CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS
Trayvon Martin, Race, and “American Justice:”
Writing Wrong
Under Contract with Sense Publishers
Edited by Fasching-Varner, Dixson, Reynolds, and Albert
“In the Circuit Court of the 18th judicial circuit in and for Seminole Florida, the State of Florida versus George Zimmerman, verdict, we the jury find the defendant, George Zimmerman, not guilty.” With those words, an outcry of shock, disbelief, anger, and frustration traversed the world through the media, Internet and social media outlets. Academics and non-academics alike began to express a variety of emotions and reactions that were instructive, and provided extemporaneous ad hoc racial analyses. During the 24 hours following the verdict, a variety of dialogues emerged that, while deriving through the instantiation of Trayvon Martin’s murder, spoke to larger issues of race, racial identity, and cross-racial dialogue in the American experience. This edited volume seeks to bring together a cross-section of scholars to react, respond, and analyse the state of race in light of this tragic case. Each chapter will engage a form of writing that will “write the wrong,” or help us, through writing, to better understand how to address racial wrongs that this case, and many other racialized experiences, reveal. Since the election of President Obama, many white people believe that we have achieved a “post-racial” moment. What we attempt to argue in this book, and we hope that the chapters in this volume will show, is that not only are we not post-racial, but that race and racism are in many ways more prevalent in 2013 (and the last 5 years) than in any point in history. In addition, the volume will also feature unique contributions e.g., notes from school children about their perceptions of race, as well as creative writing (poetry, essays and short stories) to serve as interludes between sections and offer a different perspective on race.
We seek proposals for contributions to this volume organized loosely into the following sections:
1. Trayvon Martin: Life,death, murder, and race in America
2. Deconstructing ignorance: Reactions and responses to racism
3. What can we possibly tell our children, especially Black sons?
Post-verdict conversations
4. How much more can we take? The fight for social and racial justice
5. A vision for a socially just society: Lessons Trayvon Martin teaches
Each potential submission, if accepted, must conform to a word limit:
Chapters: 2,000 words.
Creative writing: 500 words or less.
Letters from children: 100-300 words.
Authors will have to conform to the publishing and formatting guidelines that will be sent with submission acceptance, and authors must agree to adhere to all deadlines.
Proposals will be due August 23, 2013 by noon EST. The proposals (500 words maximum) should provide A) contact information for the author/s, B) a working title, C) which section of the volume the proposer would like to submit to, D) a brief outline of the organization of your work, and E) a statement that the following strict timeline can be adhere to (the volume is timely and we want to ensure the book can be released as soon as possible).
Timeline: Due by Noon on Designed Dates
August 31: Proposals Due
September 15: AcceptanceNotifications to be Sent
October 31: First Draft Due to Corresponding Editor
November 30: Feedback and Revisions Sent to authors.
December 30: Revisions Due to Corresponding Editor
January 30: Any follow up revisions may be requested by Editors
February 15: Final Revisions Due
February 28: Final Book Manuscript Sent to Publisher
Send your proposal, electronically, to all four editors, with the subject “Trayvon Martin Book Chapter”
Kenny Fasching-Varner (varner@lsu.edu)
Adrienne Dixson (addixson@illinois.edu)
Rema Reynolds (rereynolds@apu.edu)
Katrice Albert (ka225@umn.edu)
