Sin is both a cultural construct and a resource. It is simultaneously social and surreptitious, and seems emblematic for understanding many of the practices of everyday life. Sin has long held a firm grasp on our cultural imagination: internal battles between good and evil are at the very heart of most of our storytelling; external battles between good and evil comprise the bulk of our tales of history. The seven deadly sins are particularly dramatic because the stakes are drawn so high: in their original context, they name offenses against God's will that lead to certain damnation and the death of the soul. In their contemporary context, the seven deadly sins have become something of a cottage industry in popular culture, and are often employed as an organizing trope to discuss topics as disparate as chess, business, education, literature, psychology, and love. This trope has made its way into film, talk radio, magazine columns, and a series of popular books commissioned by a prestigious university press. The seven deadly sins have become something of a brand name in this manner, and thus provide a fruitful cultural milieu for analysis, reflection, and theory.

Michael LeVan and Daniel Makagon, guest editors of Text and Performance Quarterly, invite essays at the intersections of performance, culture, and the seven deadly sins. Of particular interest are manuscripts that engage a specific deadly sin (e.g., lust, gluttony, sloth, anger, greed, envy, or pride). Topics addressed in submitted manuscripts may range from examinations of sin as method and/or resource for performance, scholarship, cultural critique, or political resistance to explorations of sin in the cultural imagination, in performance practice, as a technique of power, as an economic or social virtue, or as a resource for writing, relationships, freedom, or critique. Manuscripts from a wide range of perspectives, including rhetorical, feminist, ethnographic, political, and aesthetic are welcome.

All submissions should observe the following guidelines:
Manuscripts submitted for this special issue should not be under consideration elsewhere. Because TPQ follows a policy of blind, peer review, no material identifying the author(s) should appear anywhere other than the title page. Double-space the entire manuscript, including notes and block quotes. Include an abstract of not more than 150 words and a list of 5 suggested keywords. Indicate the history of the manuscript, noting whether it is part of a thesis or dissertation and, if so, the director's name, and/or whether any portion of the essay has been presented at a colloquy, conference, or convention. Manuscripts must conform to the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, edited by Joseph Gibaldi (6th edition).

Please e-mail manuscripts (no hard copies please) in MS Word to Michael LeVan and Daniel Makagon by May 1, 2005. We welcome inquiries to either Michael or Daniel.

Michael LeVan (contact information provided below)

Daniel Makagon
Assistant Professor of Communication and Cultural Studies
Department of Humanities
Michigan Technological University
Houghton, MI 49931
dmakagon@mtu.edu

Text and Performance Quarterly is a peer-reviewed journal of the National Communication Association published by Routledge Journals, an imprint of Taylor & Francis Ltd.