CALL FOR PAPERS: A Special Issue of the Journal Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies

CALL FOR PAPERS: A Special Issue of the Journal Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies December 11, 2013
“From Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin” 


On February 26, 2012, 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot dead by 28-year-old George Zimmerman, as he walked home through the gated community neighborhood in which he was visiting his father’s fiancé. Against the backdrop of Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” law, Zimmerman claimed he was threatened by the presence of the unarmed African-American high school student wearing a hooded sweatshirt. News of the shooting, and the racially-charged court case and media coverage that ensued — in which Zimmerman was acquitted of charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges — captivated the nation. Impassioned statements by President Barack Obama and social media protests by NBA stars Dwyane Wade and LeBron James, as well as the Howard University School of Medicine, soon followed. 

Yet we should not be surprised of the jury’s decision to acquit Zimmerman. W.E.B. Du Bois once wrote, “Nothing in the world is easier in the United States than to accuse a black man of a crime.” Du Bois wrote that in 1932, but his words ring just as true some 82 years later. And that in itself is a crime, a stain on our nation’s soul. 

In this special issue, we seek to open a conversation about the historical processes and exigencies that “lead to a situation in which a young man who is taking a break from the NBA All-Star Game goes on a snack run and doesn’t make it home” (Coates, 2013). For this goes beyond Martin and Zimmerman, beyond the Florida legal system, beyond the infotainment cable news coverage of the case. It spans the historical arc from Emmett Till’s murder in 1955 to the murder of Trayvon Martin in 2012. 

We know the names well: Sean Bell. Abner Louima. Amadou Diallo. Patrick Dorismond. Oscar Grant. The Jena Six. Rodney King. Stop-and-Frisk. Racial profiling. Discriminatory housing practices. Political assassinations. At the same time, it is a narrative that exists beyond the historical present to one rooted in our national heritage, our national founding: colonialism; slavery; the Civil War; Jim Crow; segregation; economic apartheid; white privilege. 

To this end, we encourage commentary and discussion that engages with the historical location of Trayvon Martin to our national condition. We will consider manuscripts from within or against the interdisciplinary divides as related to: race; gender; social class; mass media; sport; politics; education; violence; prisons; performance; history; social work; and the arts (as well as others not listed here). 

Manuscripts are due by March 1, 2014, with a word length of no more than 5,000 words inclusive of references, endnotes, and so forth. Manuscripts should be submitted via email as MS-Word documents to Bryant Keith Alexander (bryantkeithalexander@lmu.edu) for an initial review.


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