The call will close Dec. 31, 2024.
What is the distance between a communal and an individual point of no return? How do we move through spaces together and within ourselves? In the fractured landscape of our present day, we are seeing how the brutal arithmetic of the individual can lead to unbridled chaos, fearmongering, and genocide. So how do we trouble the idea of the singular and instead shift our attention and energy toward relation and responsibility?
In moments of extreme uncertainty, sometimes the only way to survive is by redirecting our despair, by reimagining what is possible rather than assuming ourselves trapped by existing institutions and infrastructures. The system is not broken; it’s functioning exactly how it was always intended. How, then, do we subvert the power of the institution with creativity, which is so inherently interdependent and relational? How do we enact the kind of expansive futuring that can chart a path to an otherwise world?
For this issue, we are examining the building blocks that make up our society and considering how to dismantle them so that we might create anew. We already have the material; now, how do we repurpose it, hold onto each other as we do so, and move from a place of fugitivity* to redefine and redirect power? And how do we make space for nuance, which requires vulnerability and a deep knowing of each other? Tell us: What transforms responsibility from a burden into a sacred act of love? How can we keep showing up for each other in a world that would have us do otherwise? And how do we channel forward that which is overwhelming and alive, impossible and divine, mundane as the dirt and willing to endure?
* Stefano Harney and Fred Moten’s The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning and Black Studies (AK Press, 2013).
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We highly recommend you read our Submit and our FAQ page. There is plenty of information there: why we don’t read “blind,” why we charge a $7 fee, why we require a cover letter/statement, the type of work we’re (not) looking for, etc. You should also read this post on our Well-Crafted bulletin — 7 tips on submitting work to TSW — to get a better idea of the things we’re looking for in your submission. Any other clarifying question, reach out to us at submit@seventhwavemag.com. We can’t wait to get to know your voice.
