Theme outline:
Under capitalism, abstract, intangible and often unintelligible constructs have devastating effects on people and the ecosystems they live in relation with. Debt is one such construct that permeates our lives at every level, from the global to the personal and psychological. As with everything under capitalism, debt especially negatively affects the already vulnerable members of societies, while greatly benefiting the privileged few. In fact, in global necropolitics, debt seems to be the fate of the Global South, trapping entire nations in destructive and vicious circles of exploitation. Across layers of society and throughout our day-to-day lives, debt and the concept of indebtedness is present, pressing heavily, and severely limiting the lives of those suffering its violence.
The sixth issue of Errant aims to discuss the concept of debt, from historically created imbalances to the personal reverberations in the here and now, in order to lift some of the power of the abstraction of debt. Moving out of the dark corners of obscurity and shame often attached to indebtedness, we can perhaps consider different forms of disobedience to this particular aspect of capitalist oppression.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- Histories of colonial debt e.g. Haiti, Sri Lanka, Puerto Rico
- Debt and ‘development’
- Unpaid labour and debt
- The role of debt in the perpetuation of the coloniality of power
- Debt in relation to differential body politics
- Concept of debt (or absence thereof) in different epistemologies (e.g. potlatches, matriarchal societies)
- Anti-debt activism, disobedience, and alternatives
Your proposal:
Because it is our aim to give form to the idea of a pluriversal world, we resolutely reject the idea of a universal way of knowing emanating from a neutral, general and/or anonymous perspective. Instead, we look for contributions that are concretely situated, personal, fragmented, specific, etc. and from all possible backgrounds, disciplines and/or embodied knowledges. We also look for and welcome contributions that come from a different epistemological knowledge or language that the editors of Errant do not understand. Additionally, we welcome all possible forms that can be conveyed in the format of a publication: academic writing, fiction, poetry, images and experimental forms we have not thought of ourselves yet.
Submission:
Proposals should not exceed 300 words, accompanied by one piece of previously published material and a short bio. You may also propose an existing text, artwork or other material, if so please specify. The deadline for proposals is 22 May 2023.
After selection, the deadline for contributions is 11 September 2023. We aim to publish this issue by the end of 2023.
Please send your proposals to: info@errantjournal.org, please send any questions you might have about this open call to: ashley@errantjournal.org.
We aim for max. 3-4,000 words for an essay or short story, max. 2 or 3 pages for a poem, and max. 10 pages for a visual contribution. Amount of words/pages is open for discussion and depends on the contribution.
Contributors publishing new material especially created for this issue of Errant receive a fee of €750,- incl. VAT per contribution upon acceptance and publication.