Left History Special Edition
Left History has extended the deadline for submissions to our upcoming special edition issue, with the theme “what does it mean to write ‘left’ history?” Submissions are now due no later than April 30, 2019.
Left History 11.1 (2006) asked this question, and we ask it again over a decade later, amidst increasing socio-economic inequality and wage stagnation, the normalization of precarious labour, the emergence of powerful protest groups within a fragmenting Left, and the global resurgence of racist, neo-fascist movements. Within academia, neoliberalism has had profoundly stifling effects, even as innovations in the digital humanities open new avenues for the dissemination of knowledge. What can left histories contribute against this backdrop?
While we pose the question in the broadest possible terms, there are a number of related questions that can be considered in answering (these are suggestions only):
Is left history a workable category, or is it too broad and varied? Are there new or emerging genres of historical analysis that should be considered left history? Is left history activist by definition? Do current works of left history adequately counteract the neo-liberal politics of advanced capitalist societies? Does left history connect with and appeal to an audience outside the academy—perhaps an audience experiencing the varied oppressions that so many works of left history reveal and condemn?