There is no denying the fact that the political space of global politics is not neutral but underpinned by a powerful hegemonic normative framework which  circumscribes who and what we can hear and see. Consequently, it can be argued that social spaces are not blank and open for anybody to occupy, some bodies are deemed as having the right to belong while others are circumscribed as being ‘out of place’. It is not simply a domain in which anybody can turn up and speak out. Instead, it is a space in which certain subjects are produced, while other subjects are rendered unintelligible and denied an authoritative voice. The marginalization of certain voices from global politics is not solely the product as deliberate process or exclusion, nor is it simply an unexamined ignorance instead, their exclusion is the result of what Judith Butler says ‘a normative violence’ that denies them the possibility of a culturally intelligible and politically qualified subject position. Therefore, global politics is a domain permeated by a logic that enables certain actors to speak whilst silencing and marginalizing others. In order to explore this domain of marginality we propose to bring out a special issue special issue of LITERARIA on it and invite articles from scholars on the multifarious issues relating to Literatures of Margin which may include the following broad areas:

It is true that before the advent of the industrial revolution, the urban as a term, definition and location existed in a liminal space. In the last 300 years or so, the one that largely existed: the non-urban, faces erosion. This special issue of LITERARIA, a peer reviewed international journal, on “Non-urban Cultures” hopes to draw attention to not only the breadth and depth of non-urban cultures and spaces but also the importance of the non-urban as a broader theme within cultural Studies. It refers not only to actual physical spaces, but also the non-urban in literary/cultural spaces, practices, movements, and the non-urban as a utopian space itself.

Non-urban implies primarily the native, the indigenous, the tribal, the folk, the other world, the subaltern, the extinct, the oral etc. We welcome book reviews, original indigenous works with translation in English (both prose and poetry) and research papers with innovative interpretation of the theme as well.

Papers are invited, but not restricted to the following sub-themes:

• Native discourses: oral or written
• Tribal contexts
• Extinct cultures
• Stories of healing and reconciliation
• Re-imagined/ing communities
• Disappearing languages
• Non-urban aesthetics
• Tangible and intangible cultures
• Folk narratives
• Indigenous festival performances
• Non urban literatures
• Non urban pedagogies
• Non urban and education
• Geographies of non-urban
• Concept of erasure
• Indigenous practices as social cohesion
• Colonial impacts and Postcolonial perspectives

The subject/s under consideration in the contributions can be drawn from but are not limited to the written and the oral, cinema, theatre, sound, music, festival performances, geography, art, economics, third-world aesthetics, sociology, psychology, anthropology, history, philosophy, systems study, cultural studies perspectives, subaltern studies, new Media, political activism, religion, utopian studies, and the like.

The research papers double-spaced, in not less than 4000 words and not exceeding 6000 words and book reviews in approx 1200 words should be submitted electronically in MS-Word and PDF file formats to the Guest Editor / Editors, at their e-mail addresses given below not later than 30th March 2013.

All papers submitted to LITERARIA should be original, neither having been previously published nor being considered elsewhere at the time of submission.

Authors can send us the manuscripts according to the APA Format as specified in the 5th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association or according to the MLA Format given in the 6th edition of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. Please indicate “LITERARIA: Special issue on Non-Urban Cultures” in the subject line of all e-mail correspondence.