CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS – ISSUE 1

What Is Global Thought? 

Today, we invite submissions for our debut issue, which will focus on the topic: what is global thought? 

Starting the journal with such a foundational question is significant for the field we are engaging with. Global Thought defies easy definition, yet definitions are crucial, both as signifiers and archives, enabling us to grapple with a shared idea or event.

Does Global Thought bring to mind the hegemonic supremacy of Eurocentric or Western concepts, social forms, media spectacles, institutions and structures of governance and control? Do we think of the materialisation of thought and how it draws borders, creates conflict, forces migration, produces identities? Or do we think of the circulation of commodities, bodies and identities through the sluices which thought, allied with power, opens or closes?  Perhaps we think of the emergence and transformation of thought over time: the genealogies of the State, of democracy, of hierarchy. Or perhaps we think of the digital networks of thought and its new expressions. This includes memes and social media forms and the problem of their increasingly spectacular nature: deepfakes, misinformation, anonymity and bots in the global virtual public. And today, we may think about Global Thought alongside the fast-moving development of A.I. open-source software and how this undermines or supplements human thought. It may even invite us to consider whether ‘thought’ is an organic privilege or extends to machines. 

“Global Thought is an approach to considering the global issues of today that escapes the outdated frameworks, categories, and forums of old.” For Carol Gluck, “Global thought is not a thing. It’s a way of approaching the world… it’s a way of shaking our ideas loose from their moorings, to not be trapped within categories that were created a long time ago to respond to an earlier world.” From this perspective, global thought is a way of asking questions, not a ready-made theory or a set of answers to global problems. 

This definition takes us so far. But is thinking of global thought as a critical orientation, or as a field of questions without answers, too passive, vague, or academic? At INTER-, we believe that global thought is not only a pedagogical approach, but that thought confronts us, is inscribed everywhere, and is always in motion; there is no ‘escape’ from outdated frameworks, only their evolution – or revolution. The globality of thought is always contested and creates dialectical frontiers and borders wheresoever it goes. Global thought is not about selecting from a pantry of international concepts, opting away from the usual and well-cited ingredients, but has real stakes. We can find the incarnation and materiality of thought everywhere around us: its laws, walls, borders, supply chains, migration channels, bases, camps, airports and cities. It is deeply intrapsychic: it is identity, aesthetics, trends, data, epistemologies, norms, perceptions, shared ancestries.  

Does thought aspire to become global? Is thought ever a true universal, or does it only wear the mask of universality for definite political ends? Is thought always historical, situated? How does it encounter other traditions and forms of thought; or how could it? How does decolonial thought trouble and challenge hegemony today? How does thought crystallize, take on form, evolve, dissolve, transform? How do associations and values assigned to thought – moral, racial, political or identitarian – affect its reproduction and dissemination? Should we understand thought as emerging from individuals or collectives, and how do we embody thought, in everyday ways or as a ‘world-historical individual’? What is global thought?  

Asked in this register, the question may field a diversity of answers. It is a question we must continue to ask, to give shape to the movement of Global Thought, to anticipate it, and gain a glimpse of future horizons. Now, more than ever, the need for global thought to transform and re-substantiate itself as decolonial, ecological, newly human, is a planetary imperative. We propose that INTER- is the space to think together with global thought towards this life in common. 

Now we propose the question to you: what is global thought? 

We seek original articles that explore the concept of global thought from a variety of fields, including but not limited to philosophy, sociology, political theory, anthropology, and history. We especially encourage interdisciplinary approaches. 

Topics that might be addressed include:  

• Does thought aspire to become global? Can thought ever be considered a true universal?   
• What can global thought take the form of? When/how does something become global thought?   
• What has global thought wrought, historically and contemporarily? 
• What are the everyday enactments of global thought?   
• What resistances/reactions are there to the circulation of global thought today? What futures do they point towards and why is the political terrain essential to the understanding of (global) thought?  
• What forms of knowledge, culture and politics exist beyond/within the boundaries of global thought? How do they interface with the hegemony of global thought and how are these knowledges regarded within this distinction? 
• Where are the borders of global thought to be found (geographically, psychologically, or otherwise)? How are they transgressed?  
• What are the stakes of global thought? For politics, culture, society, the non-human?  

We aim to foster a non-hierarchical and egalitarian publishing environment that brings forward diverse paradigms and interconnects disciplines and geographies. We therefore invite submissions from students and scholars at all stages of their academic journey, as well as from activists, practitioners, and creatives.  

Please submit an abstract of 200-400 words, including five keywords, to our email address, [email protected], by November 29th.

Once accepted, the final submission must range between 5000-8000 words, as per our journal policy (https://inter-journal.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/submission-and-reviewer-guidelines/). Further information will be communicated in the acceptance email.  

INTER- will hold a conference in St Andrews to launch our first issue on Spring 2024 (further details forthcoming). Please indicate in your submission email whether you would be interested in participating. This is merely to allow us to estimate numbers; your decision will have NO impact on the acceptance of your abstract. 

If you have any questions or encounter any problems with your submission, do not hesitate to email us. 

We look forward to receiving your contributions and to publishing a stimulating and thought-provoking issue. 

Alongside our journal, we invite you to engage with INTER-’s blog, where submissions are uploaded on a rolling basis with conversational pieces, critique and commentary on any form of arts and literature. Following the launch of our first issue, we also invite blog posts responding to pieces from the journal. If you believe you want to contribute to the field of Global Thought in a non-traditionally “academic” way – the blog provides that space.  

Please submit your contributions via email to [email protected]. Title your email as “BLOG – [Title] – [Name].”

For further information on blog submissions, please see the author guidelines here.