CSTonline

*edited by Anna Viola Sborgi, Lawrence Napper and Nicoletta Vallorani*

This issue of [*Other
Modernities*](http://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/AMonline/index){target="_blank"}
will investigate cultural representations of contemporary London, from
the viewpoint of the present historical moment, looking back at how the
perception of the city's cosmopolitan identity has developed. In the
20th and 21st century London has emerged as a global, cosmopolitan
capital attracting visitors and migrants alike for its close association
with an image of cultural openness, diversity, and inclusion. This
association, however, has repeatedly been contested. Periodical
resurgences of nationalism in specific historical moments leading to
radical socio-political transformations and upheaval have often
undermined the perception of a peaceful and inclusive cohabitation
within the city: the 1931 Battle of Cable Street, the mid-1970s rise of
the British National Front, the Brixton and London riots in 1981 and
2011, respectively, and, more recently, the post-Brexit cultural shock.
Although these could be understood as episodic moments of crisis, they
were also prepared by an endemic coexistence, within the very space of
the metropolis, of different and often very contradictory discourses.
London has always been, at one and the same time, a space of opportunity
and of widening social inequality, of inclusion and exclusion.

An exploration of these conflicting discourses and of their cultural
representations becomes urgent and crucial in this particular historical
moment, in which on the one hand, London is experiencing a deep "crisis
of conviviality" (Georgiou 2016) and might be on the verge of losing its
cosmopolitan status -- and, on the other, the preservation of this
particular identity has been strongly advocated both by London dwellers
-- who perceive themselves as very distinct from the rest of the country
-- and by the local institutions, in particular by the newly elected
mayor Sadiq Khan, with his media campaign \#londonisopen.

The urban space is a privileged site of negotiation for a series of
challenges such as overpopulation, pollution, gentrification, urban
sprawl and socio-political conflict, social, ethnic and gender inclusion
and exclusion (Harvey 2001, Lees 2016, Madden and Marcuse 2016, Massey
1994). These challenges are not only mirrored in cultural
representations of the city -- from cinema to television, from
photography to the press -- but they are constantly re-defined and
negotiated within these different media, shaping, in a two-way process,
the political and social debate about urban life (Brunsdon 2007 and
2009, Georgiou 2013, Shiel 2001, Shonfield 2000, Webb 2014).

We welcome proposals analysing the cultural representations of London in
the 20th and 21st century in a wide range of formats and media (the
press, popular and urban culture), with a particular emphasis on the
visual (film, television, photography, visual adaptation of literary
works), and through different theoretical frameworks -- media and
urbanism, cultural geography, Queer and Cultural Studies -- and
approaches -- close analysis, historical and archival research.

**Topics for discussion may include, but are not limited to:**

- Racial tensions within the city and immigration
- Cosmopolitanism
- Brexit and London
- Crisis
- Social inclusion and exclusion, especially in relation to class
- Gender and the urban space: appropriation and loss of spaces (i.e.
  Soho and the queer community)
- Housing as a site of social contestation: from the early 20th century
  slum clearances, to the post-war egalitarian housing project and its
  crisis
- The financialisation of the economy, austerity, the economic crisis
  and the widening inequality gap
- Gentrification, redevelopment and social displacement
- Public space and private space
- Environmental challenges within the city: green spaces, pollution.

To this purpose, the editorial board has established the following
deadlines; authors should send in their proposals in the form of a 10
(min.) -- 20 (max.) line abstract with a brief bio-bibliography to
[[amonline@unimi.it]{.underline}](mailto:amonline@unimi.it){target="_blank"}
(both in English and in the language of their choice) by **15th October
2017**.

Full papers must be received by **15th February 2018**. *Other
Modernities* accepts contributions in Italian, Spanish, French and
English.

The issue will be published **late November 2018**.

We also welcome book reviews and interviews to authors and scholars who
investigate the aforementioned topics. Contributors are free to contact
the editors to discuss and clarify the objectives of their proposals,
with a view to making the issue as homogeneous as possible also from a
methodological point of view. The editors can be contacted via the
Editorial Secretary
([[amonline@unimi.it](mailto:amonline@unimi.it){target="_blank"}]{.underline}).

 

#### References

- BRUNSDON C., 2007, *L*o*ndon in Cinema.* *The Cinematic City since
  1945*, Palgrave, London.
- GEORGIOU M., 2013, *Media and the city: cosmopolitanism and
  difference*, Polity Press, Cambridge.
- LEES L., H. BANG SHIN, E. LÓPEZ-MORALES (eds.), 2016, *Planetary
  Gentrification,* Polity, Bristol.
- LYNCH K., 1960, *The Image of the City*, MA: MIT Press, Cambridge.
- MASSEY D., 1994, *Space, Place and Gender*, University of Minnesota
  Press, Minneapolis.
- SHIEL M., T. FITZMAURICE (eds.), 2001, *Cinema and the City: Film and
  Urban Societies in a Global Context*, Blackwell, Oxford.
- SHONFIELD K., 2000, *Walls Have Feelings: Architecture, Film and the
  City*, Routledge, London.

 


<em>
 edited by Anna Viola Sborgi, Lawrence Napper and Nicoletta Vallorani
</em>
This issue of
<i>
 Other Modernities
</i>
will investigate cultural representations of contemporary London, from the viewpoint of the present historical moment, looking back at how the perception of the city’s cosmopolitan identity has developed.

Messaggi di Rogue Scholar

CfP: “#LondonIsOpen: London as a Cosmopolitan City in Contemporary Culture” for Altre Modernità/Other Modernities. Deadline Oct 15, 2017