CFP: Special Issue on the Biosemiotics of Waste

The Biosemiotics of Waste
July/August 2023 Special Issue ofBiosemiotics
Edited By Yogi Hale Hendlin & TylerJamesBennett

Call for papers

With the symbolic shadow of colonial efficiency looming large on the semiotic landscape of
all life,pollution occupies and influences the agency of (nearly) all organisms on our planet.
The Anthropocene has meant for all living beings(to varying degrees)contamination with
detritus–the afterthoughts of civilization.With a pointed interest in the interdependence of
different kinds of waste,Michael Marder’sDump Philosophyhas suggested thattoday,“the
meaning of being is being dumped”.(p. 88)
Dumping, and the waste which is both driver and product of dumping, showsup incountless
ways for biosemiotics. It canbe atsunami of manipulationin popular media; biosemiosis
inhibited,when thesongbirdsaredrowned out byurban noise;fragile ecosystemscoping
with degraded landscapesand biodiversity loss; orit can driveadaptationin the face of
anthropogenic climate change.Onlythroughexaminingthe state of wasteinfiltrating
biosemiotics can we raise aresponse adequate to the magnitude of this dump.
The editors welcome contributionsalong any of these (and other) lines of inquiry.
Environmental philosopher and phenomenologist Michael Marderhas agreed torespondto
the contributions, a coda to biosemiotic reflections on life in the age of the dump.

Timeline
Abstracts Due28 November, 2022
Full Papers submitted to SI Editors 30 March, 2023
Editor Comments back to Authorsby15 April, 2023
Final Papers submitted to the journal online 5 May, 2023
Peer Review between May and June 2023
Published Issue July/August 2023

Abstracts between 500-1,000 words can be sent [email protected]
[email protected]

Final contributions of up to 9,000 words(inclusive)are welcome.

Biosemioticsis the official journal of the International Society of Biosemiotic Studies (ISBS) and publishes
peer-reviewed interdisciplinary research investigating the myriad forms of communication and
signification found in and between living systems. The journal provides a forum for discussions at the
intersection of philosophy, semiotics, and biology, synthesizing semiotic and linguistic methodologies
with natural scientific methods and findings to publish diverse theoretical and empirical research into the
questions of how living organisms communicate and making meaning in their environments. The journal
has a 1.735 IF (2021) and is ranked 20/63 in History & Philosophy of Science, and 108/830 (top 13%) in
Language and Linguistics.https://www.springer.com/journal/12304