Call for Papers

The concept of alternativity is flexible to accommodate wide-ranging discussions around the diverse aspects of creative, media and cultural industries practices. The term “alternative” is juxtaposed with that of “mainstream”, “traditional”, “dominant” (Atton, 2001). Alternativity can be associated with the ideas of marginality and resistance to the mainstream and viewed as a countercultural discourse, which defines alternativity essentially as the means by which people, places, practices, objects and ideologies are able to resist mainstream cultures (Holland and Spracklen, 2018). Besides such activist conceptualisation, which views alternativity in binary opposition to ‘formal’ cultural industries, the concept can also refer to practices that exist in parallel with mainstream activities, operating in different ways, yet often incorporating some of the more traditional elements (Carter, 2018). It means that not necessarily all aspects of a practice need to be alternative in their nature for this practice to be defined as such (Sandoval and Fuchs, 2009). This issue aims to address this heterogeneous notion of alternativity within creative industries and cultural policy discourse. The kinds of questions we want to explore include (but are not limited to): 

• How does alternativity within different aspects of the creative, cultural and media practices (e.g., distribution, production, the actual texts, as well as broader contexts within which these practices exist) can help explain the alternative nature of these practices? 
• What alternative approaches can we adopt to existing concepts and theories that are used to explore cultural and creative industries practices? 
• How can alternative approaches to conducting research help broaden the understanding of and challenge the dominant views within the debates around creative industries and cultural policy? 

Contributors could address the notion of alternativity directly or explore ways, in which this theme resonates with their own research. 

All contributions published by Makings will be considered by the whole editorial panel and peerreviewed by two editors before publication. It would be a particularly good opportunity for those at the early stages of their publication practice to get valuable feedback on their work.

The deadline for 300-word abstract submission is 14th December 2020 

With your abstract, please include a 150-word bio with your name, institution (if appropriate) and contact email. Full submissions will be invited by 18th December 2020 and expected by 16th April 2021. 

Submissions should be up to 6000 words (excluding references). Alongside articles, Makings now includes Studio – a section devoted to shorter think-pieces, observations and experimental works up to 500-1000 words or in the form of podcasts, videos, images etc. This is designed to encourage exchange and debate.

For more details on contributor guidelines please visit the journal website cicjjournal.com/contributor-guidelines/ 

Please email abstracts to the editors: 

Kateryna Sivak kateryna.sivak@mail.bcu.ac.uk 

Vincent Obia vincent.obia@mail.bcu.ac.uk