Calling all postgraduate and early career scholars Excellent publishing opportunity

****Deadline Extended*****
****Monday 20th February****

'Theorising Futurities in the Social Sciences'

In times of crisis and social change, the question of the future can become increasingly pressing. Amidst the threat of continued economic recession, extensive budget cuts, and the growing intrusion of government into the sphere of academic research, it is understandable that the future has become shrouded in discussions of impending catastrophe and the indisputable sensation that things can only be getting worse. This edition explores this by asking how the future is being represented and played out in the contemporary social world. It asks how we, as social scientists, theorise futures in times of apparent social crisis and change, and asks how these dynamics may affect our methodological and epistemological approaches. Must we always strive for 'positive'
futures? And what could come out of a social science driven by 'negativity'? We therefore welcome papers on topics including, but not limited to:

. Theories of futurities in times of social
crisis and change. How does the overarching narrative of economic crisis impact upon the notion of the future for different social groups, in particular, minorities and the disadvantaged? What kind of futures are conceptualised for and by different subject in society?

. How has the future figured in the emergence of
recent social activism and political movements, including voices of resistance and voices of conservatism? What kind of geographical, social and discursive spaces have these discourses opened up and closed down?

. Theories of futurities, including philosophical
reflections on time, the development of queer temporalities, and the influence of the epistemic category of 'the future' upon social science methodologies.

. Problematising apocalyptic and utopian models
for thinking through futurities.

. Representations of the future in the
contemporary world. How do subjects, governments and the media tell stories about the future? How do cultural and media texts narrate futurities, including analysis of cultural, literary and cinematic representation in the context of the social. And how do these stories also shape the formations of identities and histories?

. The role of the future in established and
emerging social science methodologies. How does the question of futurities enter into spaces like the university and the classroom?

Submissions: Articles (5000-8000 words), book reviews (1000-1500 words), short essays (2000-3000 words) and visual materials are all welcome, as well as any information on seminars, lectures, conferences, blogs and other events and spaces offering new platforms for the understanding of futurities within the social sciences. This is a great opportunity for young and emerging scholars to get published, so please do take this opportunity to submit your draft papers for review!

All submissions must be anonymous and accompanied by the GJSS submission form, which can be downloaded from the GJSS website. Please include an abstract, a short author bio and 3 to 5 keywords. Detailed submission guidelines and formatting instructions can be found on http://www.gjss.org/index.php?/gjss.org-Submission-of-A
rticles.html

All written contributions should follow the Chicago Manual of Style guidelines, which can be found at http://gjss.org/index.php?/gjss.org-Chicago-Manual-of-S
tyle.html

Deadline for all contributions is Monday 20th February 2012. Please email all contributions and enquiries to the Chief Editors of GJSS, Alexa Athelstan and Rosemary Deller, at editors@gjss.org

Suggestions and enquiries regarding book reviews should be directed to Book Review Editor, Melissa Kelly at Melissa.kelly@kultgeog.uu.se.

Papers submitted to GJSS will undergo an initial selection process by the guest editors with the purpose of assessing and eventually focusing their relevance to the GJSS issue theme. Accepted papers will then undergo a double-blind peer review process.

Publication date envisaged: June 2012.