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Societies
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Representations of Transmodern War Contexts in English Literature
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Representations of Transmodern War Contexts in English Literature

A special issue of Societies (ISSN 2075-4698).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 August 2018) | Viewed by 23660

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Jessica Aliaga-Lavrijsen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
University Center of Defense (CUD)
Interests: Scottish studies; transmodernism; science fiction; trauma studies

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The proposed Special Issue “Representations of Transmodern War Contexts in English Literature” aims to analyze the transmodern or contemporary discourse(s) within what we might call war and post-war literature. That is, it will explore the different types of discourse in English literary texts that represent contemporary contexts or warlike and post-war scenarios, or that use them as discursive rhetorical frames. Among the topics dealt with in these discursive frameworks are subjects as diverse as multinational conflicts; the global implications of wars; international terrorism; wars with ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria) and aka Daesh; the war in Syria; the recruitment of (diverse) soldiers; international migration caused by armed conflicts; peace agreements; the political use of post-truth; the special vulnerability of certain groups of the population to international conflicts; the transmodern transfiguration of current geopolitics; the reconfigurations of identity related  to reterritorialization; the hypothetical future of war and peace; human development; the conflict between the Western world and Islam; etc. In short, this Special Issue has a double interest: On the one hand, the study of contemporary literary texts with a war context. On the other, the analysis of the literary representations of the nature, political complexity and global reach of current conflicts.

Dr. Jessica Aliaga-Lavrijsen
Guest Editor

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 papers will be 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. Societies is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. 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.

Keywords

  • multinational conflicts
  • international terrorism
  • the glocal
  • international migration
  • reterritorialization
  • geopolitics
  • post-truth
  • future war
  • peace
  • human development

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Editorial

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2 pages, 164 KiB  
Editorial
Transmodern War Contexts in English Literature
by Jessica Aliaga-Lavrijsen
Societies 2018, 8(2), 23; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc8020023 - 24 Apr 2018
Viewed by 2646
Abstract
n/a Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Representations of Transmodern War Contexts in English Literature)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

21 pages, 307 KiB  
Article
Liminal and Transmodern Female Voices at War: Resistant and Healing Female Bonds in Libby Cone’s War on the Margins (2008)
by Silvia Pellicer-Ortín
Societies 2018, 8(4), 114; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc8040114 - 14 Nov 2018
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3260
Abstract
When addressing marginal experiences during the Second World War, the German occupation of the Channel Islands deserves pride of place, as very few writers have represented that liminal side of the conflict. One of these few writers is Libby Cone, who published War [...] Read more.
When addressing marginal experiences during the Second World War, the German occupation of the Channel Islands deserves pride of place, as very few writers have represented that liminal side of the conflict. One of these few writers is Libby Cone, who published War on the Margins in 2008, a historical novel set on Jersey during this occupation and whose main protagonist encounters various female characters resisting the occupation from a variety of marginal positions. Drawing from Rodríguez Magda’s distinction between “narratives of celebration” and “narratives of the limit”, the main claim behind this article is that liminality is a general recourse in transmodern fiction, but in Cone’s War on the Margins it also acts as a fruitful strategy to represent female bonds as promoters of empathy, resilience and resistance. First, this study will demonstrate how liminality works at a variety of levels and it will identify some of the specific features characterizing transmodern war narratives. Then, the female bonds represented will be examined to prove that War on the Margins relies on female solidarity when it comes to finding resilient attitudes to confront war. Finally, this article will elaborate on how Cone uses these liminal features to voice the difficult experiences that Jewish and non-Jewish women endured during the Second World War, echoing similar conflictive situations of other women in our transmodern era. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Representations of Transmodern War Contexts in English Literature)
7 pages, 197 KiB  
Article
The Complex Web of Othernesses in Marcus Gardley’s Play The Road Weeps, the Well Runs Dry
by Claus-Peter Neumann
Societies 2018, 8(4), 104; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc8040104 - 23 Oct 2018
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2464
Abstract
Marcus Gardley’s play The Road Weeps, the Well Runs Dry (2013) traces the development of a Black Seminole community in the Indian Territory from 1850 to 1866, with occasional flashbacks to the days of the Seminoles’ removal from Florida. Rather than positing a [...] Read more.
Marcus Gardley’s play The Road Weeps, the Well Runs Dry (2013) traces the development of a Black Seminole community in the Indian Territory from 1850 to 1866, with occasional flashbacks to the days of the Seminoles’ removal from Florida. Rather than positing a unified ethnicity, the action reveals a complex web of Othernesses, including characters identified as “black”, others as “full-blood Seminole”, and still others as “black and Seminole”. Given the lack of ethnic unity, the new community constructs an identity in its distinction from and enmity with the neighboring Creeks, pointing to an underlying irony since the Creeks actually represent a main component in the ethnogenesis of the Seminoles in the 18th century. By calling attention to this simulacrum of Otherness, the play questions identity formation based on difference from an Other. Finally, Christian and pagan beliefs and customs live side by side in the community and compete for dominance over it. The multiple frictions caused by inner-group disputes, external conflicts with a constructed Other and religious discord lead to outbursts of violence that threaten to tear the community apart. Only a re-integration of its component parts can save it. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Representations of Transmodern War Contexts in English Literature)
15 pages, 309 KiB  
Article
Transmodern Reconfigurations of Territoriality, Defense, and Cultural Awareness in Ken MacLeod’s Cosmonaut Keep
by Jessica Aliaga-Lavrijsen
Societies 2018, 8(4), 103; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc8040103 - 19 Oct 2018
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3907
Abstract
This paper focuses on the science fiction (SF) novel Cosmonaut Keep (2000)—first in the trilogy Engines of Light, which also includes Dark Light (2001) and Engines of Light (2002)—by the Scottish writer Ken MacLeod, and analyzes from a transmodern perspective some future [...] Read more.
This paper focuses on the science fiction (SF) novel Cosmonaut Keep (2000)—first in the trilogy Engines of Light, which also includes Dark Light (2001) and Engines of Light (2002)—by the Scottish writer Ken MacLeod, and analyzes from a transmodern perspective some future warfare aspects related to forthcoming technological development, possible reconfigurations of territoriality in an expanding cluster of civilizations travelling and trading across distant solar systems, expanded cultural awareness, and space ecoconsciousness. It is my argument that MacLeod’s novel brings Transmodernism, which is characterized by a “planetary vision” in which human beings sense that we are interdependent, vulnerable, and responsible, into the future. Hereby, MacLeod’s work expands the original conceptualization of the term “Transmodernism” as defined by Rodríguez Magda, and explores possible future outcomes, showing a unique awareness of the fact that technological processes are always linked to political and power-related uses. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Representations of Transmodern War Contexts in English Literature)
16 pages, 276 KiB  
Article
Tabish Khair’s Just Another Jihadi Jane: Western Civilization and ‘War on Terror’ Versus Islamist Terrorism as the Two Sides of the Globalization Coin
by Dolores Herrero
Societies 2018, 8(4), 97; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc8040097 - 2 Oct 2018
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 5075
Abstract
Armed conflicts and violence have always been concomitant with human history but it is undeniable that our perception of them has undergone some disturbing evolution of late. Whereas in the past wars and organized violence were mainly regarded as being temporary, that is, [...] Read more.
Armed conflicts and violence have always been concomitant with human history but it is undeniable that our perception of them has undergone some disturbing evolution of late. Whereas in the past wars and organized violence were mainly regarded as being temporary, that is, originating in a number of reasons and tensions that might become eventually solved and confined to very specific zones on the world map, nowadays most people feel that nobody can escape the scourge of indiscriminate violence and this is mainly due to terrorism, in particular to that associated with Muslim fundamentalism. The aim of this paper will be to discuss the origins of this form of terrorism, together with its inextricable relationship with the so-called ‘civilized’ West, putting the emphasis on its more secular aspects and implications so as to show how Tabish Khair’s novel, Just Another Jihadi Jane denounces the effects that this conflict can have upon average people, all the more so if they happen to be Muslim women living in the western world. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Representations of Transmodern War Contexts in English Literature)
11 pages, 240 KiB  
Article
Iraq Wars from the other Side: Transmodern Reconciliation in Sinan Antoon’s The Corpse Washer
by José M. Yebra
Societies 2018, 8(3), 79; https://doi.org/10.3390/soc8030079 - 9 Sep 2018
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 5789
Abstract
In the last years, more and more literary accounts of recent and current wars in the Middle East have been published. In most cases, they are authored from a Western viewpoint and provide a narrow account of the Muslim world. This article focuses [...] Read more.
In the last years, more and more literary accounts of recent and current wars in the Middle East have been published. In most cases, they are authored from a Western viewpoint and provide a narrow account of the Muslim world. This article focuses on Sinan Antoon’s The Corpse Washer because it opens the scope. That is, it constitutes an alternative to the imagery of the American film industry. Moreover, as Antoon is a Christian, his account of contemporary Iraq is particularly peripheral and hybrid. To analyse the novel, this article makes use of Transmodernity, a concept coined by Rosa María Rodríguez Magda in 1989. Yet, instead of Magda’s Transmodernity as a neatly Euro-centric phenomenon of worldwide connectivity, Ziauddin Sardar’s version of the concept is preferred. Sardar’s Transmodernity adds to connectivity a message of reconciliation between progress and tradition, particularly in the context of non-Western cultures. This paper defends that Antoon’s novel opens the debate on Islam to challenge the prejudiced Western discourses that have ‘legitimized’ war. To do so, Sardar’s ‘borders’ and Judith Butler’s grievability are particularly useful. In a Transmodern context, novels like Antoon’s show that humans should never be bare lives. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Representations of Transmodern War Contexts in English Literature)
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