“Canceling” is a mode of protest that usually originates in online spaces in which cultural capital is divested from someone or something that has come to represent unacceptable values. In recent years, practices of social criticism such as “canceling,” “calling out,” and “de-platforming” have become mechanisms by which to hold public figures and media sources accountable. Through the collective act of canceling, a group assumes the power to deny an outlet for harmful messages and people. Often emerging as a spontaneous response to public speech and acts, canceling centers voices in those marginal and interstitial spaces that hegemonic discourse ignores. No wonder, then, that we see so many attempts to label canceling a “toxic” and “anti-democratic” activity. But if it is indeed “non-deliberative” and “non-rational,” does it necessarily follow that it is also undemocratic?
The 2019 Winter issue of Open Set will examine so-called “cancel culture” and the questions it raises for the arts, humanities, and creative practices. For this issue we ask for original essays, projects, reviews, and interviews that consider “cancel culture” as it relates to the arts and humanities. Possible questions and problems to consider include, but are not limited to the following: How are we to address the “problematic faves” in our fields? Is it possible or beneficial to cancel the canon? How are the widely publicized abuses perpetrated by tenured faculty in the academy and high-ranking administrators in the museum and publishing industries differently affected by “cancel culture” and why? What motivates the critiques that it goes too far? What are possible differences between cancel culture and other modes of resistance, such as boycotting, demonstrating, and agitating? In this issue, we ask not only who and what gets canceled, but also who gets to cancel.
We invite submissions from artists, activists, scholars, teachers, creative writers, and theorists who are interested in these questions and more. Proposals of 500-800 words should be sent to no later than 8/1/19. Final papers/projects will be due 10/15/19.