[PHILOS-L] CfP: Special Issue 'Practicing Place'
Prof. Dr. Imke von Maur
CfP: Special Issue 'Practicing Place'
Guest editors:
Prof. Dr. Robert Schmidt - Chair of Process-Oriented Sociology, Catholic
University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
Prof. Dr. Joost van Loon - Chair of General Sociology and Sociological
Theory, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
This special issue derives from the premise that places are practiced
rather than always-already “somewhere”. The objective of the special
issue is to demonstrate the importance of place for Practice Theory.
From a practice-theoretical perspective, situatedness and localization
can be understood and made visible as fundamental characteristics of all
practical actions and realities of action. Practices never take place
“’atopos, placeless’, as Plato said of Socrates, nor rootless and
free-floating”. This situatedness, as a process of em-/displacement, can
be seen to characterize both routinised everyday social practices, as
well as theoretical, scientific, literary, and artistic practices in
equal measure. In the context of new geopolitical confrontations,
ecological challenges and heightened social polarization, the
conflictuality of practicings of place has emerged as the central
direction for Practice Theory and research. This orientation is
structured around different thematic areas of empirical conflicts and
fundamental conflictuality, which often intersect. These include
placings of the political and place-based conceptions of the public
sphere, the co-production of contested places by humans and non-human
entities, and imaginaries of place in the context of post- and
decoloniality, geo- and ecopoetics.
This special issue aims to contribute to a strong interdisciplinary
framework for understanding 'practicing place' as a research paradigm,
that emerges from a consistent practice-theoretical conception of
topology. For example, focusing on place as practiced dissolves the
static dualism between subjectivity and objectivity by shifting the
focus from 'who acts?' to 'what is being bound?' By exploiting the
linguistic doubling of 'bound' - serving both as the present perfect of
'to bind' (integration) and the root of the verb 'to bound'
(delimitation) - practicing place can be understood as the simultaneous
binding and bounding of experience (phenomenologically) or of situations
(pragmatically). Practices are not limited to what is commonly
understood as “social action” but include a much wider range of “doings
and sayings”, including narration and imagination as ensembles of
discursive and affective practices.
We are looking for contributions from a variety of disciplines across
the social sciences, geography, humanities, cultural studies and
philosophy. We request submissions that combine particular case studies
of practicing place with theoretical explorations of practices such as
emplacement, replacement, displacement and de-placement, both in terms
of binding (inclusion) and bounding (exclusion). We particularly welcome
contributions focused on conflictuality, imaginaries and
“more-than-human” practice-constellations.
Contributions will be subject to the journal’s standard double-blind
peer review process.
Contributors will need to register to the journal before submitting.
Submission Information
To assist with planning, prospective contributors are invited to submit
a short abstract (approximately 250–300 words) outlining their proposed
contribution by 30th September 2026.
Abstracts should be emailed to:
Prof. Dr. Robert Schmidt
rschmidt(at)ku.de
Authors whose proposals are accepted will then be invited to submit a
full manuscript for peer review.
Key Dates
Abstract deadline: 20th September 2026
Notification of invitation to submit: October 2026
Full manuscript deadline: 1st February 2027
Accepted articles will be published online on a rolling basis and
subsequently collected into the special issue.
For questions about the special issue, please contact:
Prof. Dr. Joost van Loon
joost.vanloon(at)ku.de
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Prof. Dr. Imke von Maur — Lehrstuhl für Philosophie
Philosophisch-Pädagogische Fakultät, KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt
Ostenstraße 26, 85072 Eichstätt, KGE-212, Tel: +49 8421 93-21162
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