Boredom is still sometimes trivialized and disregarded, but it is increasingly recognized as an emotion with a broad social impact. Research shows that boredom correlates with negative phenomena such as overeating, alcohol and drug use, drunk driving, depression, anxiety, xenophobia, and voting for populist politicians; as well as positive ones such as creativity. Boredom, which has an interesting cultural history, from ancient acedia to Renaissance melancholy, spleen, ennui, to the present day, also has many forms. 

In this special issue of “Zoon Politikon“ (14/2023), we would like to invite you to reflect on this multifaceted, amorphous and ubiquitous (as the Covid pandemic seems to have emphatically demonstrated) emotion. We encourage the submission of articles that address the following areas: 

• PHILOSOPHY OF BOREDOM – philosophers on boredom, ontology and epistemology of boredom; boredom and ethics;  
• PSYCHOLOGY OF BOREDOM – boredom in psychological research and theory; boredom and individual differences, boredom in psychoanalysis, neuropsychology of boredom;  
• SOCIOLOGY OF BOREDOM – boredom in sociological practice and theory, social boredom, class boredom, collective boredom, boredom and sociology; boredom through the eyes of anthropologists and ethnographers;  
• HISTORY OF BOREDOM – boredom in history – acedia, melancholy, ennui, spleen, taedium vitae and other states related to boredom; evolution of the discourse on boredom; boring history, boredom in history;  
• BOREDOM IN CULTURE – boredom in the visual arts – painting, sculpture, film, theatre, comics, etc.; boredom in popular culture, bored artists and their concepts of boredom;  
• BOREDOM IN LITERATURE – boredom in fiction – the topos of boredom and related states in the literature of all eras; bored writers and their concepts of boredom;  
• SCHOOL AND ACADEMIC BOREDOM – child boredom; school boredom; academic boredom;  
• MISCELLANEOUS TOPICS theology of boredom, religious boredom; boredom and linguistics, boredom in language, the etymology of boredom; military boredom; animal boredom; robot boredom, space travels’ boredom, etc. 

The above list of issues is for guidance only – we are open to all suggestions within the broad title’s thematic scope. If in doubt, we encourage you to contact the issue’s thematic editors: dr Mariusz Finkielsztein (Collegium Civitas; mariusz.finkielsztein@civitas.edu.pl) and dr Maria Flakus (IFiS PAN; maria.flakus@ifispan.edu.pl).   

Submissions 

Please submit texts in Polish or English via the journal’s website by 30 June 2023. Articles of 6-10,000 words should be prepared taking into account the technical requirements of the journal. Each article will undergo a standard double blind-review procedure.