[URBANTH-L] TOC: ISSJ 182, "Explorations in Open Space: The World Social Forum and cultures of politics"

Angela Jancius acjancius at ysu.edu
Tue Apr 5 13:07:12 EDT 2005


The full-text of the following special issue of the International Social
Science Journal, on the theme of "Explorations in Open Space: The World
Social Forum and cultures of politics," is currently downloadable in pdf
form as a free sample issue. -AJ


ISSJ 182
A special issue of the International Social Science Journal, no 182, on
'Explorations in Open Space : The World Social Forum and Cultures of
Politics'.  Available from Blackwell's or otherwise presently free on their
website :
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/servlet/useragent?func=showIssues&code=issj
&open=2004#C2004
<http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/servlet/useragent?func=showIssues&amp;code
=issj&amp;open=2004#C2004> .

Explorations in Open Space
The World Social Forum and cultures of politics
Editorial advisers : Chloé Keraghel & Jai Sen
We are living through a time of the rise of dramatically new politics,
including civil politics at local, national, transnational and global
levels, and new global networks among refugees, migrants, and religious
groups. One of the most prominent manifestations of world civil politics is
the World Social Forum, which held its first world meeting in Porto Alegre,
Brazil, in January 2001. Based on issue analysis and diagnosis, the Forum
aims to encourage the formulation of alternative proposals and strategies to
neo-liberal "pensée unique" and to all forms of fundamentalism. The dramatic
growth in numbers attending the world event - from around 25,000 in 2001 to
over 100,000 in 2004 - attests to the relevance of the Forum to people all
over the world.

While it calls itself "Social", the Forum is a fundamentally political idea
and promotes a specific vocabulary, grammar, and culture of politics. This
issue aims at a wide-ranging, critical, and insistently plural exploration
of the idea and concept of "open space" as a political-cultural concept,
focusing on the Forum and its self-defined culture(s) of politics. In these
terms, the Forum represents both an important experiment and something of a
paradox. On the one hand, it offers a rich vision of an "open space" for
movements that challenge empires and celebrate diversity and plurality. On
the other hand, the open space is circumscribed by a specific conception of
politics and a specific ideological orientation. Is multiplicity sustainable
within and in relation to a single, "unique" larger idea? Can the culture of
"open space" politics operate coherently both within the Forum and in its
relations with the world it seeks to change?


Table of contents :

Abstracts

Editorial

Chloé Keraghel & Jai Sen
Explorations in open space. The World Social Forum and cultures of politics

_The Dynamics of Open Space_

Michal Osterweil   A cultural-political approach to reinventing the
political

Geoffrey Pleyers   The Social Forums as an ideal model of convergence

Baris Gencer Baykan & Gulçin Erdi Lelandais   Cross-readings of the
anti-globalisation movement in Turkey and beyond. Political culture in the
making

Isabelle Biagiotti   The World Social Forums: a paradoxical application of
participatory doctrine

_The Ethnography of Open Space_

Taran N Khan   Trio

Véronique Rioufol   Approaches to social change in Social Forums:
 snapshots of recompositions in progress

Anila Daulatzai   A leap of faith: thoughts on secularistic practices and
progressive politics

Giuseppe Caruso   Conflict management and hegemonic practices in the World
Social Forum 2004

_New Worlds_

Massimo De Angelis   Opposing fetishism by reclaiming our powers. The Social
Forum movement, capitalist markets and the politics of alternatives

Vanessa Andreotti & Emma Dowling    WSF: ontology, ethics, pedagogy

Raúl Enrique Rojo, Carlos R. S. Milani & Carlos Schmidt Arturi   Expressions
of international contestation and mechanisms of democratic control

Immanuel Wallerstein   The dilemmas of open space: the future of the WSF
  Document

Germán Solinís   UNESCO and the World Social Forum: the first three years

  Review

Elise Féron   The World Social Forum, a space for free and democratic debate
?.  A review of World Social Forum: Challenging Empires, edited by Jai Sen,
Anita Anand, Arturo Escobar & Peter Waterman. New Delhi: The Viveka
Foundation, 2004.

--------------------
About the ISSJ
The International Social Science Journal, founded by UNESCO in 1949, is
published quarterly in six language editions: English, French, Spanish,
Arabic, Chinese and Russian.
Its purpose is to bridge diverse communities of social scientists, working
in different problems and disciplines and in different parts of the world.
It provides information and debate on subjects of interest to an
international readership, written by an equally international range of
authors. The ISSJ has a particular interest in policy-relevant questions and
interdisciplinary approaches. It serves as a forum for review, reflection
and discussion informed by the results of relevant research, rather than as
an outlet for first publication of the results of individual research
projects

The bulk of each issue is devoted to a special theme comprising mainly
commissioned articles. Unsolicited manuscripts are also welcome for the
"open forum", "continuing debate" and "professional issues" sections.
Prospective contributors should bear in mind the profile of the journal as
described above.

Further information on the ISSJ, its editorial policies and submission
requirements may be found in the "Guide to authors", available on UNESCO's
website at www.unesco.org/issj <http://www.unesco.org/issj> . The Spanish
language version is available at the same address.
Subscription details for all language versions are given on the UNESCO
website, as well as on the inside back cover of each issue. For the English
language version subscription information may also be found at the website
of its publisher, www.blackwellpub.com <http://www.blackwellpub.com/> ,
which in addition carries the English title, table of contents, and
abstracts of the current and recent issues.

Preceding issue (181) : Mega-cities
Editorial adviser : Mattei Dogan

Next issue (183) :  Affirmative action




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