Call for Papers for Kaleidoscope: The Journal of Alternative Media and Social Movements

Kafka Kitap, led by Barış Çoban and Bora Ataman, initiated a new book series titled Alternative Media and Social Movements at the beginning of 2015, in Turkey. The series, which consists of translated and original books, is intended to be a prolific and efficient discussion platform focused on media and resistance for scholars from several disciplines in the Turkish speaking world of academy.

Kaleidoscope features academic works on alternative media practices that are structured around democratic participation, rights-based journalism, amateur-professional solidarity in content production, anti-capitalist structuring, and egalitarian and autonomous experiences. It is an interdisciplinary medium that aims to promote researches and works on social movements which strive for rights, justice, and equality, rebelling against the dominance of global capitalism and media arising within and intertwined with these movements.

The 21st century’s new media platform; characterized by convergence, digitalization and interactivity, has intensified the relationship between alternative media and social movements, and integrated them. The boundaries of traditional media research – mostly categorized according to its focus on institution, content and audience – are becoming indistinct. Differences between various familiar dualities such as the organizational and the individual, the individual and society, the local and the global, producers and viewers/consumers/users, etc., are gradually becoming trivial or need to be re-assessed on the platform of fragmented and fluid new media of our times. A similar perspective also reveals that the relationships between the traditional new media and the former “new social movements” are also undergoing transformation. Strong empirical research and critical theoretical discussions are required in order to grasp the effects of these changes and transformations on both the movements themselves and also on the internal structures and operation of media, and to comprehend the key roles they play on social transformation from a larger perspective.

The journal aims to extend the intersection set between alternative “new” media studies and social movement research in order to meet this requirement. Therefore, it also seeks to support the comprehension, interpretation and transformation efforts of the participants of social movements, along with activist-academicians that have a hybrid identity with indefinite borders within the alternative universe. With a dual perspective that does not detach works on alternative media and social movements from each other, Kaleidoscope aspires to become a social science journal which mainly focuses on the following issues:

• Economic structure, sustainability and relational networks of social movements/media
• Alternative media and pre-figurative politics
• Power relations and organizational structure within media institutions and/or social movements
• Degree of independence and relations with/to power
• Autonomous decision making process and practices
• Text/content production and action/programme organization based on participation, sharing and solidarity
• Alternative ethics
• Struggle against legal and illegal (economic, political, legal and cultural) pressures and violence of global and local hegemonies.
• The relational history of social movements and alternative media.

With quality research articles, book reviews, forums and views from the field, the journal aims to become medium force in the global arena for newly emerging social science research under the title “alternative media and social movements.”

For the first issue, however, we would like to focus on the theoretical and methodological challenges concerning the convergence of two academic disciplines: alternative media and social movements.

Information for the journal

The journal will be published annually both in print and online starting in December, 2016. The language of the journal is English. It is an open access journal with six months embargo period. During this period all the original articles and research papers will be offered at a lower, affordable price for the research community. However, any subscriber who do not have sufficient resources will be supported. Therefore, there won’t be any submission fees for the authors. Basic subscription will be free of charge and allow subscribers to reach various content such as reviews, reportages, field notes etc. The first issue will be disseminated freely to esteemed academic institutions and libraries around the world. Detailed subscription policies and procedures will be announced later in this year. The web site of the journal is now under construction and planned to be active before July.

For the time being please contact the Editors at boraataman@gmail.com and barishc@gmail.com for academic purposes and the Managing Editor at oerkmen@dogus.edu.tr for administrative affairs.

Submission of manuscripts

Deadline: September 1st, 2016.

All researchers interested in this relatively new research field are welcome to submit their original works to Kaleidoscope. Articles deemed by the journal’s editors to be in line with the objectives and scope of the journal will then be submitted to two colleagues from the international referee committee for a blind review process. Afterwards, the referees’ reports will also be shared with the authors, whatever the decision. We have a strong commitment to the relatively rapid handling of all submissions. Authors can expect a first decision on their submission within eight weeks.

Style and Format

Language: Manuscripts can be submitted in English.

File format: Manuscripts can be submitted in DOC, DOCX or PDF formats.

Length: The maximum length for each manuscript type (including titles, endnotes and bibliography) is listed below:

• Articles: 8000 words
• Book reviews: 1500 words
• Commentaries & Interviews & Field notes: 500-2000 words

Font and layout: The text should be written in a single column with:

• Times New Roman, 12 and 1,5 spacing for the main text,
• Times New Roman, 10 and single spacing for endnotes.

Headings: Sections and sub-sections should be limited to 3 heading levels. Please assure that the heading levels are clearly indicated in the text.

Tables and Figures: should be numbered and inserted after the first paragraph in which they are cited.

References: APA Style 6th Edition

Organization of the submissions

Each submission should contain, in the following order:

• Cover page: Including the type and title of the manuscript, The name(s) of the author(s), affiliation(s) and contact information, Abstract and keywords
• Title
• Abstract (maximum 500 words)
• Keywords (5 keywords in italic, alphabetically ordered)
• Manuscript (including the following elements named and presented in any order as needed: Introduction, Methodology, Findings, Discussion, Conclusions)
• Endnotes (numbered in Arabic numerals)
• Acknowledgements
• Conflicts of interests
• References (APA Style 6th Edition

Edited by

Bora Ataman and Barış Çoban – Doğuş University at Istanbul, Turkey.

Editorial Board

Adrienne Russell – University of Denver Ahmet Taylan – Mersin University
Altuğ Akın – İzmir University of Economy Clemencia Rodriguez – The University of Oklahoma Çiler Dursun – Ankara University
Dal Yong Jin – Simon Fraser University Dieter Rucht – WZB
Dorothy Kidd – University of San Francisco Funda Başaran – Ankara University
Gülüm Şener – Arel University
Hamid Dabashi – Columbia University Herbert Pimlott – Wilfrid Laurier University Jaeho Kang – SOAS University of London James Hamilton – University of Georgia
Jodi Dean – Hobart and William Smith Colleges John Downing – Northwestern University of Qatar Laurence Cox – Maynooth University
Lina Dencik – Cardiff University
Lyndon Way – İzmir University of Economy Marco Briziarelli – University of New Mexico Mario Diani – University of Trento
Mike Wayne – Brunel University London Mine Gencel Bek – Ankara University Murat Yüksel – Nişantaşı University
Muzammil M. Hussain – University of Michigan Natalie Fenton – Goldsmiths University of London Nilgün Tutal Cheviron – Galatasaray University Noha Mellor – University of Bedfordshire
Olga Bailey – Nottingham Trent University Pantelis Vatikiotis – İzmir University of Economy Paolo Gerbaudo – King’s College London
Perrin Öğün Emre – Kadir Has University Richard Keeble – University of Lincoln Richard Maxwell – Queens College – CUNY Robert A. Hackett – Simon Fraser University Ronaldo Munck – Dublin City University Sevda Alankuş – Kadir Has University
Stephen J. A. Ward – University of British Columbia Stuart Allan – Cardiff University
Suncem Koçer – Kadir Has University Ülkü Doğanay – Ankara University
Veronica Barassi – Goldsmiths University of London WJT Mitchell – Indiana University
Yasemin İnceoğlu – Galatasaray University