Gender and Otherness in the Humanities

Dear Colleagues,

Our collection presents original research findings arising from and relating to the work of a collaborative group of internal and invited members and associates of The Open University Centre for Research into Gender and Otherness in the Humanities, including leaders and associates of the Bonn University BCDSS (Bonn Center for Dependency & Slavery Studies) Research Excellence Cluster. Communities wishing to understand and meet the widely varying needs of all those who they serve have to take into account the complex discrete and overlapping factors contributing to every human being’s uniqueness. The study of gender and otherness in the humanities offers important cultural and historical insights into physical and mental differences arising from social inequalities, birth, accident, gender, ethnicity, age, religion, or politics. It can also illuminate the significant social concerns and challenges of multi-cultural, modern societies.

Our Special Issue will investigate key aspects of cultural representations of human and near-human mythological, monstrous, and social otherness and difference. Its engagement spans all periods from classical times to our own century, ranging from classical mythology (Polyphemus) to the transients, slaves, and illegal immigrants who work and sometimes perish in the trauma-scapes of modern Britain. Further aspects of medieval to modern otherness include literary and/or visual representations of evil (in foliate heads), gendered performance (in book illustrations), atypically and monstrously bodied humans and near-humans (ldwarfs, conjoined twins, hermaphrodites and large non-human primates), and social otherness (African slaves in northern Europe; gendering and othering in British and European literary and dramatic texts). We welcome submissions focusing on these or other aspects of representations of gender, race, disability, diversity, and/or otherness in British and European literature and drama, visual culture, and performance. Topics of enquiry include but are not limited to aspects of gender, race, disability, diversity, and/or human physical otherness in the following:

• Medieval and early modern atypically-bodied (“monstrous”) humans.
• Dark tourism and/ or traumascapes.
• Religious and secular medieval and early modern theatre:
  • Otherness in secular dramatic texts;
  • Otherness and/or gender in religious drama, including convent, liturgical, and biblical drama and Saint's lives;
  • Metaphors and imagery of otherness in texts;
  • Performed otherness, including ways of interrogating it through the study of (gendered) performativity, gesture, props, costume, cross-dressing, or textiles.

This Special Issue will appeal to—and beyond—a broad academic audience in the humanities as follows:

• Disseminating research developing and deepening thinking around the intersection between gender and different types of otherness;
• Publishing articles encouraging academic engagement with the valuable analytical lenses that gender and otherness offer by creating and curating resource;
• Supporting innovative approaches to exploring aspects of gender and/or otherness in the Arts and Humanities across a range of periods and genres.

We welcome the opportunity to develop this collection and are confident that it will advance thinking around the field, stimulating interdisciplinary dialogue and collaborations in studies engaging with the representation of gender, otherness, or diversity in literature, art, or performance. We value opportunities for early feedback and alignment with the goals of this Special Issue and will be pleased to received your emailed draft title and abstract (before 30 November 2025) and/or your submitted text (before 31 December 2025).

Prof. Dr. M A Katritzky
Prof. Dr. Birgit Ulrike Münch
Jennie E. Owen
Dr. Emilia Wilton-Godberfforde
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Humanities is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.