Nationalist Political Rallies and Cultural Events
Section of the journal Nations and Nationalism
Submissions: November 20, 2010

The aim of this call is to invite papers for a themed section in the journal Nations and Nationalism journal is http://www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=1354-5078
focusing on social, cultural and political rallies in different socio-cultural contexts and wider social processes behind them.

We invite contributions which address and explore the following questions:

1. What are the impacts of political marches and cultural gatherings (such as festivals, National Day celebrations, May Day demonstrations, national singing festivals etc.) on the participants and on the wider audience?
   
2. What role do they play in the culture of a particular society?
   
3. How are political, social and cultural marches, demonstrations and manifestations connected to the expression of protest and self-identity?
   
4. How governments regulate nationalist political rallies and cultural events?
   
5. Who are the major actors in the organization of the marches and cultural events and what are the intended social outcomes of such gatherings?
   
6. How are different versions of nationalist ideologies and nationalist symbols manifested via the marches and festivals?
   
7. What is the place of the visual in the setting of the march, festival or demonstration?
   
8. Are political marches a display of force, a carnival, a religious performance or an initiation ritual for young participants?
   
9. What are the observable micro-interactions between individuals during the march or demonstration which strengthen the »we-group«-solidarity, and are their observable conflictual interactions during the march between participants of the march or between them and other protagonists on the spot? What’s behind such chains of interactions?

However, the scope is not limited to these questions only; on the whole the aim of the themed section is to propose methodological solutions for studying the political marches, social and cultural gatherings and public manifestations in various settings and reflect on the methodological challenges in studying this peculiar dimension of political culture.

We welcome papers from scholars with different research background and academic disciplines; we are particularly interested in research that explores nationalist marches at the crossing of visual and sociological perspectives.

Please, submit an abstract of 700 to 1,000 words to both editors by November 20, 2010. Abstracts should clearly outline the theoretical approach, methodological framework used and major findings of the study.

If you have any inquiries, please do not hesitate to contact:
Dennis Zuev tungus66@gmail.com
Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology (CIES-ISCTE), Lisbon, Portugal
Fabian Virchow fabian.virchow@fh-duesseldorf.de
University of Applied Sciences, Düsseldorf, Germany