The second issue of the journal JADH is dedicated to the theme of “destruction”, its perceptions, as well as its implications that can be perceived in several fields of architectural heritage as positive and negative at the same time (destruction/construction, absence/loss, memory/oblivion, etc.). Destruction refers to the process and outcome of an event: every destruction, regardless of whether being voluntary or involuntary in nature, imposes a reflection on losses, things that have existed but ceased to exist, and forces us to make a value judgment about what we recognized as being part of our history and identity.
A destructive event becomes very relevant for the social life of the collectivity that is subject to it, and its results can be materialized over time depending on several directions and different ways.
For example, it is possible to verify the recovery of a line connecting with its own past – which has become so just because it precedes the event -, through strong participation in the process of rebuilding, which imposes the recovery as it is considered the historical identity of the affected population. In other cases, the destruction implies a deeper fracture in the history of the collectivity, generating an active reaction that assumes diverse implications and an acceleration of the processes (of various natures: planning, historical, social, economic, cultural, etc.) and amplifies, in this way, the break with the past that already started with the destructive event itself. The destruction becomes the main theme of this issue, which encourages the investigation of the multi-faceted interpretations of the term itself in a multi-disciplinary horizon.
Even though the editors do not preclude the canonical process of destruction-reconstruction, they further encourage the various interpretations in the space-time dimensions that may be examined.
To contribute to this issue, the editors invite ground-breaking investigations and reflections about themes revolving around (but not limited to) the following fields:
- Loss of identity as a process of destruction-reconstruction/construction (architectural heritage in its cultural/social/political values)
- Destruction as subtraction in a creative act
- Destruction as a result of human or natural action
- Enhancing the void (material/immaterial)
- Destruction of historical memory (documents, archives, personal or public library…)
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
→ The participation to the call is open to national and international structured and independent scholars (PhD students, postdoctoral fellows, research fellows, researchers).
→ The issue will host essays and articles selected through a double-blind peer review process.
→ To apply, please send an abstract of max. 400 words in English and a short CV to adh-journal@polimi.it by April 11th, 2023.
→ The outcome of the selection and the judgments of the peer review will be communicated by e-mail to the author of the article.
→ Proposals selected for publication must be developed into unpublished texts, complete with bibliography and images, and sent to the editorial board by August 18th, 2023.
More information can be found in the full call for papers here and on the journal’s website.