Special issue: Studies in Materialistic Historiography

Introduction:

In Walter Benjamin’s Theses on the Philosophy of History, the phrase “materialistic historiography” appears as the negation of traditional historicism’s “causal nexus” and the name of Benjamin’s overall problematique of writing history—historiography—as the production of memory traces, remnants, and chains. The adjective “materialistic” conjures a technicity of perceptual and mnemonic programs, installed prior to the history-grapher’s aggressive interruption, dislocation, and reinscription of the genealogical diagram, an effort of marking and scripting which might— just possibly, and only weakly messianically—set up possible frameworks for possible futures.

Perspectives in Architecture and Urbanism invites explorations of the examples and methods of materialistic historiography which, through close readings of objects and their conditions of possibility, move beyond the merely representational and mimetic conception of buildings, user identities, and professed politics. We recognize that while the overtaking of critical theory by so-called cultural studies in the 1990s rejuvenated architecture and urbanism’s sense of social urgency, the actual result of neopragmatism, identity politics, extraction critique, and new historicism was the return to old humanist motifs of the everyday, the body, the determinant context, and the general ignoring of the actual materialistic basis of the social imaginary already inscribed but undetectable to these methods.

For upcoming issues of Perspectives in Architecture and Urbanism, we imagine writings conceived and produced in the frame of “materialistic historiography.” We welcome the possibility of hybrid constructions and models of theory and practice in which, for example, a symptomatic reading of an architectural project confronts not just the fact but the forms of climate change. Where a study of the movements of migration ponders the issue of research in an archive comprising only traces of things left behind. We hope for multiple “allo-history-graphics”—other iterations of historical inscription—that analyze or take issue with our formulation of the current problematic; that expand other ways of thinking about the present practice of history.

Important deadlines:

• Abstract submission deadline:20 January 2025
• Full paper submission deadline:31 August 2025

Submission instructions:

We invite all those interested to submit materials to the Editorial Office at paujournal@outlook.com using as subject line:

CFP Historiography AUTHOR’S SURNAME abstract

(e.g., CFP Historiography HAYS abstract)

Submissions should contain:

• Title
• Author(s)
• Affiliation of the author(s)
• Contact E-mail(s)
• Short author(s) bio(s) (maximum 100 words each)
• Six keywords
• Abstract (no longer than 500 words)
• Essential reference list (optional)
• Key images (maximum 2, optional)

The deadline for submission is January 20^th, 2025. Selected authors will be notified by the Editorial Office of Perspectives in Architecture and Urbanism by February 20^th, 2025.

Selected authors will be invited to present a preliminary draft of their paper (approximately 2,500 words) at an upcoming international seminar hosted by the College of Architecture and Urban Planning (CAUP) of Tongji University in Shanghai (May/June 2025, in-person and online).

Full papers must be submitted by August 31^st, 2025 following the editorial guidelines of the journal (https://www.keaipublishing.com/en/journals/perspectives-in-architecture-and-urbanism/guide-for-authors/).

Selected manuscripts will undergo a double-blind review process and will receive additional feedback from the Guest Editor. Accepted papers will be published online in regular issues of the journal as soon as the review and editing processes are completed. Published texts will be later collected into a virtual special issue, accessible on the journal’s website.

Formatting and submission requirement

Text

• must follow the APA Manual of Style (7th edition)
• spelling should adhere to American convention
• save as Microsoft Word or RTF format

Images

• captions and credits must be included with the submission.

Guest editors:

• Michael Hays, Professor, Harvard University, USA. Email: mhays@gsd.harvard.edu