Call for Articles- Alif 46 (2026)
The Body: Aesthetics, Perceptions, Representations
Abstract deadline: October 1, 2024
Article submission deadline: May 1, 2025
The body can be a vessel for the self, a subject of power structures, an object that can be manipulated and stimulated, and a site of cultural, religious, political practices and conflicts. This issue of Alif aims to problematize three concepts related to the body: what constitutes an “ideal” body, how are certain body images in turn valued and propagated over others, and how does this reflect on the way we perceive bodies? For instance, how are certain bodies centralized, marginalized, and/or fragmented culturally? What role does new media play in the formulation of such representations? How are beauty and ugliness, ability and disability, and health and ailment/deformity presented in literary and visual arts? How are stereotypes about feminine and masculine bodies created, reinforced, and disseminated? How do bodies get commodified, physically or metaphorically, within certain power relations? This issue of Alif invites original, both analytical and theoretical, contributions that explore the body in a variety of cultural productions. Contributions from various fields of the humanities and social sciences, including philosophy, sociology, anthropology, and media studies, are welcome.
Article topics might include but are not limited to:
- The “ideal” body and how it is constituted
- The impact of literary, artistic, and (social) media representations on body perceptions
- The body as a site of racial, ethnic, gendered, and sexual conflicts
- Violence, torture, and corporal punishment
- (De)Colonizing the body
- Ability and disability in literature and visual arts
- Illness, healing, and medicine
- The body as a commodity
- Beautifying/mutilating the body
- The body as a site of transactions (prostitution, human trafficking, seeking refuge, etc.)
- Shaping femininity and masculinity in fashion and advertisements
- Religion, mythology, and the body
- Burial and mummification rituals
- Philosophical approaches to the body
Key Dates
October 1, 2024 |
Deadline for submission of abstracts (300 words) |
May 1, 2025 | Deadline for submission of full articles |
Spring 2026 | Publication date |
Alif is a refereed, annual, multi-lingual, and multi-disciplinary journal published by the Department of English and Comparative Literature at the American University in Cairo. Each issue revolves around a theme or a problematic, bringing together the views and approaches of scholars from all over the world.
Alif is electronically available on JSTOR and indexed on a number of prestigious databases including Scopus, MLA International Bibliography, SAGE, Index Islamicus, EBSCO, Project Muse, and Literature Resource Center (GALE).
Submission instructions: An initial 300-word abstract should be submitted by 1 October 2024, accompanied by the author’s email address, telephone number, and postal address. Articles based on accepted abstracts should be between 6,000 and 8,000 words and may be submitted in Arabic, English, or French by electronic mail to alifecl@aucegypt.edu, together with an abstract of 100 words and a 50-word biographical note on the contributor. Authors should consult MLA Handbook (9th edition) for style in preparing their manuscript.
Only original articles that do not duplicate previously published work, including the author’s, and are not under review by another journal or collection will be considered.
Correspondence
Alif: Journal of Comparative Poetics, Dept. of English and Comparative Literature
American University in Cairo, 113 Kasr Al Aini Street, PO Box 2511
Cairo 11511, Egypt
Tel.: (+202) 2797-5107
E-mail: alifecl@aucegypt.edu
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