Romanian Journal of American Studies
Call for Articles
RJAS, 2011 vol. 1, no. 1; deadline for submissions Sept. 15, 2011
Managing editor: Marius Jucan (Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj)
Topic: Taming Freedom(s): the American Legacy of Agency and Constraint
This journal issue seeks contributions concerning reconsiderations and redefinitions of freedom
as the interplay between agency and constraint applied to American culture and society from
various perspectives and across time. Throughout the centuries “freedom,” whether individual,
social, cultural or of speech, has acquired new meanings and values according to its degree of
connection, and relevance, to religion, politics, ideology, ethics, and aesthetics. Questions such
as: what does freedom allow as compared with liberty, how do positive and negative freedoms
interact, how does optionality interfere with both freedom and liberty or with either of them in
contemporary America are among the ones for which answers are sought in this journal articles.
Contributors are also encouraged to refer to one or several of the following areas:
- Freedom and liberty (limitations and rights);
- Religious freedom and constraints;
- Freedom of speech, the liberty to speak, democracy and the media;
- Free/unfree/selfcoerced freedom(s);
- The Civil Rights movement, political correctness, libertarianism and (neo)-conservatism;
- Representations of freedom(s) from Rockwell to the present time in American culture/art;
- Freedom of expression in literature and film;
- Post 9/11 constraints and liberties;
- Exporting freedom: Manifest Destiny revisited;
Deadline for submissions: Sept. 15, 2011