Journal of Arts and Communities

Special Edition: Stitching Together

This special edition of the Journal of Arts and Communities arises from the Stitching Together project, funded by an AHRC research networking grant. The Stitching Together project brings together researchers, project commissioners, professional textile practitioners and enthusiast maker groups to open critical dialogue around research and practice using participatory textile making methods. The familiarity of textile making processes such as sewing and knitting means these activities are accessible to participants and researchers in varied contexts across a range of disciplines. Researchers using participatory textile making activities are gaining rich insights into questions of artistic, scientific, social, material and cultural value.

The aim of this special edition is to provide a collection of reflective case study articles that both document and critically examine methods and approaches to using participatory textile making within diverse research contexts. 

The special edition offers an opportunity to reflect on issues including the ethical dimensions of participatory making; the immaterial qualities of making together; possibilities for and challenges to cross-cultural understandings; the making and un-making of boundaries; and the challenges for researchers of documentation and data gathering.

• Deadline for submissions (now closed): 1 October 2019
• Deadline for revised submissions: 5 January 2020.
• Expected publication of the Stitching Together special edition: March 2020.

Enquiries about submissions may be addressed to the guest editors at: stitchingtogether@aub.ac.uk. 

Principal Editor: Stephanie Knight

Guest Editors: Emma Shercliff & Amy Twigger Holroyd

Journal of Arts & Communities general CFP

The Journal of Arts & Communities invites contributions from researchers and practitioners from around the world who wish to increase the understanding and development of the socially engaged arts. We would like to encourage a wide range of contributions and contributors, including, but not limited to, the following: essays pursuing original lines of inquiry, raising challenging issues about the field, or documenting innovative work; interviews with practitioners or debates between practitioners and/or theorists; case studies of individual practices or projects, particularly those which have a broader significance in relation to ongoing concerns in the field and those which provide opportunities for project participants to reflect upon their participation; photo-essays or other forms of project documentation; accounts of innovative training practices or approaches to evaluation and critical reflection; reports on conferences or proposals to publish more extended proceedings. Beyond our normal book review section, we also welcome proposals to discuss particularly significant publications which might merit fuller discussion. We also plan to include a new section of Notes and Queries, as a site for briefer observations, provocations and questions.

Details for Contributors
Although we are open to discussion on the length of specific contributions, prospective contributors might observe the following guidelines as to length:

• Discursive articles tackling broader issues of theory or practice or introducing particularly significant practice: up to 6,000 words, although we may agree to extend this in exceptional circumstances to 10,000 words;
• Interviews, debates and case studies: up to 4,000 words;
• Photo-essays, or other forms of visual project documentation – up to eight pages of visual documentation;
• Reports of conferences: up to 1,500 words; we may also agree some visual documentation, where appropriate. Proposals for more extensive conference proceedings should be discussed prior to submission;
• Book discussions, Notes and Queries: up to 750 words.
  Contributors should follow the Harvard referencing system for citations and
  include a list of works cited at the end of the article. Explanatory footnotes should be kept to a minimum.

Illustrations
Illustrations and images are welcome. Photographs can only be accepted as production-ready, high resolution electronic images in JPEG, TIFF or PDF format. Minimum resolution for images is 300 dpi. All illustrations and images should be
accompanied by a caption and numbered. Images should be sent in the order in which they are expected to appear in the article. It is the contributors' responsibility to obtain copyright permission, where necessary, to reproduce images.

Submission
Submissions should be sent via e-mail in Word format to stephaniejaneknight@gmail.com You are welcome to discuss proposed articles in advance of submission; in particular, we encourage practitioners who may wish to explore ways of documenting their practice to get in touch to discuss possible approaches.

All submissions will be sent to peer reviewers for assessment of their suitability for publication.

Opinion
The views expressed in the Journal of Arts and Communities are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Editors or the Editorial Board

All articles submitted should be original work and must not be under consideration by other publications.

Journal contributors will receive a free PDF copy of their final work upon publication. Print copies of the journal may also be purchased by contributors at half price.