Dolls and Idols: Critical Essays in Neo-Animism
A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 December 2024 | Viewed by 691
Special Issue Editors
Interests: medical anthropology; material culture; animism; social robotics
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
New Animism or "neo-animism" is the attempt to turn a formerly negative category (bound to inferiority in the evolutionary scheme) into a positive critical one that allows a rethinking of the dualism of Western categories such as subject/object, mind/body, person/thing. While it has been embraced enthusiastically by researchers into the anthropocene (Springer 2021), digital interfaces (Marenko & van Allen 2016), and social robotics (Richardson 2016), it had a more muted reception among critical anthropologists, who tend not to believe that the historical and colonial baggage the term brings with it could be shed so easily (Wilkinson 2017). This special issue asks if and under what conditions the term neo-animism is a useful concept to understand interactions between humans and non-humans. We posit that the answer to this question can only be provided through detailed ethnographic studies of concrete cases in which consciousness, aliveness, interiority, agency and intentionality is attributed to a range of others. As a test case, we propose to think through dolls and idols. Dolls are compelling objects because they are so closely entangled with human life. They can serve as ritual implements, toys for children, decorative objects or uncanny entities and even healing and spiritual aids, depending on the quality of the relationships that dolls are part of. The material, mental, and symbolic spaces they inhabit connect them to questions about desire, attachment, surrogacy, ritual and how we understand the human through the mirror of the doll. We invite contributors to use human simulacra and related items of material culture such as talismans, ex votos and reliquaries to think through the beliefs they foster, the ritual and performances they engender and what their creation and destruction means to their makers and owners.
Dr. Fabio Gygi
Guest Editor
Alisha SAikia
Guest Editor Assistant
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- animism
- neo-animism
- dolls
- idols
- relationality
- attachment
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.