‘ But He Looked Suspiciously Well Fed ’ : Editorial , Volume 7 , Part 2

For once, I feel the customary hyperbole one typically finds inside journal editorials is justified, as I am genuinely pleased to have helped facilitate this issue’s publication. Regular readers will be aware that Exchanges frequently makes themed calls for papers, the results of which appear in our regular issues, alongside non-themed work (Exchanges, 2019). By contrast, this issue represents the first time we have produced an issue entirely dedicated to a sole focus.


Introduction
Welcome to the fourteenth edition of Exchanges: The Interdisciplinary Research Journal, which excitingly represents the very first special issue we have ever produced. The whole editorial team and I are delighted to bring you this new volume, containing insights centred on a singular topic from emerging and established scholars around the globe.
For once, I feel the customary hyperbole one typically finds inside journal editorials is justified, as I am genuinely pleased to have helped facilitate this issue's publication. Regular readers will be aware that Exchanges frequently makes themed calls for papers, the results of which appear in our regular issues, alongside non-themed work (Exchanges, 2019). By contrast, this issue represents the first time we have produced an issue entirely dedicated to a sole focus.
I must acknowledge earlier efforts, prior to my appointment, to produce a themed issue. Regrettably these endeavours failed to secure sufficient texts to coalesce into an entire issue, any successful papers were included within our regular publications. By marked contrast, this issue began with over thirty manuscripts submitted for publication consideration. For a journal such as Exchanges, still forging its reputational capital and developing greater esteem markers within the scholarly publication field, this represented two key successes. Firstly, it was a mark of confidence from the issues' instigators in our journal, our quality assurance and editorial processes and our visibility to a broad interdisciplinary readership. Secondly, it was more papers than we've had to routinely work with for a single issue. Would that such a tsunami of submissions were a more regular occurrence, as I believe I would be delighted to work through such a degree of abundance! However, this latter point introduced some elements requiring a revision to our established editorial configuration, as I'll briefly discuss shortly.
In preparing this editorial I've been going back through my correspondence concerning the special issue. I've been delighted to note with publication today, it is exactly a year since myself and Giulia Champion first started discussing the potentialities and practicalities of producing this volume. Regular readers of my editorial blog (Exchanges, 2020a) will have had the pleasure of closely following our journey as the issue as developed, but for those who haven't let me briefly unpick the experience.
As alluded to above, part of the journey to the special issue has been the necessity to broaden the editorial team contributing to Exchanges. Previously, our Editorial Board, comprising various early career scholars around the globe, have always served as advisors and immaterial labourers, diligently performing the editorial graft needed to ensure articles are quality assured and sufficiently polished to enter the public sphere under our banner. With the influx of so many articles, for an additional issue alongside our regularly scheduled volumes, it was clear our traditional editorial labour model needed revising in order cope. The solution was an elegant one, which spoke specifically to a key part of Exchanges' mission to provide 'a readily accessible and supportive environment' through which both authors and editors can develop superior academic writing and publishing skills' (Exchanges, 2020b).
Normally, our recruitment target for the editorial team members are early career researchers, those close to completion of the doctoral studies or in the first phases of their academic careers. By contrast for this issue we recruited broadly among the post-graduate researcher community at Warwick to serve as associate editors; a newly created category of editorial contributor without journal development and policy responsibilities. All seven of these associate editors have made a significant contribution to the issue you are currently reading, not solely through their labour but also their insight, questioning and enthusiasm for the project. It has been an edifying experience to work with these enthusiastic thinkers, and I hope they've genuinely benefitted from the experience too.
Understandably, producing this issue has also been a learning experience for myself, as editor-in-chief, expanding on the distributed virtual team I've been managing in this endeavour. Moreover, it's also given a distinct shape to the specific requirements and essential criteria which must be clarified before instigating further special issues. When Giulia initially approached me, I was unclear how much additional labour might be involved for example, although I imagined it wouldn't be a zero-sum calculation. Nor was I entirely sure if the timespan we had allotted to develop the issue would be sufficient. Nevertheless, through producing our first special issue, I've developed a useful set of critical questions which must be answered before instigating a special issue. Hence, if this issue has sparked your imagination, and you have started to think in terms of your own special Exchanges issue, there will be key questions to be answered first.
There is a further crucial question, and it is one which no editor can truly answer ahead of publication, now matter how they might represent their expectations in the public sphere. That question is the degree to which this special issue makes a valuable addition to the literature and discourse. That is something editors must leave up to our respective readerships, although I can confidently say that the articles in this volume are as eyeopening and intriguing as any work we have previously published. Or possibly even more, but in this matter I rely entirely on our readers' discerning judgement and fine intellectual taste. Nevertheless, on behalf of the entire editorial team, I sincerely hope you get as much enjoyment, enlightenment and edification in reading this volume as we have in producing it.
You will doubtless be pleased to discover this special issue is only our first such planned volume. A further issue focussed on climate fiction is already underway for expected publication in the latter half of 2020. We also have two other special volumes commissioned for 2021, which I've outlined elsewhere in a little detail (Exchanges, 2020b) and will discuss more as we move into a more active phase of production. Needless to say, as Editorin-Chief, I'm always happy to discuss the potential for further special issues originating from within the post-graduate, early career researcher and interdisciplinary communities. iv Johnson. Exchanges 2020 7(2), pp. i-xiii So we danced all night to the Rolling Stones, when I awoke they were chewing on bones. Yelyena was supping blood from a cup, that's when I knew something was up.

Theme: Bites Here & There
This special issue brings together a specifically focussed selection of articles which stem from the 'Bites Here and There' conference hosted in late 2018 (Warwick, 2018). The conference, which drew many postgraduate and early career researchers from diverse disciplines, was an exploration of 'literal and metaphorical cannibalism', a topic which when it was brought to my attention raised my eyebrows slightly. However, I believe readers will find this volume a satisfying and tasty experience, once you delve into its guts! For more about the heart of this theme, readers are directed towards the opening article (Shorland, 2020) which provides a condensation of the event.
Notably, an edited collection of work from a few scholars who contributed to this event will also appear elsewhere in due course. However, it was those conference contributors unable to participate in this book, who were invited to contribute to this volume. Most, although not all, of those people took the opportunity to submit a manuscript for consideration. Observant readers will have noted there are not 'over thirty' papers in this issue, more's the pity. Some manuscripts, sadly did not clear the reviewing and authorial revision process in time, but are expected to see publication in a subsequent Exchanges issue. Our credo remains, if it clears our quality review processes, then it will see print. We also lost a few articles along the way, as would be expected, which did not meet our quality assurance criteria. Nevertheless, what remains here is still an extensive taste of the discourse, insight and revelation presented at the conference.
However, that's enough background, let us clear our plates and prepare to dig into the rich intellectual meat of the articles within this special issue.

Critical Reflection & Conversations
We start, appropriately enough with Sophie Shorland's contribution, which serves to set the scene. Shorland provides an introduction to the Bites Here and There conference's themes. In her piece, she provides a few tasty morsels to whet our intellectual appetites as she explores a few of the many papers presented which caught her eye during the event.
Notably, some of these contributions have been developed as articles in this issue, while others you may find appearing in when the edited collection is subsequently published (1). v Johnson. Exchanges 2020 7(2), pp. i-xiii Our other critical reflection this issue is from Vanessa Ramos-Velasquez and is provocatively titled as an Anthropophagic Re-Manifesto for the Digital Age. A development from earlier work, this article explores the role of the author in performative acts of research, while considering her unique cultural position between divergent global cultural practices. In particular, it sheds light on the tensions between Brazilian artistic and cultural practices within an increasingly technocratic era (6).

Articles
Next we turn to the work of Duncan Frost, whose conference contribution was highlighted by Shorland, appropriately opens our peer-reviewed papers section. An editor shouldn't play favourites, but I was wryly delighted by the topic of Frost's paper The Justification of Shipwreck Cannibalism in Popular Balladry. This article explores ideas of the pragmatic rationalisation of castaways satisfying their hunger through the consumption of forbidden flesh. It considers the role songs and ballads of the period played in reframing these abhorrent acts within almost 'chivalrous' terms. Intriguingly, Frost contrasts how within colonial discourse such anthropophagic representations dramatically diverge when other non-European cultures' practices were presented (17).
Turning from oral to written traditions, our next paper from Carla Scarano D'Antonio considers Cannibalism in the Consumerist Society of Margaret Atwood's 'The Edible Woman'. D'Antonio explores Atwood's maiden work's embrace of fairy tale imagery and what this speaks to the artificiality of a consumerist world. Uncovering an inherent cannibalistic quality within such a society enmeshed within struggle, the paper provides both a thrilling exploration of the novel's themes, but also offers some salient reflections on its resonances with our own societal lifeworld (35).

Leah Henderson roars into life with her contribution, which provides An Eco-Feminist Analysis of Justine Larbalestier's Liar (2009). Diverging from
Atwood's secular monstrosities and into the realm of the fantastical, the novel centres with lycanthropic delight on werewolves. Henderson's piece considers how, with the lycanthrope squarely in the picture, what Larbalestier's work has to convey on issues including authoritarianism, individuality, gender mob mentality and societal alienation (58).
Segueing from novel to movie, Thomas Moran returns squarely to our core theme as he considers Cinematic Cannibalism in Pedero Costa 's Casa De Lava (1994). The paper touches on how issues of Portuguese colonialism in Africa are exposed through the anti-commodification role of cinema deployed within a revelatory cinéma vérité form. Occupying a liminal space between outright entertainment and documentary, Moran contends and vi Johnson. Exchanges 2020 7(2), pp. i-xiii unpacks how Costa's film illustrates and uncovers the haunting legacy of colonialism within Cape Verde (76).
We continue our cinematic considerations of cannibalism, within David Shames' piece exploring Consumption from the Acant-Garde to the Silver Screen. Constructing a lens derived from Marx's construct of commodity fetishisation, and Apparadurai's more recent work on consumer fetishism, Shames explores the 'profanation' of consumption. This thought is illustrated through two filmic case studies: Como era gostoso o meu francês (1971) and Cannibal Holocaust (1981), providing a measured consideration of both films' messages and underlying resonances (96).
Staying 'on brand', Michael Wheatley's paper stays within the cinematic realm, similarly drawing on Marx, as it discusses The Cannibalism of Creatives in Chuck Palaniuk's Haunted and Nicolas Winding Refn's The Neon Demon. Providing an intriguing guide to both films, the article considers a satirical trend evidenced by cannibalism's juxtaposition within the industrialised, commercialised and commodified creative industry lifeworld. Within such a reading, it seems the dehumanising exploitation of creatives, repositions them no longer as 'cogs' in the entertainment machine but 'meat products' devoured alive by a capitalist interests, a seemingly willing act of auto-anthropophagy (115).
We remain within the film world, as Kimberly Jackson sinks her teeth into Postmodern Abjection in Ana Lily Amirpour's The Bad Batch. The piece provides an exploration of the contrasts between The Bad Batch and Amirpour's other works, before exploring the former in more depth. Jackson explores the difficulty critics have found in situating the film within the cannon of cannibal movies, and its role as an effective postmodern fairy tale. She argues how through its embrace of abjection, the movie challenges the viewer to confront rather than avoid horrific circumstances and events which disrupt the self, identity and the established order of contemporary society (134).
We shift from movies to theatre, and specifically James Alsop's delicious encounter with Cannibalism and Corpse Medicine in Hamlet. Alsop considers Shakespeare's linkages between corpses and culinary traditions, as robustly employed within Hamlet. He contextualises these aspects of the play, through the period's normalised usage and consumption of 'corpse medicine', or 'mumia'. Developing these themes the paper explores how Hamlet's cannibalistic aspects served to challenge contemporary audiences to reconsider their own 'acceptable and unacceptable' anthropophagy (153).
Remaining in the early 17 th Century, Matteo Leta takes up the fascinating study of Magic, Cannibalism and Ethnography in the Works of Pierre de Lancre. Looking particularly at the importance of cannibalism de Lancre ascribed to the Basques' spiritual practices. Representing the power of the crown, de Lancre's work, Leta argues, is sufficed with a demonization of a people. Consequently, the patrons of his publication would be enabled to view the repression and 'normalisation' of the Basques within the constraints of the ruling polity to be entirely justified (169).
Shakespeare rears his hungry maw once more, through William Green's piece on The Theme of Cannibalism and the Implications of Authorship in the 1623 Text of Titus Andronicus. Concentrating on the notorious cannibalistic climax to the play, Green considers how a later addition to the work, provides evidence of authorship beyond the two previously acknowledged contributors of Shakespeare and Peele. The paper further argues how these supplementary materials, augment the text through contextualising and repositioning the prior-climatic moments as more crucial elements of the play's narrative structure (182).

Hugh Davis continues our literary exploration with his examination of 'Monkey Meat' and Metaphor in Shohei Ooka's Fires on the Plain.
Resonating with Frost's earlier piece, Davis considers the psychological breakdown of a Second World War soldier forced to survive through cannibalism. Davis deliberates how central character Tamura's decent into the consumption of human flesh is emblematic of the 'self-destructive nature' observed within contemporary Japanese imperialism. Moreover, it explores how cannibalism represents for Tamura a denial of redemption (200).
Ursula de Leeuw returns us to the cinematic world, considering Julia Ducournau's Raw and Bataillean Horror. Contrasting the film Raw with Bataille's general economic theory of transgression, de Leeum contextualises issues of transgression, sacrifice and eroticism in the works (215).

Finally, our issue concludes with Rituparna Das's piece concerning A Postcolonial Reading of the Cannibals in Some Fairy Tales from Colonial
Bengal. This engaging piece explores the juxtaposition between the traditional folk tales and the Indian colonial experience. The 'cannibal demons' in these works comprise a strong representation of 'anti-colonial resistance' within the cultural memory (229). viii Johnson. Exchanges 2020 7(2), pp. i-xiii

Current Calls for Papers
While this has been an extra issue of the journal, we'd be remiss if we didn't highlight to readers old and new alike our currently open calls for contributions to future issues of the journal, highlighted previously

Falsehoods, Misinterpretations & Factual Divergence
For the issue of Exchanges to be published Autumn 2020, we invite authors to submit original, exciting, insightful peer-reviewed researchbased articles or critical reflections addressing some aspect of falsehoods, misinterpretations and factual divergences: however, your research, perceptions or epistemology might wish to conceptualise them. Exchanges especially welcomes articles tackling this topic by multiple authors with contrasting positions or from disparate fields. The Editorial Board, and myself, are delighted to discuss article concepts or outline ideas further.

General Submissions
Additionally, Exchanges welcomes submissions 365 days a year on any subject, outside of our themed calls. We therefore invite manuscript contributions from researchers or practitioners from any discipline, anywhere in the world, fulfilling our standard requirements. We are happy to receive traditional research or review articles, but we also especially welcome submissions of interviews with key scholars or critical reflections on important scholarly events, conferences or crucial new texts. More information on desirable manuscript formats are available on our website, or via our Editorial Board members, who are also available to explore article ideas with potential authors.

There are no deadlines for non-themed submissions
As Exchanges has a mission to support the development and dissemination of research by early career and post-graduate researchers, we are particularly pleased to receive manuscripts from emerging scholars and first-time authors. Prospective authors are strongly encouraged to consider how their manuscripts address a broader, interdisciplinary audience; given our readerships strong interests in work which encompasses or straddles disciplinary boundaries.
You can read the full details of these calls online (Exchanges, 2019).

Fees, Access & Author Rights
Exchanges is a diamond open access (Fuchs & Sandoval, 2013), scholarled journal, which means there are no author fees or reader subscription charges. Authors also retain copyright over their work, but grant the journal first rights of publication as a submission requirement. Contact any member of the Editorial Board or see our online guidelines for more information about submitting to Exchanges (Exchanges, 2020c).

Forthcoming Issues
The next planned issue of Exchanges is our regularly scheduled Spring volume, which will be followed in September 2020 by our next special issue, presenting a celebration of work from and inspired by the Utopian Studies Society conference this summer on Utopia, Dystopia and Climate Change (USS, 2019). We've had many exciting potential contributions to this volume, which we are currently in the process of reviewing. An issue, I'm sure you will agree, which will be something to look forward to reading.
Beyond this, we have also commissioned two further special issues for publication during 2021. The first of these will be produced in collaboration with scholars from SOAS University of London and Oxford University, with the second a cooperative effort with Warwick's Faculty of Art. Both of these issues are intrinsically associated with events being held later this summer, with calls for contributions appearing subsequently. I'll hopefully be able to share more details about these in the next regular issue, along with the continued editorial blog dialogue.
x Johnson. Exchanges 2020 7(2), pp. i-xiii Naturally, my thanks also to my Board, some of whom have also worked on this issue, along with Rob Talbot and Julie Robinson at the Warwick University Library, for their continued technical support. I'd like to also acknowledge departing Board member Giannis Moutsinas.
Finally, my grateful thanks to our publisher, the Institute of Advanced Study at the University of Warwick for their continued financial and strategic backing for Exchanges.

Continuing the Conversation
If you want to keep up-to-date with Exchanges' latest news, developments and calls for papers there are a number of ways you can do this. Visit the editorial blog, follow our Twitter account or join our Linked.In group. Please do join in the conversation, as we value hearing the thoughts of our author and readership communities. Alternatively, as editor-in-chief, I'm always delighted to discuss possible manuscript submissions, potential special issues, further collaborative opportunities or invites to talk publicly about Exchanges, editing or scholarly publishing in general. Contact me via the email at the start of this article.
Editorial Blog: blogs.warwick.ac.uk/exchangesias/ Gareth has been the Editor-in-Chief of Exchanges for two years, with a doctorate in cultural academic publishing practices (Nottingham Trent). He also holds various degrees in biomedical technology (Sheffield Hallam), information management (Sheffield) and research practice (NTU). His varied career includes extensive experience in academic libraries, project management and applied research roles. Currently, he also executive manages the Mercian Collaboration library consortium. His professional and research interests focus on power-relationships within and evolution of scholarly academic publication practice, viewed from within social theory and political economic frameworks. He is an outspoken proponent for greater academic agency through scholar-led publishing, and an expert in distributed team management and effective communication practice.