CALL FOR PAPERS: LIQUID BLACKNESS JOURNAL 6.1 “AESTHETICS”
liquid blackness: journal of aesthetics and black studies
6, no. 1, Spring 2022 (Duke University Press, beginning Spring 2021)
About liquid blackness
liquid blackness is an open-access journal, which means that all content is freely available without charge to readers or their institutions.
Mission Statement
The liquid blackness journal seeks to carve out a place for aesthetic theory and the most radical agenda of Black Studies to come together in productive ways, with a double goal: to fully attend to the aesthetic work of blackness and to the political work of form. In this way, the journal strives to develop innovative approaches and analytic tools to address points of convergence between the exigencies of black life and the many slippery ways in which blackness is encountered in contemporary sonic and visual culture.
liquid blackness aims to establish a point of exchange at the intersection of multiple fields. The history of this intentionally undisciplined space is best understood through a series of questions pivoting around (1) the relationship between aesthetics and the ontology of blackness and (2) the generative potential of blackness as an aesthetic. If blackness is, as we argue after Fred Moten, an unregulated generative force, then the liquid blackness journal seeks to offer a dedicated space where it can be consistently unleashed. As we extend and confront lines of inquiry from a number of research fields, our approach is equally concerned with theoretical content, analytical methods, and scholarly praxis.
The Editorial Board has planned the first three themed (and foundational) issues, on the following concepts:
“liquidity” – Vol 5 no. 1 – Spring 2021
“blackness” – Vol 5 no. 2 – Fall 2021
“aesthetics” – Vol 6 no. 1 – Spring 2022
After two foundational issues devoted to “liquidity” and “blackness,” we now turn to our third concept, “aesthetics,” to explore its radical potential for Black Studies. We are inspired by Fred Moten’s posing of black aesthetic sociality as a problem for ontology, and appositional to epistemology and phenomenology. Moten’s insistence on the irreducible vitality of black sociality has been both inspirational and aspirational to the theoretical foundation, the ethics, and the praxis that sustain this journal. His aesthetic thinking and practice—we hesitate to call it a “theory”—unravels in a multitude of ways throughout his long career as poet, theorist, philosopher, art critic, and through his engagement with an extraordinarily rich, varied, and unruly archive.
Inspired by this capacious model of practice and the ways Moten’s work radically upends traditional distinctions between ontology, phenomenology, epistemology, and aesthetics, we offer below some concepts that have appeared in his recent trilogy “consent not to be a single being” to invite contributions that engage with, and might enrich, the theoretical, methodological, and artistic archives mobilized in Moten’s work, or, conversely express skepticism and offer criticism.
We take this opportunity to explore the expansive possibilities of “aesthetic thinking” broadly conceived, and investigate who can do theory (scholars, artists, activists…), how theory can be done (in image, writing, archiving, curating, social activism…), and what a Black aesthetic object is (“high”/“low” art, sound and image, practice and praxis, the work of individual artists and ensembles…).
practice/praxis
black study
nonperformance
fugitivity
being sent
hermeneutics
blur
chromatic saturation
black aurality
poetics of passage
knowledge of freedom
ensemble
form and informality
modes/tools of aesthetic thinking
anaoriginarity
thingliness and no-thingness
black cinematic apparatus and phonographic mise-en-scene
production, reproduction, and value
dematerialization, rematerialization, animateriality
the paraontological
dehiscence
black ops/Afro-optimism
Essays of no more than 4,000 – 5,000 words with accompanying images, and/or video or sound clip, should be submitted to journalsubmissions@liquidblackness.com by December 1, 2020.
Questions about the length of visual and sonic material should be directed to journalsubmissions@liquidblackness.com
—
Information for Authors
liquid blackness follows the formatting and reference guidelines stipulated by The Chicago Manual of Style, seventeenth edition, and the liquid blackness style guide. We encourage submissions of bold and innovative contributions addressing points of convergence between Black studies and aesthetic theory, practice and praxis. We welcome submissions of traditional and experimental essays, visual and textual art, video, and other artistic work accompanied by an artist statement. All submissions, solicited and unsolicited, will be peer-reviewed. Please send submissions to journalsubmissions@liquidblackness.com.
The Editorial Process
liquid blackness is committed to publishing issues that have a thematic, methodological, or formal consistency. We welcome work that responds to our current Calls for Papers and open call submissions.
Proposals for special issues from guest editors must include a title; abstract describing the theme; list of confirmed contributors with brief bios and paper abstracts; list of possible reviewers; and publication timeline (the expected date for the first drafts).
Additional Submission Guidelines
All submissions that produce significant original thought in written, visual, or sonic form must include five keywords and an abstract of approximately 250 words that describes the piece’s topic, methodology, and central argument.
Written submissions should be Word or RTF files, not PDFs.
Written submissions accompanied by image/sound files (with credits and permissions) are highly recommended.
Audiovisual submissions can be submitted in the following formats: mp3, .mp4, .wav, .wma, .au, .m4a, .mpg, .mpeg, .mov, .avi, .wmv., html. (Executable files (.exe) are not acceptable.)
Minimum image resolution is 300 dpi.