The second issue of the journal is dedicated to the topic of Dolls / Puppets as Miniatures – More than Small. In this context, dolls/puppets and their environments (e.g. doll houses) are considered to be ‘more’ than just miniaturized variants and replicas of humans and the worlds they live in. They generate images and narratives that unfold their own magic and oscillate in function and effect: between exemplification, triviality, extraordinary, exclusivity, condensation, downsizing, baby schema (Kindchenschema), magical charge etc. The call is also about medial manifestations of the doll as miniature as from an etymological perspective image and writing are the inspiration for the birth of the miniature: the ‘miniatura’ was initially not about the ‘smaller scale of a larger’, but about painting with vermilion (miniare), making the initials in manuscripts red in order to be able to replace them in the further processing by small pictures painted in the letters (see Kluge / Seebold).
If dolls/puppets are conceived as miniatures in this sense, mutual tensions come into play: between ‘small’ and ‘large’, ‘visible’ and ‘hidden’, ‘mimetics’ and ‘poetics’, ‘real’ and ‘fictitious’. Dolls/puppets as miniatures are hybrid objects, charged with many kinds of symbolism and surplus of meaning representing a referential frame of the smallest in the smaller in the small or of the doll in the doll in the doll, respectively. At the same time miniatures and miniature worlds are also considered as a ‘place to find greatness’ (Bachelard), as in a burning glass they allow a view of the whole, of something profound beyond the surface and the recognition of inner contexts. This applies to miniatures and their narratives in many fields and disciplines – in literature, in the (fine) arts, in archeology, in photography, in film, in music, in figurative and object theater, in design and last but not least in the concrete replicas and ‘re-enactments’ of the real external worlds. Thus, it is also about the order of the small miniaturized things in the dolls’/puppets’ worlds, the large and small doll houses, the private altars, the personal object arrangements, the museum presentations, collections, toys, models of human-technology relationships etc. up to the doll house murders as illustrative material for crime scenes in forensic medicine and in court.
The call is aimed at a wide variety of disciplinary research and fields of practice. The aim is to highlight the idea of the doll/puppet as a miniature in the multitude of its medial and historical variants, to explore its status in current cultural and social discourses and to rediscover its promising potential.
The contributions should not exceed 30,000 characters. The range of topics addressed results from the considerations mentioned above. The texts can be submitted in English or German as an e-file to the editorial team. Please submit a brief sketch (about 3,500 characters) of your proposal by 7 September 2018. Feedback on the invitation to submit a contribution will be made by the end of September 2018. The manuscripts should be handed in by the end of December 2018 at the latest.
Extended Submission Deadline till 16th of September