Revised CFP: Cultures of Shame

CALL FOR PAPERS (DEADLINE EXTENDED TO MARCH 31, 2020) 

EDITED COLLECTION TITLE: Cultures of Shame

EDITOR: Cecilea Mun, PhD is the editor of and a contributor to the edited collection titled, “Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Shame: Methods, Theories, Norms, Cultures, and Politics” (Lexington Books/Roman & Littlefield, October 2019), the founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of Philosophy of Emotion, and the founding director of the Society for Philosophy of Emotion. Her publications also include articles in Hypatia, the Journal of Social Ontology, Phenomenology and Mind, and Mind and Language. You can find out more about her at www.cmergence.com.

PUBLISHER: Springer/Nature, Sophia Studies in Cross-Cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures Series

DESCRIPTION OF EDITED COLLECTION: I was invited by Purusho Bilimoria and Christian Coseru to submit a proposal for the Sophia Studies series. The philosophy of shame is often pursued from a Western, colonial perspective of English -speaking countries, which typically focuses on standard accounts of shame that necessarily entail a global, negative self-assessment and emphasize the harmful effects of shame on an individual. Yet shame can also be understood as a complex emotion with culturally dependent meanings, functions, and consequences. Such a perspective on shame can be shared by realists, instrumentalists, eliminativists, and eliminative-realists about emotion (read Mun 2016, “Natural Kinds, Social Constructions, and Ordinary Language,” Journal of Social Ontology). I am, therefore, putting together an edited collection on shame that aims to bring together a collection of papers on the philosophy of shame from a non-English speaking cultural perspective that highlights the specific import of a particular culture in a theory of shame. I will be using the cultural groups established by Shalom H. Schwartz (2006), in “A Theory of Cultural Value Orientations: Explications and Applications.” In this article, Schwartz develops the following cultural groups: West European countries, English-speaking countries, Latin American countries, East European countries, South Asian countries, Confucian influenced countries, and African and Middle Eastern countries. More specifically, each chapter will focus on some question regarding how a culture, narrowly construed as a set of philosophies, ideologies, norms, conventions, traditions, or practices that are generally shared among a group of people and define that group’s identity, as a tribe, ethnicity, or nationality, can affect experiences of shame for members of that culture. 

 The following is a list of possible chapter topics, although I also welcome topics which are not listed here that also fulfill the aims and hopes of the proposed edited collection:

·      A theory of shame from the perspective of a particular indigenous, Asian, African, Middle Eastern, Latin American, West European, or East European culture that makes an original contribution within the general, philosophical discourse on shame or within the discourse on shame from that particular perspective.

·      A theory of shame that addresses questions or concerns regarding one’s identity as a member of a particular indigenous, Asian, African, Middle Eastern, Latin American, West European, or East European culture, and how such an identity is mediated through experiences of shame.

·      A theory of shame that makes an original contribution regarding the value of shame to a particular indigenous, Asian, African, Middle Eastern, Latin American, West European, or East European culture or community.

·      A theory of shame that takes a culturally comparative approach and highlights the benefits of the import of a particular indigenous, Asian, African, Middle Eastern, Latin American, West European, or East European perspective on shame to a significant discourse in the pre-existing literature on shame.

FORMATTING INFORMATION: Each chapter will also be approximately 8,000 words in length, notes and references excluded, and should follow the JPE’s author guidelines: https://jpeonline.org/ojs/index.php/jpe/about/submissions#authorGuidelines. Accepted chapters will be subsequently formatted in accordance with Springer/Nature’s style guidelines.

EDITOR’S STATEMENT ON PUBLISHING: I believe the purpose of scholarship and publishing is not only to contribute to the pre-existing discourse on a certain subject by arguing for a conclusion that helps participants within that discourse move toward a greater understanding of the subject in question, but also to provide other scholars with the resources they will need in order to make subsequent contributions based on the work in question and the work that the author of those works relied on. Furthermore, a scholarly discourse on a certain subject is constituted by a community of scholars working together in order to further understand the subject in question. It is, therefore, important to not only acknowledge relevant interlocutors, but to also make sure that arguments are properly situated (e.g., as new arguments that work to support already established conclusions or as new arguments that challenge such conclusions) within a pre-existing discourse.

EDITOR’S ADVICE: I advise those who are interested in submitting a chapter proposal, and possibly a completed chapter, to read some of my work, such as my recently published edited collection on shame, in order to get an idea of what my standard of quality is for scholarly publications.

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: If you would like to submit a detailed chapter proposal, and possibly a completed chapter, for this edited collection, please follow the instructions given below by February 29, 2020 (strict deadline):

1. Email your detailed chapter proposal to [email protected], with the subject “Cultures of Shame, [author’s full name].”

2. Please also include the following contact information:

a.     Academic/professional title (if any)

b.     Academic/professional affiliation (if any)

c.     Academic address/mailing address

d.     Telephone number

e.     Email address

f.      ORCID Identifier (if any) 

g.     Professional, scholarly CV

3. A detailed abstract of approximately 500 words in length, prepared for anonymous review. Please make sure that your abstract includes a clear statement of the significant contribution made by your chapter, a summary of your main argument, and a detailed outline/roadmap of your paper. This abstract can be thought of as something similar to your chapter’s introduction.

DECISION AND SUBSEQUENT EVENTS TIMELINE:

1. Decisions will be sent out at the end of April 30, 2020, which may include an invitation to submit a completed chapter. 

2. For those who receive an invitation to submit completed chapters, all first drafts of completed chapters will be due on September 1, 2020 (strict deadline).

3. The time between September 1, 2020 – December 31, 2020 will be spent responding to editor comments and completing any necessary revisions.

4. A completed proposal, with completed chapters, will be sent to the editors of the Sophia Studies in Cross-Cultural Philosophy of Traditions and Cultures series by the end of January 31, 2021.

5. Contingent upon the series editors’ decisions, contributors’ responses to any series editor’s comments, and production time, the edited collection should have a 2021 publication date.

 CONTACT: If you have any questions, please contact Cecilea Mun, the editor, at [email protected].