2nd Call for Chapters: Book on self-injury as communication

2nd Call for Chapters: Book on self-injury as communication under contract with Lexington Books (Lexington Studies in Health Communication).

Editor: Warren Bareiss, PhD

Department of Fine Arts & Communication Studies

University of South Carolina Upstate

wbareiss@uscupstate.edu

864-503-5299

Introduction

“Self-injury” is typically defined as the deliberate harming of one’s body without suicidal intent. Common forms of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) include cutting, burning, and bruising as a means of anxiety and stress reduction and avoidance.

The purpose of this book is to explore the communicative dimensions of self-injury, with “communication” being defined and applied in many ways: What messages, if any, are implied in the process and outcome of self-injury? What does self-injury say that words and other forms of communication can’t express? How do self-injurers communicate about their behaviors? What roles do social and mass media play in representing self-injury? How can healthcare professionals effectively communicate with self-injurers? How do communicative dimensions of self-injury vary across cultural settings?

The target audience includes scholars whose interests include communication, culture, and the body as well as healthcare practitioners and other professionals who work with self-injurers on a day-to-day basis.

Self-injury is typically associated with adolescent girls due under-reporting of NSSI among other groups. As such, chapters addressing self-injury among boys and adults are especially welcome. Forms of self-injury outside of the typical cases involving cutting, scraping, and bruising would also be particularly valuable additions.

Theory and Methodology

All chapters should clearly evidence communication as the central conceptual principle, applying one or more communication theories with respect to original data not published elsewhere. Scholarship from a wide range of disciplines and approaches to communication would be appropriate for submission. Data and analytical methods may be qualitative in approach, quantitative, or a combination of both. Final chapters should fall within a 5,000-6,000 word range, not including abstract, references, etc.

Abstracts should be submitted for consideration by Sept. 1, 2017.

Abstracts should be approximately 500 words, specifically addressing how the chapter will examine self-injury as communication. Abstracts should also describe the communication theory(ies) used, original data, and methodology. Each author should also include a CV of no more than two pages.

Organization

Sections of the book are tentatively conceived as:

-       In what ways is self-injury a form of communication, and what is being communicated?

-       How do self-injurers communicate about self-injury?

-       How does the self-injury/communication nexus vary across and within cultures?

-       What roles do social media and mass media play in representing self-injury?

-       What are best methods for communicating with self-injurers?

Samples of chapter proposal topics already submitted:

-       The co-construction of self-injury as a cultural—rather than diagnostic--category.

-       Cyber-ethnographic comparison of two online NSSI platforms.

-       Discourse analysis of NSSI in Japanese popular media.

-       Framing analysis of NSSI among amateur YouTube videos.

-       Nursing students’ attitudes toward self-injurers.

Revised Timeline:

-    Sept. 1: Deadline for submission of abstracts and CVs.

-    Sept. 7: Reviews of abstracts will be completed. Authors whose work is selected will be asked to submit a full chapter for further consideration.

-    Nov. 7: Full chapters should be submitted for review.

-    Dec. 7: First review of full chapters completed and authors notified of suggested revisions.

-    Feb. 15: Revised chapters due.

-    April 1: Second reviews of full chapters sent to authors pending Feb. 15 revisions.

-    May 1: Final manuscripts due.

Send inquiries to

Warren Bareiss
Associate Professor of Communication
University of South Carolina Upstate
wbareiss@uscupstate.edu