and copyright issues will be rejected out rightly.

2) By sending the submissions, the author(s) agree to assign exclusive copyright in the work to the Editorial Board. Editorial Board shall be entitled to, without limitation, publish and reproduce the submission (or part(s) thereof) in any manner it sees fit (with due acknowledgement to the author) subject to the doctrine of fair use as enumerated under the Copyright Act of 1988.

3)  The editors reserve the rights to edit the submissions (or part(s) thereof) for publication without permission from or further notice to the author.

4)  After initial screening, short-listed submissions will go through a double-blind peer-review process and the final selection will be based on the same procedure.