Lebanon Support is seeking submissions for the 2021 issue of the Civil Society Review on "Political economy of research in social sciences in the Arab world".
Recognising that the field of social sciences research in the Arab world presents significant levels of hybridity and goes far beyond the sole academic space, this issue intends to question the "political economies of research" which determine today knowledge production in social sciences. By the political economy of research, a formula already used by O. Roy (2001) and J.F. Bayart (2013) in particular, we refer to all the social, political, and economic relations that govern the market of scholarly activity and manage/rule the production of scientific knowledge. This issue will hence aim at understanding the force fields that go through these socio-institutional configurations formed of multiple actors, in order to grasp how they contribute to framing research practices and trajectories.
Several axes of reflection can be identified, and guide the expected contributions:
- Institutional configurations and actors’ rationale in the Arab world: how are political economies of research in social sciences organised?
- Research agendas, methods and paradigms: the constrained choices of research.
- Researchers’ trajectories in the Arab world: functions, carriers, values.
Finally, the expected contributions could question the moral economy of research that parallels its political economy: in a context of increasing monetarisation of scientific activity, what remains of the specific incentives and benefits that produce this “interest in disinterestedness” specific to the scholarly fields? What new forms, in these socio-institutional configurations, could the researcher’s political or social commitment take? Do these political economies of research necessarily condemn the critical ambition of the social sciences, and how can it nevertheless be manifested?
Calendar and Instructions
Calendar
Abstracts should be sent to: editor@lebanon-support.org before 15 November 2019, specifying in the subject line the title of the CfP: “Political economy of research in social sciences in the Arab world”.
An answer will be sent to the authors within the following month.
Articles, written in Arabic, French or English and with a maximum volume of 45 000 characters, must be submitted no later than 30 May 2020, before being sent for anonymous peer review.
Instructions
Lebanon Support encourages contributions from experimented researchers, or early-stage researchers and postgraduates. Authors can submit their articles in Arabic, English or French. All articles are submitted to an anonymous peer review.
Priority will be given to contributions that adopt a critical approach, are inscribed in a solid theoretical frame and are based on empirical research.
Proposals can be submitted in Arabic, English or French.
Please provide the following information in a word/pdf document:
■ Name(s)
■ Title(s) and affiliation(s)
■ Article’s title
■ A summary of 500 words maximum
■ A short biography of 250 words and a one-page CV
■ Your email address
Articles should not exceed 45,000 characters.
For more information on contributions and editorial process, see here. Please note that Lebanon Support uses the Chicago style in text references for all its publication.