In the contemporary world the symbolic act of ‘selling oneself’ takes many different shapes. ‘Selling oneself’ means giving oneself up to the enemy, to betray and to self-betray in exchange for money, power, or for other reasons. Many subject may sell themselves, examples include: the politician, the trade-unionist, the “transformist” member of parliament, the revolutionary, the football player, the alternative artist who gives up to the pressures of the market, the journalist who compromises with power. In short, one can think of anyone who changes his/her own views or gives up his/her own body in exchange for material advantages, despites his/her own convictions. ‘Selling oneself’ may be an act of prostitution by a man or a woman, because of choice, of need, or because one is forced to do so. One may ‘Sell oneself’ and perceive one self as an economic resource, or you can ‘sell yourself’ in front of hierarchies, in the face of power, renouncing to invest on your own abilities and resources

We encourage contributions which reflect on this theme, on the protagonists – those who sell and those who buy – of the ‘selling’, on the moments, the contexts, the reasons why one sells him or herself; on the meanings that this act may have in different contexts; but also on the rhetoric that is sparked by this theme in both the public and the private spheres and in different historical periods.

Contributors are invited to send:

For the section Writing: a half-page abstract for an article in either Italian or English of roughly 20 pages (40.000 characters spaces included)

For the section Sources of the self/Sources of the us: a half-page abstract for an article in either Italian or English of roughly 10 pages (20.000 characters spaces included, and including the sources when relevant), which analyzes the methodological problems of the sources utilised in the study of this theme, exploring their peculiarity, construction and re-elaboration in an already conducted enquiry.

Proposals should be sent to snodi.pubbliciprivati@gmail.com, with a short biographical note and a short list of the author’s main publications

before the 30th of June 2011.

The authors of articles in English, when English is not their first language, should have their text already proofread by a mother tongue reader before sending it. The articles for the section Writing are subject to peer review. Proposals will be selected by 15 July 2011. The full articles will have to be submitted by the 15th of October 2011. The issue will be published in spring 2012.

The essays will be examined by the scientific board to test their relevance to the proposed theme and the interests of the journal, that deals mainly with the relationship between  "public" and "private" in modern history. The papers will then passed on to "peer reviewers" chosen by the scientific board according to their expertise.

Scientific board:

Giulia Albanese, Margherita Angelini, Enrica Asquer, Claudia Baldoli, Tommaso Baris, Giulia Beltrametti, Emmanuel Betta, Alessandro Casellato, Alessio Gagliardi, Federico Mazzini, Simon Levis Sullam, Erika Lorenzon, Giovanni Sbordone, Simona Troilo, Gilda Zazzara.