The Initiative for the Study of Religion and Spirituality in the History of Africa and the Diaspora (RASHAD) is seeking contributions for a special issue of The Journal of Traditions and Beliefs on Zora Neale Hurston: Art, Religion, and the History of the African Diaspora. This special issue is co-edited by Dr. Regennia N. Williams, Associate Professor of History, Cleveland State University and Dr. Gillian Johns, Associate Professor of English, Oberlin College.
Zora Neale Hurston (1891-1960) was an anthropologist, a novelist, a folklorist, a playwright, and a history maker in her own right. Hurston was a product of the Harlem Renaissance and is often described as one of the greatest literary artists of the twentieth century. Praised by many for her studies of African derived religions in the American South, Haiti, and Jamaica, she is most famous for her 1937 novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and her literary works inspired such writers as Ralph Ellison, Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Ishmael Reed, Gloria Naylor, and Jewell Parker Rhodes, among others. (Source: The Official Zora Neale Hurston Website. For more information, please visit http://www.zoranealehurston.com/.)
This scholarly publication is timed to coincide with the year-long 75th anniversary celebration for Their Eyes Were Watching God in 2012 and 2013, and it is related to the September 2012 “Watching God and Reading Hurston Conference.” This open-access journal will be published electronically via Digital Commons at Cleveland State University. (For more information on the Hurston Conference, the RASHAD Initiative, and CSU’s Digital Commons / Engaged Scholarship activities, please visit http://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/hurston/.)
Possible topics include, but are not limited to “Literature and Religion,” “Spirituals and Neo-Spirituals,” “African and Neo-African Religion,” “Religion and Spirituality in Hurston’s Life and Art,” and what one writer describes as “The Complex Fate of the God-Driven Black Diaspora Discourse.” Established and emerging academic scholars, independent scholars, advanced graduate students, and visual and performing artists are encouraged to submit papers.
Typewritten, double-spaced manuscripts, no more than 30 pages in length (including endnotes), should be prepared using A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations (University of Chicago Press, 2007 or later). Manuscripts submitted for publication will be peer-reviewed.
Please note the following deadlines:
Submission of Completed Manuscripts: May 1, 2013 Notifications
Mailed: July 1, 2013 Publication Date: December 1, 2013
Email All Manuscripts to: African.DiasporaATcsuohio.edu