In this issue, we hope to draw
together alternative analyses of current events alongside more general
discussions of periods of human history in which the narrative of
progress is turned on its head.
In the context of the current
financial crisis, there is wide scope in this issue for analysis of
capitalism as a whole, neoliberalism (or should we say 'socialism for the rich'?) or the future of economic
governance. Besides these very timely discourses, we welcome
submissions examining the collateral damage of the failings of the
banking sector. How will the worst recession for 70 years affect
current cartographies of global inequality?
This issue of Affect is set to
include an interview with the successful, yet controversial author
Jared Diamond. His 2005 work 'collapse' has drawn praise and criticism
in equal measure, arguably responsible for bringing anthropology,
archeology and historical geography to the bestseller shelves, and
conversely, leading the contemporary resurgence of environmental
determinism in the social sciences. Submissions based on the
contentious discourses reignited by Diamond's work are encouraged in
this issue.
We hope with this broad thme to
encourage a wide range of submissions, and as always we are open to the
use of different media for the representation of alternative social and
political analysis.
A very short list of references:
J.
Diamond
(1998) Guns, Germs and Steel: the fates of human societies. WW
Norton & Co.
J.
Diamond
(2005) Collapse: how societies
choose to fail or succeed. Viking Adult
R.
Peet
(1985) The social origins of Environmental
Determinism AAAG 75: 309-33
G.
Lewthwaite
(1966) Environmentalism and possibilism AAAG
56: 1-23