[Xmca-l] Karl Marx and the Language Sciences: critical encounters

[Andy Blunden]

*Call for Abstracts*

*Special Issue on*

*“Karl Marx and the Language Sciences: critical encounters”*

To be published in /Language Sciences/,//May 2018

We announce an initial Call for Abstracts for a 2018 Special 
Issue of Language Sciences on “Karl Marx and the Language 
Sciences: critical encounters.”

Special Issue guest editor: Peter E Jones (Sheffield Hallam 
University).

Karl Marx (1818-1883) is one of the most influential 
philosophers and political thinkers of the past two 
centuries. His political writings have decisively shaped the 
modern world, contributing to the development of working 
class organization and inspiring and informing socialist, 
communist and national liberation movements internationally. 
At the same time, Marx's revolutionary philosophical and 
scientific work has had an incalculable impact on 
intellectual culture and, for many, retains its relevance 
for the understanding and progressive transformation of 
social life.

This Special Issue sets out to critically examine the 
inter-relations between Marx's thinking and contemporary 
research in language (including the philosophy of language) 
and communication. Individual papers may aim to survey broad 
currents or trends of thought in the language sciences from 
this perspective or to focus more narrowly on particular 
topics or the work of particular scholars. However, all 
papers should set out to demonstrate how such a critical 
engagement with Marx can be productive in contributing to 
/both /our understanding of Marx and Marxist theory /and /to 
research in the language sciences.

Accordingly, we welcome papers which address the following 
topics:

1.the relevance of Marx to the language sciences today;

2.the historical influence of Marx's thinking on 
developments in the language sciences and allied disciplines 
(e.g., psychology);

3.Marx's own views on language and communication and the 
role of these views in the development of his thinking and 
on subsequent Marxist theorising;

4.the Influence on Marx's own thinking of contemporary 
perspectives on language and communication;

5.the relationship of Marx's work to one or more present day 
traditions and approaches in language and communication 
research (e.g., Critical Discourse Analysis, Dialogism, 
Ethnomethodology, etc.);

6.critical examination of the linguistic and communicational 
ideas of particular scholars or collectives who 
self-identify as Marxist or are commonly associated with 
Marxist tradition (e,g, Vygotsky, Voloshinov, the Bakhtin 
circle, Gramsci, etc.);

7.critical re-examination of Marx's key theoretical concepts 
from a present day language sciences perspective (e.g, 
/value, commodity fetishism/, /class struggle/, /alienation, 
/etc.).

Word limit for abstracts: 150-200 words.

PLEASE NOTE: At this initial stage we are inviting ABSTRACTS 
ONLY.
Abstracts will be reviewed by Editor and Guest Editor.
Selected contributors will then be invited to submit a full 
article for review.

*Important dates:*

Deadline for abstract submission: 1^st May 2017
Decision on invitation for full article submission: 1^st 
June 2017
Deadline for first draft of articles: 1^st December 2017
Deadline for final version of articles: 15^th March 2018
Publication date: 5 May 2018

Article abstracts should be sent to Peter E Jones: 
P.E.Jones@shu.ac.uk