Call for Papers
Special Issue on "Transformative Social Practice and Socio-Critical Knowledge"
DEADLINE for Manuscript Submissions: July 15 2012.
Guest Editors: Ines Langemeyer and Stefanie Schmachtel
"Transformative social practice" is a new and old topic of cultural-historical research concerning simultaneously theoretical, practical, and methodological dimensions. What is essential for this theme is not expressible in words such as 'improvement', 'enhancement' or 'innovation' only. Given the experience with the neoliberal tendency of constantly creating change, these words would even be misleading since "transformative social practice" could also mean "preserving", "building on" and "developing" practices rather than simply "change". Instead, the perspective intends to stimulate self-reflection and awareness within different fields of practice which are marked by "an active participatory" or more precisely a "transformative activist stance" – as Anna Stetsenko coins it. What is essential for this perspective?
1. The main idea of "transformative social practice" is that scientific research can make a difference: it's a stance which is inspired by critical dialectical thinking and therefore insists that societal relations are created by humans which is why there are possibilities of transforming the conditions by which we are estranged, patronized, oppressed, exploited -- yet also enabled and empowered. The idea of "transformative social practice" therefore envisions the attempt to develop an emancipatory, i.e. critical and self-reflective, form of science that fosters and supports a new order of social justice and keeps the ideal of free human development alive. Such issues are not just 'secondary', moral issues, so to speak, subordinated to the 'primacy' of scientific matters; this division and subordination is questioned in the first place. Scientific progress and social justice are rather seen as two sides of the same coin.
2. The cultural-historical approach serves not only as a pool of critical insights or useful tools, but itself as a model of 'doing science' as researchers. Most importantly, this sociocritical science can ever be a kind of knowledge of a completed form. It needs to be developed, as Vygotsky maintains, in many contexts and by many people. There is no end, no predetermined objective and no ultimate solution. We need to be dialecticians – addressing the challenges of a changing world each time anew.
3. The topic "transformative social practice" does not address changes in terms of sociopolitical trends or shifts only. Rather, this perspective is interested in taking a culturalhistorical stance towards these changes to understand the challenges we are facing when we search for "transformative social practice" in our own research. With this perspective we can also try to understand the paradigmatic nature of societal transformations and reflect critically our own perception of the current times and the ways we anticipate change, the ways we hope for betterment and how we envision our future.
This special issue aims at bringing together contributions that address and reflect upon the interventionist and political impetus inherent in cultural-historical research. Articles are sought that shed light upon the process of 'doing' transformative research, critically reflecting on the socio-political role of the knowledge in use. Contributions with both a theoretical and empirical focus are welcome. If your work has important implications for recontextualising cultural-historical theory as a theory of transformative practice or if it empirically examines social transformative practice in a methodologically reflective way we would like to encourage you to submit an article for consideration. We also encourage potential contributors to pick up on prior articles and issues of Outlines.
GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSIONS
Manuscripts will be subject to a blind peer review process. The journal follows an open access policy. Articles are 60-70.000 characters, but may vary in length depending on subject matter and style of writing. Manuscripts should be prepared according to the APA style when formatting citations and referencing. For further information and manuscript submission, please visit www.outlines.dk.
PLEASE CIRCULATE AS WIDELY AS POSSIBLE
Contact information:
Ines Langemeyer (Professor for Lifelong Learning, University of Education, Ludwigsburg, Germany): langemeyer[at]ph-ludwigsburg.de
Stefanie Schmachtel (PhD student, Department of Psychology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark) Stefanie.schmachtel[at]gmx.net
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