Call for contributions for the journal Historia Actual Online: Twentieth-century dictatorships and religion

The scholarship of twentieth-century dictatorships has developed steadily since the demise of such regimes after W.W.II. The last decades, they have increasingly been studied from a cultural point of view. Some researchers (Mosse, Gentile,…) characterized them as forms of ‘political religion’, a viewpoint which eventually led to the creation of a journal dedicated to this topic, ‘Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions’. In this context, there is also a growing interest in the position of traditional religion, as opposed to, and sometimes as a part of, the ideological frameworks in which twentieth-century dictatorships can be situated.

The Cádiz-based online peer reviewed journal Historia Actual Online now invites proposals for articles on subjects related to the theme of contemporary dictatorship and religion. Topics could include European fascist and non-fascist dictatorships and their relationship to religion, especially to the Vatican, the fate of religion and religious institutions under Communist regimes, the position of Christianity in Maoist China and in Asia, religion and dictatorship in Africa and South America, ... Proposals for contributions on the topics suggested above, or, in general, on topics relating to the theme of ‘dictatorship and religion’, are invited. It is envisaged that a ‘dossier’ of 5 to 10 papers will be published in the Historia Actual Online Autumn 2008 edition.

Historia Actual Online (ISSN 1697-3305) is a full text, open acces online contemporary history journal which does not limit itself to the discipline of historiography, but also welcomes multi-disciplinary approaches. Contributions are accepted in English, Spanish, French, Italian and German. Further information, including details of the editorial board and of all the previous issues, may be found at: http://www.historia-actual.com/HAO/pbhao.asp?idi=ESP

Please submit abstracts of no more than 500 words (Word- or Word-compatible-format), accompanied by a brief c.v., by no later than February 20th, 2008, to Jan Nelis (jan.nelis@ugent.be or jan_nelis@hotmail.com). Notification of acceptance will be sent by March 5th, 2008, upon which authors will receive further editorial instructions. Full papers due: June 20th, 2008. Notification of acceptance of papers, including possible comments based on peer-review reports: July 20th, 2008.

For any further inquiries, contact Dr Jan Nelis, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Fund for Scientific Research, Belgium/University of Ghent, Belgium, at jan.nelis@ugent.be or jan_nelis@hotmail.com.