CALL FOR PAPERS

Deadline: October 31, 2025

SPECIAL ISSUE EDITORS: PhD, Goran Petrović Lotina (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Sciences Po Paris, UC Louvain), and, Prof. Susanne Franco (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice), Prof. Francesco Della Puppa (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice), PhD, LP, Aneta Stojnić (IPTAR: Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, New York).

 

TITLE: Identification as Embodied Practice: Performing Counter Discrimination.

 

Over the past decade, far-right political parties have steadily ascended in political power globally—from Hungary and Italy to the Netherlands, from Sweden and France to Romania, as well as in Israel, the USA, and Argentina. The ascent of the far-right is intricately linked to key developments in recent global and European history. Far-right movements have exploited the growing embrace of multiculturalism, advancements in gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights, and the rise of social media, to promote nationalist agendas centred on identity politics, the preservation of traditional values, and the ability to reach and radicalize a broader audience. Some of the pivotal events, such as the EU's enlargement (2004, 2007), the debt crisis (2009-18), increased migration dynamics (2015-), and challenges in health (2019-23), protection and energy (2022-), further propelled the rise of far-right. Acknowledging the decline in national, economic, cultural, health, protective and energy security, the far-right frequently attribute these challenges to both internal and external immigrants. By mobilizing stigmata of otherness such as colour, name, language, religious practice, or environmentalist beliefs, they cultivate the sense of identification among the people around discourses (languages, practices, and institutions) centred on a singular, monocultural concept of nativist identity. These types of group identification manifest through different symbolic and affective ties that legitimise discrimination, xenophobia, and cultural racism as self-preservative, defensive mechanisms. Consequently, all discontent with the security situation becomes embodied in dis/identification with the other. 

 

In psychoanalysis, identification is understood to involve both symbolic and affective ties with another person or group, as individuals internalize symbolic structures and form emotional attachments (Lacan 1966, Klein 1957, Freud 1921). And, while group identification may promote life-affirming desires for connection, social justice, and equality, among its members, it can also evoke conscious and unconscious feelings of jealousy, hostility, or envy through the exaggeration of differences with neighbouring communities with (dis)similar cultures (De Zavala and Lantos 2020, Keval 2016, Freud 1930). Political philosophy inspired by psychoanalytic theory also acknowledges the enduring nature of the dual process of group identification along the we/they divide, highlighting the profound influence of both symbolic and emotional connections in shaping group identification and the inherent conflict within society (Stavrakakis 2020, 2005). The primary aim of democracy, therefore, is to prevent conflicts marked by a 'us versus them' interactions to take form of antagonism and enmity to one of constructive disagreement where different factions are viewed as agonistics and adversaries (Mouffe 2005).

 

Taking a cue from psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic political philosophy, this issue of Aisthesis seeks to examine how far-right practices of identification that discriminate against the other can be contested by cultivating a plural, intercultural and cosmopolitan sense of identification. Through this exploration, we aim to address discrimination, xenophobia, and cultural racism, which stem from the exaggeration of cultural differences in multicultural societies and the cultivation of antagonistic sentiments.

 

This examination delves into the role of various embodying practices in contributing to this transformative process. Performance studies designates all human inter/actions under the term of ‘performance’ understood as an embodying practice (Schechner 2002/1966). Embodiment arises at the nexus of bodily actions (Goffman 1956) and speech acts (Austin 1962) through attributive meaning-making operations (Butler 1997) and affective investments (Ahmed 2014, Laclau 2005). Accordingly, group identification stands for an indissociable embodiment of signifying and affective dimensions (Petrović Lotina & Aiolfi 2023), that manifest through various performances choreographed around antagonistic or agonistic political dynamics.

 

To analyse these performances, this examination employs various disciplines, such as psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic political philosophy, and performance studies. These disciplines provide a horizon for exploring the ontological, epistemological, ethical, psycho-symbolic, political and embodied dimensions of identification. They help examine how identification is shaped by a sense of belonging, repetition, exclusionary practices, emotional attachments, unconscious connections, as well as power structures and governance, and how it is corporeally enacted, contested, valued and exchanged.

 

Drawing inspiration from a range of performances, including everyday interactions (such as social encounters, education programs, institutional practices), civic engagements (like protests, speeches, and policy initiatives), and artistic expressions (including theatre, dance, music, and artivism), and theoretical frameworks, this issue of Aisthesis aims to offer a perspective on identification through embodiment, discourse, meaning-making, and emotional connections. By acknowledging the inherent conflictual dynamics within society, its goal is to investigate how these tensions help mobilize, enact and articulate group identifications rooted in diversity, internationalism, xenophilia, and inclusion.

 

Taking into consideration that far-right politics is a global phenomenon, we invite contributions from different geographical regions and continents to discuss progressive practices of identification.

 

The themes could include, but are not limited to issues relating

performance, identification, and…:

…identity

• Being, belonging, exclusion and conflict
• Intersectionality
• Collective identities
• Counter-identification and/or disidentification
• Symbolization

…drives and emotions

• Split
• Mimesis
• Affective investment
• Conscious and unconscious emotions
• Eros and Thanatos / love and hate / jouissance
• Group narcissism and narcissism of small differences

…friends vs enemies

• agonism vs antagonism / ingroup vs outgroup

• Peace advocacy vs war promotion
• Liberation, equality, justice, and care vs oppression, discrimination, injustice, and abuse
• Hospitality vs hostility 
• Internationalism vs nationalism

 

… space

• Public space vs private space
• Governance and institutional spaces
• Cultural and artistic spaces
• Cyberspace, the metaverse and/or AI

…embodied politics

• Grassroots, rallies, protests, community organizing, activism…
• Choreography / choreopolitics
• Leadership
• Participation

… artistic practices

• Dance, theatre, music, artivism…
• Choreography
• The audience
• Aesthetics
• Politics

…diversity

• Gender and sex
• Anti-racism and multiculturalism
• Indigenous sovereignty, self-determination and knowledge
• Decolonization and resistance
• Culture and nature

…theoretical discussions

• Psychoanalytic theory
• Critical theory
• Discourse theory
• Political philosophy
• Decolonial and postcolonial studies
• Performance studies
• Art science

Contributions must be submitted in Italian, English or French and must strictly adhere to the Aisthesis.

 

Guidelines.

Only contributions compliant with Author Guidelines will be admitted to peer review.

SUBMISSIONS MUST CONFORM TO THE INSTRUCTIONS SET OUT BELOW. PLEASE READ CAREFULLY.

All editorial inquiries should be addressed to:

Fabrizio Desideri (Editor): fabrizio.desideri@unifi.it

Marina Montanelli (Editorial Secretariat): marina.montanelli@unifi.it

 

Aisthesis publishes academic articles in Italian, English and French, current research articles, symposia, special issues, and timely book reviews. It publishes two issues per year and contains a thematic section, a miscellany, notices and reviews. Each issue contains invited papers and contributed papers.

 

Articles should be submitted using the online submission system. They should be in .doc or .docx format, A4, paginated, double spaced throughout (i.e. including references and quotations), with ample margins. They should be formatted for blind review, not normally exceed 7,500 words and should include an abstract of no more than 150 words and five keywords (in English).

Tables and illustrations should be submitted to the online submission system in separate files to the main manuscript. Please be aware that you may have to secure figure permissions upon acceptance.