EXTENDED! Call for papers: Landscape: Idea, Product, Goods
05.08.2025
The journal Sociální studia / Social Studies is announcing a call for papers for a monothematic issue with a title Landscape: Idea, Product, Goods. The editors of the issue are sociologist Barbora Vacková and historian and archaeologist Jana Vlčková Musilová (both PED MUNI).
For the planned monothematic issue of Sociální studia / Social Studies, we are looking for authors who deal with landscape, or rather its sociological, but also anthropological, historical, archaeological, philosophical, cultural-geographical or political and economic analysis and interpretation. A multidisciplinary view of the landscape should be the starting point for joint research and the aim of the issue. The starting point for this exploration is the concept of "cultural landscape", butit also involves questioning and discussion because of the separation of the natural and cultural worlds. In the forthcoming issue, we want to capture two perspectives: (1) Viewing the landscape as a space of social negotiation and struggle, where political, cultural, economic and other power ties and ambitions are exercised using different types of violence. (2) We also want to give space to studies that deal with the representation and interpretation of landscape in the context of these power struggles. Through representations of landscape, our idea of the world takes on precise contours influenced by the technology and ideologies that control the representations. In both perspectives, we are interested in how and why boundaries are drawn in landscapes, when landscapes are interpreted as valuable and protected as such, and what values are protected about landscapes. In this context, we are also interested in the concept of the historic cultural landscape, its protection and enhancement, and its commodification and use.
We expect to focus mainly on the cultural landscape (any landscape modified by humankind, where we can observe long relationship between people and natural environment) of so-called Central Europe. However, it is possible to submit a proposal for a text dealing with another geographical area in Europe or the world. We are interested in both urban and non-urban cultural landscapes, and their conceivable variations. Potential topics for proposed texts could be, for example:
• Landscape as part of (national, personal, ethnic, etc.) identity
• Landscape as a place of residence and/or existence
• Landscape as a space of delimitation and distinction
• Landscape mapped
• Speaking landscape
• Landscape commodified
Abstracts should be sent to the journal address (socstud@fss.muni.cz) and to the editors (bvackova@mail.muni.cz, musilova@ped.muni.cz). More detailed information is available on request. The deadline for abstract submission is 10 December 2025; full papers are expected by 28 February 2026.
