The Journal for the Study of Radicalism (JSR) invites article submissions for its inaugural issue on the theme of radicalism and violence. The study of violence in radical groups requires a multi-faceted approach that may include representations of violence and the way they influence group identity, the psychology of violence, cultural conceptions and definitions of violence, and the historic relationship between state violence and violence in radical groups. Submissions may come from any discipline or approach, but should examine groups underrepresented in the scholarship of radicalism, take a comparative view, demonstrate an engagement with recent theories of violence, or explore innovative ways of ameliorating violence. In general, articles should be grounded in particular examples of radical groups or individuals, and article themes may include:

The relationship between radical speech and physical violence
The meanings, forms, and enactments of symbolic violence
Ritual aspects of collective political violence
Equations of violence with radicalism
The identification of certain groups with radical violence
Reactions by radical groups to state violence
The reproduction of violence across groups
Psycho- and socio-cultural factors in the turn toward violence
Religious radicalism and millennial violence
The understanding and use of military technology by radical groups
The history of laws directed at radical violence

Submissions should be 20-30 pages in length and conform to the Chicago Manual of Style. Please include a one-paragraph abstract. Submissions undergo a peer-review process and should not identify the author(s) in the title page and headers. Images for possible use in an article should be at least 300 dpi, and 600 dpi is preferable. Authors are responsible for requesting and receiving permission to reprint images for scholarly use.

Send proposals and articles for the inaugural issue to the editors at jsr@msu.edu by January 31, 2006.

The Journal for the Study of Radicalism engages in serious, scholarly exploration of the forms, representations, meanings, and historical influences of radical social movements. With sensitivity and openness to historical and cultural contexts of the term, we loosely define “radical,” as distinguished from “reformers,” to mean groups who seek revolutionary alternatives to hegemonic social and political institutions, and who use violent or non-violent means to resist authority and to bring about change. The journal is eclectic, without dogma or strict political agenda, and ranges broadly across social and political groups worldwide, whether typically defined as “left” or “right.” We expect contributors to come from a wide range of fields and disciplines, including ethnography, sociology, political science, literature, history, philosophy, critical media studies, literary studies, religious studies, psychology, women’s studies, and critical race studies. We especially welcome articles that reconceptualize definitions and theories of radicalism, feature underrepresented radical groups, and introduce new topics and methods of study.

Future issues will include themes like the re-conceptualization of “left” and “right,” radical groups typically ignored in academic scholarship, such as deep ecologists, primitivists, and anarchists, the role of science and technology in radical visions, transnational and regional understandings of radicalism, and the relationships of radical movements to land and environment.