Call for Submissions

Submissions are now open for demos journal’s next issue: ‘Precarity’, a collaboration between demos journal and the Institute of Postcolonial Studies (IPCS).

“The more precarious you are, the more support you need. The more precarious you are, the less support you have. When we say something is precarious, we usually mean it is in a precarious position: if the vase on the mantelpiece were pushed, just a little bit, a little bit, it would topple right over. […] Living on the edge: a life lived as a fragile thread that keeps unraveling; when life becomes an effort to hold on to what keeps unraveling.” Sara Ahmed, Living a Feminist Life.

“At the heart of the efforts at reframing the human is the growing realization of our precariousness as a species in the face of ecological threats and the outright possibility of human extinction opened up by climate change.” Achille Mbembe, Decolonizing Knowledge and the Question of the Archive.

The term precarity has been used to describe both a universal condition of human life, and an historical condition of intensified displacement, uncertainty and exploitation. Precarity’s paradoxical force is to unite us in a condition of fragmentation and isolation; it is, as Lauren Berlant writes, ‘a magnetising concept’ that is both universal and specific. Precarity reveals that contingency and vulnerability are not evenly distributed. For some, precarious are the conditions of life, work and health, for many others the very ground is precarious. Does the recognition of shared precarity produce an emancipatory political project, or hollow out the possibilities of unifying people?

demos journal is calling for pieces that contest, reject and extend on the fragmentary effects of precarity, for precarious histories and experiences, analyses and reflections. How can we overcome precarity, and does sharing its imposed vulnerability teach us anything about how we can organise for the future? What is to live precariously today? How does precarity mark our conditions of living? What are the origins, causes and effects of precarious work, precarious health, precarious access and precarious being? How do we struggle through and survive precarity?

Note about payment to contributors: demos journal is excited to announce that for this Issue 11, an ArtsACT grant has provided us with the opportunity to offer a small payment to contributors of $80 for each accepted submission.

Who: Submissions are welcome from emerging artists, poets and writers interested in the theme
What: Send us your essays, crafty opinions, stories, poems, artwork, photography or video work. We are interested in the experimental as much as we are in the traditional.
When: Our Call for submissions is currently closed. Please keep an eye on this page and on our social media to stay up-to date and to hear about our next call for submission.
How: Please send your piece to demosjournal@gmail.com

Please note:

That we are happy to help workshop ideas either in person or via online communication and provide editorial support.
That demos journal encourages submissions from non-native English speakers and can offer editorial support.
Anonymity of authors and contributors will be guaranteed for those who require it.

Please review our submission guidelines before submitting.