{"word_count": 424, "character_count": 2939}
GUEST EDITORDr Sonjah Stanley-Niaah (University of the West Indies at Mona)DESCRIPTIONWhy Of Sacred Crossroads?The theme of the Seventh International Association for Cultural Studies Crossroads Conference, held at the University of the West Indies, in Mona, Jamaica, was “Of Sacred Crossroads.” The conference call for papers asked for a consideration of issues surrounding the dialogue between humanity and spirituality. In the face of increasing materialism and consumerism, as well as the prevailing emphasis on science and technology in contemporary society, participants celebrated the intangible heritage of humankind—that found in religion, art, dance, song, oratory, healing, re-creation, performance, ritual, belief systems, ethics, globalization and communication, among others.Between the 2008 iteration of the conference and the present, this focus on issues of the sacred amongst a community of cultural studies scholars has continued to be a concern. Cultural Studies is not a discipline that immediately calls to mind reflection on matters of the sacred. Cultural Studies is known for identifying distinct, multi-disciplinary perspectives, and in these papers, we see a willingness to critique the role of the sacred in daily life and an openness to thinking about its representation in everyday cultural expressions, from literature to music to food to politics and beyond.The proposal is for a special issue that concerns itself with offering new ways in which the sacred is represented in the popular realm or communicated at the intersection of the secularization of society and its inherent ideological, philosophical, existential and methodological crises.The issue will present a variety of voices, some new, some experienced, all wrestling with ideas about and perspectives on the sacred. Each paper began as a presentation and has been worked and developed into the articles to be included.This special issue will have a truly international scope, both in subject and voice. Each essay will provide a different perspective on the sacred, revealing, through cultural studies practices, the multifaceted nature of belief, ceremony and ritual.HOW TO SUBMITWe invite you to submit your publication that you had planned to submit for this initiative, or any other work that you feel fits the theme of cultural studies and the sacred. Our goal is to have this issue out before the end of the year, so our due date for submission is April 30, 2018.Please submit our article directly through the online submission system: http://www.editorialmanager.com/culture choosing the title of the issue (Of Sacred Crossroads: Cultural Studies and the Sacred) as the article type. The guidelines for authors can be found here: https://www.degruyter.com/view/supplement/s24513474_Instruction_for_Authors.pdfif you had any queries, please contact the Managing Editor, izabella.penier@degruyteropen.comFeatured Image Credits:Jake Davies