CfP: Writing Artifacts (Edited Collection)
A call for proposals is currently open for an edited collection titled 'Writing Artifacts.' The aim of this collection is to address a gap in writing studies by exploring the histories and uses of writing artifacts that reveal the material lives of those who interact with them. Scholars in writing studies, material culture studies, and related disciplines are invited to contribute to this collection, with a focus on building an archive of objects and possessions that hold significance in the study and practice of writing.
For the purposes of this collection, a writing artifact refers to any material thing used in writing, including tools, implements, possessions, and both physical and digital objects. The collection seeks to examine a wide range of artifacts, such as personal possessions, communal objects, marginalized objects, and writing tools with limited knowledge. The goal is to uncover the diverse lives, writing histories, and practices of everyday people through the documented artifacts.
Contributors are encouraged to explore various topics related to writing artifacts, including heirlooms, objects in the context of the pandemic or times of flux, objects supporting the writing process, sentimental objects, gatekeeping objects, marginalized objects, literacy artifacts, writing identity artifacts, and objects related to specific disciplines or research practices, among others.
Each chapter in the collection should focus on a single writing artifact or a related set of artifacts. The emphasis is on shorter chapters (3,000-5,000 words) to encourage new and innovative scholarly work. Qualitative and hybrid research methodologies and theoretical frameworks are welcome, including life-span interviews, autoethnography, consumer research, narrative approaches, phenomenology, observation, thick description, and historical secondary research. Authors are encouraged to consider Prownian analysis as a methodological approach.
Proposals should include a 250-400 word abstract outlining the artifact(s) to be studied and the research methods to be employed. Authors should also provide a tentative title for the proposed chapter, their name, a short bio including institutional/professional affiliation or writing/work background, and indicate if the project involves human subject research.
The deadline for proposal submission is Sunday, September 25, 2023. Accepted contributors will be notified by Monday, October 30, 2023, and the full chapter submission deadline is Sunday, March 10, 2024.
For inquiries and submissions, please contact both Cydney Alexis and Hannah Rule.
Please note that the list of touchstone work provided below offers potential connections and references for authors:
- Alexis and Rule, The Material Culture of Writing
- Haltman and Prown, American Artifacts: Essays in Material Culture
- Jules Prown, “Mind in Matter: An Introduction to Material Culture Theory and Method” (Winterthur Portfolio)
- Henry Petroski, “Why the Pencil?” (American Scientist)
- Laura Micciche, “Writers Have Always Loved Mobile Devices” (The Atlantic)
- Henry Glassie, Material Culture
- Epp and Price, “The Storied Life of Singularized Objects: Forces of Agency and Network Transformation” (Journal of Consumer Research)
- Lesley Bartlett, “Identity Work and Cultural Artefacts in Literacy Learning and Use: A Sociocultural Analysis” (Language and Education)
- Gouge and Jones, “Wearables, Wearing, and the Rhetorics that Attend to Them” (Rhetoric Society Quarterly)
- Csikszentmihalyi and Rochberg-Halton, Why We Need Things