Top of page

Call for Submissions

Theme: Our Democratic Imagination

Who will we be in the next 250?

Submission Link:

https://wfu.givepulse.com/survey/take/e2fe0ONBvUDxa5EJrmfI

Catalyst is now accepting submissions for its second issue, centered on the theme: “Our Democratic Imagination.”

As the United States approaches its Semiquincentennial—250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence—we find ourselves at a critical crossroads. Recent NPR/Marist polling reveals deep concerns about the health of our American democracy. The majority of Americans believe democracy is under serious threat and identify politically motivated violence as a major problem. Nearly a third suggest violence may be necessary to get the country back on track. Trust in institutions, civic participation, and social cohesion have eroded across communities.

Yet anniversaries offer more than occasions for anxiety. They create openings—moments to reflect on lessons from the past, to reckon with historical harms, and to imagine and build toward more just futures. This moment demands that we ask not only what has gone wrong, but what we want to create together.

Who will we be in the next 250?

This question invites both critical reflection and visionary imagination. It asks us to consider how community engagement—in all its forms—can contribute to democratic renewal, civic repair, and the cultivation of civic joy, hope, and love. It requires us to examine how power, privilege, and historical trauma shape civic life, while also exploring the practices, partnerships, and pedagogies that might help us build more equitable and resilient communities.

For this second issue of Catalyst, we seek scholarship, reflection, and creative work that engages America’s 250th anniversary as a provocation—not to celebrate uncritically, but to ask: What civic culture do we want to build? What must we learn, unlearn, repair, and reimagine?

What We’re Looking For

We welcome submissions that connect community engagement to questions of democratic practice, civic renewal, and collective flourishing. We are particularly interested in work that:

  • Centers community wisdom alongside academic knowledge
  • Explores deliberative dialogue, civil discourse, and practices of talking across difference
  • Applies trauma-informed approaches to community engagement and civic life
  • Examines how historical reckoning and future-building can happen simultaneously
  • Investigates the role of joy, hope, love, and other affective dimensions of civic engagement
  • Offers both critical analysis and generative possibilities
  • Experiments with form and voice (narrative, creative, multimodal, community-authored)
  • Attends to questions of power, equity, and whose voices have been marginalized in conversations about democracy

Guiding Questions

These questions are meant to spark ideas, not limit them. We encourage you to follow your own lines of inquiry.

Democratic Practice & Pedagogy

  • How can community-engaged learning cultivate capacities for civic dialogue across profound difference?
  • What pedagogical approaches prepare students to engage in deliberative democracy when trust in institutions is eroding?
  • How do we teach civic hope without denying systemic harm or dismissing legitimate grief and anger?
  • What does it mean to practice “civic joy” in community partnerships? How do we recognize and sustain it?

Trauma, Healing & Civic Repair

  • How can trauma-informed approaches shape community engagement in polarized contexts?
  • What does “civic healing” look like in practice? Who gets to define it?
  • How do communities navigate collective trauma while building toward shared futures?
  • What role can contemplative practices play in sustaining civic actors and movements?

Historical Reckoning & Futurity

  • What does the 250th anniversary mean for communities whose histories have been marginalized or erased from national narratives?
  • How can community-engaged scholarship honor historical harm while imagining liberatory futures?
  • What can we learn from past social movements about sustaining civic engagement across generations?
  • How do communities hold multiple truths simultaneously—celebrating democratic ideals while reckoning with democratic failures?

Dialogue, Discourse & Deliberation

  • What conditions enable authentic dialogue across political, cultural, or ideological divides?
  • How do power dynamics shape who gets to speak, who gets heard, and what counts as “civil” discourse?
  • What alternatives exist to traditional deliberative models that may reinforce dominant norms?
  • How can community-engaged research contribute to more equitable public conversations?

Partnership, Reciprocity & Democratic Culture

  • How do community-campus partnerships model (or fail to model) democratic principles of shared power and mutual accountability?
  • What would it mean to center civic love—care for the collective good—in community engagement?
  • How can universities contribute to strengthening civic culture without imposing academic frameworks on community knowledge?
  • What does reciprocity look like when communities and institutions hold vastly different resources and power?

Creative & Multimodal Scholarship

  • How can storytelling, art, and creative practice contribute to civic renewal?
  • What forms of knowledge are marginalized in traditional academic discourse about democracy and civic life?
  • How might multimodal scholarship (digital, visual, performative) expand our understanding of civic engagement?
  • What role does aesthetic experience play in cultivating civic imagination?

Our Commitment to Equity and Access

Strengthening democracy requires attending to whose voices have been excluded, whose knowledge has been devalued, and whose visions of civic life have been suppressed. We actively seek submissions from:

  • Community members and practitioners who may not hold traditional academic credentials
  • Scholars and students from historically marginalized communities
  • Authors whose work centers perspectives often excluded from academic discourse
  • Those who write in forms and styles outside conventional academic genres

We are committed to supporting authors throughout the publication process and welcome inquiries from those new to academic publishing. Catalyst is an open-access journal; there are no fees to submit or publish.

We look forward to reading your submissions and joining you in the vital work of imagining who we want to be—for the next 250 years and beyond.