Over the last decade, studies of commemoration have highlighted the significance of holidays, celebrations, and other collective rituals for the construction of collective memory. These studies have illustrated the significance of contemporary rituals for the preservation and the reconstruction of the past. However, in so doing, many of these studies draw an explicit (or implicit) distinction between history and commemoration, whereby commemoration is divorced from its broader social and cultural function. It is therefore time for the scholarly community to actively engage in the explicit interrogation of the connections or links between history/politics and the different forms of remembrance, of collective or social memory. Contributions are sought for a special issue of the Journal of Political and Military Sociology devoted on the political dimension of collective memory.

Relevant topics include: the connection between forms of collective memory and contemporary political projects, the manner in which reconstructions of the past shape contemporary political and cultural situations, and investigations of sites or rituals where different actors engage in rival or competing interpretations of the past. Contributions from the humanities as well as the social sciences will be considered.

Specific themes might include: the differential appropriation of the legacy of the Holy Land by Israelis and Palestinians; the interplay between religious and national identity in Eastern European contemporary cultural politics; the competing interpretations of "Europe" in the contemporary cultural politics of the European Union; the contested interpretations of the confederate flag in the American South; the selective reconstruction and appropriation of the past by Pakistanis and/or Indians; the manner in which the "past" shapes contemporary political projects in Japan or China; and so on. Papers are strongly encouraged to have a global focus and to address contemporary cultural politics.

Only full papers should be submitted. Papers should be approximately 25 double - spaced pages, inclusive of notes, tables, and illustrations. The papers should follow the journal's format and style. Hard copies and disk copies should be mailed to: Victor Roudometof at the adress below. by August 2002. Extensions of the original deadline are possible through negotiations with the guest editor. Interested parties should contact Victor Roudometof via e-mail.