A CALL FOR PAPERS: The Wandering Jew and other myths: a special issue of Patterns of Prejudice. Deadline for papers 12th June 2026
CALL FOR PAPERS: ‘The Wandering Jew and other myths’ special issue for Patterns of Prejudice, guest-edited with Elisabeth Becker-Topkara.
Part of the Volkswagen Stiftung funded project ‘Redrawing the Wandering Jew’, which will include an exhibition ‘Eternal Strangers’ at The Winchester Gallery in 2027.
The legend of the Wandering Jew is ubiquitous in our modern age for better or worse – deviating from its historical origins to appear in myriad contemporary representations, lingering in the artistic imagination to express exilic sentiment, or weaponised politically to justify wilful rootlessness. Our issue seeks to find what makes this immortal, nomadic, shape-shifting figure so enduring and adaptable. We aim to collect analytic reflections on “other myths” from cultures and contexts beyond Christian Europe to map the propagation of cursed wanderers and the like. Since so often such myths and legends appear at geographical or cultural crossroads, in what ways can these figures mediate or elucidate difference and encounter? How can they empower in the face of historically stigmatised ‘otherness’? Can diaspora be reimagined without being romanticised, alert to the realities of forced migration and exile past, present and future?
We call for submissions discussing legends and mythic figures exclusively through the lens of reclamation responding to racial, national, ethnic or religious exclusion. These narratives emerge out of harmful contexts, disseminating derogatory and divisive storytelling about the misunderstood ‘stranger’. Be it a warrior, supernatural guide, or everyman, how is this type removed from such origins, and reshaped by indigenous (or other) cultural actors? We are especially interested in non-formal methods of knowledge as transmitted through folklore or oral tradition, and representations in the visual arts, literature and music. Submissions may explore the difference between Israeli and diasporic approaches to the Wandering Jews; its resonance amongst other traditionally nomadic peoples, such as Roma; or relevance for other postcolonial cultures.
This call is grounded in sociological research questions:
– What are the affective implications of creative reclamation for, in particular, marginalised individuals and structurally demonised groups?
– Can and should these so-called reappropriations be defined or classified, and if so, how?
– What happens when a legend becomes an interpolation, divorced from its derisive origins — can it still empower?
We invite contributions from across the arts, humanities and social sciences, including but not limited to: literature, history, art, music, sociology, anthropology, religious studies, psychology, linguistics, migration studies.
Please submit 1-page proposals for papers (maximum 7,000 words) before 12 June 2026 to a.alexander-rose@soton.ac.uk. All contributions must be the original work of the author/s, will be subject to peer review, and the editors’ decisions will be final.