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The Editorial Committee informs that the call for papers for the fourth issue, with the axis Irruption of queer theory in language studies, is open until May 22, 2023.

A little more than three decades ago, the term queer theory (coined by Teresa de Lauretis, 1991) began to be used in English-speaking countries to name a movement of displacement in different areas of study that invited to rethink the notions of gender and sexuality along with the ways of thinking about body and identity in a binary and heteronormative way. Among the areas of knowledge that were crossed by this paradigm transformation, linguistics stood out as a field where the possibilities of study from the queer perspective multiplied rapidly.

Since its emergence in the 1990s, the studies of queer linguistics (or cuir linguistics for spanish speakers) have gained importance and have diversified widely. It should be clarified that, although research in this field was initially oriented towards the analysis of the particularities of the language used by LGBTIQ+ groups, queer linguistics is not limited to this type of study. On the contrary, it is currently conceived as a way of investigating and constructing knowledge about language, taking into account notions of queer theory like gender, identity, body, sexuality, desire and power. In this sense, queer linguistics is clearly a movement that breaks through the limitations of the heteropatriarchal conceptions that dominated our area of knowledge and, as such, it is not only an epistemological current but also a field of political struggle and an opening to dissident ways of doing science.

In spite of this, in Spanish-speaking Latin America, the development of studies from queer theory brings into play a series of tensions absent in the English-speaking world. After all, to what extent does thinking about queer instead of cuir imply a subordination to the Anglo-Saxon norm? A cuir linguistics not only allows the reappropriation of the word queer from the problematics that traverse the continent, but also sustains the constant and dissident problematization that is, in a sense, the axis of cuir/queer.

Although the theoretical production eminently queer is in its beginnings, there are specific contributions that seek to review the practices and traditions that, inscribed in Latin America, condition bodies, subjectivities and identities from and in language. The rupture and diversity, the visualization of the abject and the challenge to an established logic are some of the constants that can be found. The reason behind all of them? To be able to re-think ourselves, to see ourselves from another perspective and discover those nuances that, without us always knowing it, shape our reality.

From the journal Alma Máter we want to provide a space for those students who wish to make their own contributions to this line of research. The axis of this new issue, Irruption of queer theory in language studies, proposes to recover the concerns and interests that cross our field from a different, disruptive and deep look.

Themes

Framed within the aforementioned axis, Irruption of queer theory in language studies, the texts submitted can be inscribed, but not exclusively, in any of the following thematic axes:

- Linguistics and gender and sexuality studies.
- Studies of the LGBTIQ+ community's way of speaking.
- The configuration of heteronormativity in language
- Linguistics and feminist theory
- Sexual politics and linguistic politics
- Inclusive language
- Cuir linguistics in Latin America and decolonial studies: reinterpretations of cuir/queer
- Language and the construction of identity
- Representations of the body outside cis-heteronormativity
- Hate speech and queer linguistics

These topics may be approached from different currents and lenses of analysis related to the area (Sociolinguistics, Discourse Analysis, Glotopolitics, Linguistic Anthropology, Linguistic Historiography, among others) as long as the focus is on the study of language.

 

About the works

During the development of the academic trajectories of undergraduate and graduate students in Literature, Linguistics and related fields, texts are born that can be and in fact are plausible to be continued and expanded in subsequent research. Our proposal is that these works, if the writers so wish, may be revisited for publication in Alma Máter. However, we request that they not be sent as they were, but that a rewriting and rereading of the subject be produced, in order to adapt to the guidelines of the call for papers. The journal also reserves the right to propose style or editorial corrections to the contributors for the publication of their text.

Publication in Alma Máter does not preclude subsequent publication in other venues.

Works will be received only in Spanish. If terms or quotations in other languages are used, or if the object of study is a language other than Spanish, please provide a translation according to the examples given or the corpus of study.

 

Texts may be submitted in the following formats:

Articles
Papers in which one or more original hypotheses are developed from the analysis of diverse linguistic materials. It should include the introduction of the problem to be investigated; the objectives and hypotheses; the materials and constitution of the corpus or data to be analyzed; the methodology or modalities of work; the analysis itself and the conclusions. Its minimum length should be 5 pages and its maximum length should be 15 pages.

Data analysis
These are short papers of up to 4000 words in which a set of data is examined, cleaned and transformed with the purpose of establishing regularities and drawing preliminary conclusions in order to be able to make decisions or advance in more in-depth research on the topic, through qualitative and/or quantitative tools. The length shall be no more than 10 pages.

Notes
These are short notes of between 5 and 10 pages that imply a novel observation to a theoretical or empirical problem that has not been analyzed so far without constituting a definitive solution or analysis.

Discussion notes
They offer a critical response that argues with an article published in the last year in a national or international scientific journal. Discussion notes may be in total or partial disagreement or agreement with the article in question, but should always add a novel perspective. Notes containing irrelevant criticisms or suggesting approaches different from the author's theoretical affiliation will not be accepted. Their length should not exceed 5 pages.

Reviews
These are reviews and critical commentaries of texts published in the last two years that are up to 5 pages in length. Reviews should contain a summary that includes the objective of the text and its contents, a critical evaluation that identifies merits and problems, raises questions and presents positive and negative implications of the analysis, and a list of references to works cited in the body of the review.

Corpus presentation
A linguistic corpus is a closed set of textual units, texts or representative data organized in electronic format and grouped with the aim of constituting a starting point for the study of a given language, a linguistic variety or some grammatical or discursive aspect. It should be original and should not be presented in its entirety, but should specify the selection criteria, the annotation and its rationale. It can be constructed from the collection of oral and/or written data. Its length should not exceed 10 pages. This type of work can be extended later in the form of an article.

Bibliographic reviews
Bibliographic reviews or literature reviews are papers that analyze and discuss scientific and academic articles and reports on an area of knowledge or a specific topic. They are not part of a broader scientific work, but are the scientific work itself. 

If writers would like to propose another type of text that is not contemplated, they may do so.

 

Participants

Undergraduate, graduate (who have not completed their doctorate) and former students of careers related to Modern Letters, Classical Letters, Linguistics, Languages, etc. may collaborate with the journal.

 

How to make a new submission

As it is indexed in the UNC Journal Portal, Alma Máter uses the OJS system for its publication. Therefore, article submissions must be made through the Portal platform.
To do so, authors will have to register on the page as authors and follow the instructions to upload their articles, reviews and other texts.
By clicking on "this link" you will find a detailed tutorial on how to do it. We also recommend registering as readers, in order to take advantage of the variety of journals offered by the UNC portal.

For any additional questions, please write to revistaalmamaterffyh@gmail.com