Call for papers No. 48

2025-03-14

 Call for Papers

Dossier: Anthropology of the State: Temporalities, Representations, and Practices in Latin America

Dossier Coordinators:
PhD Soledad Varea
PhD Marcelo Bonilla
PhD Juan Carlos Martínez

Submission of Articles: From March 14 to July 20, 2025

Publication Date: December 2025

The Revista Ciencias Sociales at the Universidad Central del Ecuador, in its issue 48 and its central dossier, seeks to explore contemporary ways of conceptualizing, studying, and critiquing the State from an anthropological perspective, with a special emphasis on Latin American contexts. Its main objective is to gather research analyzing how temporalities, symbolic representations, and everyday practices related to the State are configured within the social and political dynamics of the region.

The dossier approaches the State not only as an abstract or structural entity but also as a web of historical, political, and cultural relationships, highlighting how it is constructed, represented, and experienced in daily life. From a critical lens towards the colonial legacy of anthropology, this academic space aims to reflect on how global transformations, neoliberal policies, post-neoliberal disputes, and recent crises like the COVID-19 pandemic have reshaped the role, functions, and perceptions of the State in Latin America.

The following themes are welcome:

  • Temporalities and Representations of the State: Analysis of the "other" in anthropological time: how are relationships between the modern and the "traditional" constructed in state representations?
  • The State as a Historical and Political Act: Continuity and rupture in state narratives of the region.
  • Symbolic Representations and Rituals of the State: Parades, ceremonies, and other state staging events.
  • Everyday Practices and State Functioning: The role of bureaucracies in constructing state fantasies and realities: how is authority experienced through procedures and documents
  • The Experience of the "Stateless": Migratory populations, undocumented communities, and their interaction with the state apparatus.
  • State Practices in Everyday Life: Ethnographic studies of villages, neighborhoods, and indigenous territories in relation to the State.
  • State, Borders, and Exclusion: State policies on borders: militarization, migration, and human mobility.
  • Inclusion/Exclusion Dynamics in Citizenship Construction: Analyzing inclusion and belonging.
  • States of Exception during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Impacts on relationships between communities and the state apparatus.
  • Indigenous Peoples and the Struggle for the State: The State from the perspective of indigenous nationalities: everyday relations, demands for plurinationality, and tensions with public policies.
  • Indigenous Movements as Part of the State: Reflections from post-neoliberalism and 21st-century socialism.
  • New Approaches in State Anthropology: Critical reflections on the colonial legacy of state anthropology and proposals to decolonize the field.
  • Comparative Studies on State Discourses and Practices in Latin America and other Global Contexts.
  • Ethnographies of the State and Bureaucracies.

The thematic dossier is a peer-reviewed section comprising at least five articles, preselected by the dossier coordinators in conjunction with the internal Editorial Board and subsequently undergoing external blind peer review.

Length Requirements for Articles: 6,000–8,000 words, including the main text, footnotes, and reference list.

Other Sections Open for Submissions:

  • Topics: (Peer-reviewed section) addressing contemporary issues in social sciences. Length: 4,000–6,000 words. Up to three articles will be published.
  • Young Researchers: (Peer-reviewed section) for graduates of the Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humanas at the Universidad Central del Ecuador. Length: 3,000–4,000 words. Up to two articles will be published.
  • Interviews: Non-peer-reviewed section with thematic or biographical interviews. Length: up to 5,000 words.
  • Book Reviews: Non-peer-reviewed section for critical commentary on relevant works in the social sciences field. Length: 800–1,200 words.

The journal uses a double-blind peer-review system, ensuring objectivity, transparency, and impartiality in the evaluation process, adhering to Latindex standards.

Final Article Submission Deadline: July 20, 2025.
All submissions must comply with editorial and anti-plagiarism standards and be made through the journal's platform.