The online journal Theory & Event has published a special supplement which focuses on the death of Michael Brown and the ensuing protests in Ferguson, Missouri, earlier this year. Nine essays attempt to examine the situation from a number of angles. Guest editor Melvin Rogers, an associate professor of Political Science and African American Studies at UCLA, joined us to talk about the special issue, titled "Disposable Lives."

JHU Press Journals Podcasts

MelvinRogersTAENovember2014

The age-old academic adage of "publish or perish" still exists. Publishing a book can play a critical role in the future of any academic. However, one piece of that important puzzle plays an important role in the journals published by the JHU Press. Book reviews. Many of our 90 journals include reviews of important scholarship in each issue. These essays might not always get the attention of the other articles published by our journals, but the reviews play many critical roles in academic life. We interviewed Book Review editors from three of our journals to learn about the importance of the work they do.

The Importance of Book Reviews

As the American Journal of Philology wraps up its 140th year of publishing, a new name stands at the top of the masthead. Joseph Farrell from the University of Pennsylvania took over as Editor earlier this year. He joined us on our podcast to talk about the transition as well as the critical issues facing the journal right now.

Joseph Farrell, American Journal of Philology

Earlier this year, Studies in the Novel released a special issue commemorating the journal's first 50 years of publishing. The issue featured seminal articles from the past 50 years, each with an introduction commissioned to put the original work into context. Editor Nora Gilbert joined us for a podcast to discuss how the issue came together and what the future holds for this important publication.

Nora Gilbert, Studies in the Novel

The Journal of Modern Greek Studies has a new editorial team. Johanna Hanink from Brown University is the Arts & Humanities Editor while Antonis Ellinas from the University of Cyprus is the Social Sciences Editor. They joined us to talk about their path to the masthead and future plans for the journal.

Johanna Hanink and Antonis Ellinas, Journal of Modern Greek Studies

Philip Nel knows first-hand about refugees and diaspora. His parents emigrated to the United States, and he has relatives living in five countries spread over four continents. But he knows the negatives of this experience - he probably would not have been born in the U.S. if his parents had been black South Africans instead of white South Africans. All these things drove Nel, a University Distinguished Professor of English and director of the Graduate Program in Children's Literature at Kansas State University, to put together a special issue of Children's Literature Association Quarterly on displacement—voluntary, involuntary, cultural, emotional, geographical—and its effects on children. Because of the current refugees crisis and the U.S. government's actions, Nel found the issue vitally important to examine from many different perspectives. The six essays in the issue examine multiple international and historical perspectives on displacement. Nel joined us to talk about the issue as well as the current situation for migrants and refugees.

Philip Nel, Children's Literature Association Quarterly

While not approved by official geological organizations, the term anthropocene has grown in use to describe the current geological age. Proponents of the term use it to mark the time period where humans have had a significant impact on Earth's geology and ecosystems. MFS Modern Fiction Studies Assistant Editor Robert Marzec put the journal's focus on the Anthropocene in the Winter 2018 issue titled "Anthropocene Fictions." A collection of fives essays joined his comprehensive introduction about the epoch. Marzec, a professor of environmental and postcolonial studies in the Department of English at Purdue University, joined us for a discussion about climate change and how it connects with modern fiction.

Robert Marzec, MFS Modern Fiction Studies

Since 1938, the College English Association has served academics who seek to keep teaching college students as the focus of the profession. Its official publication, the CEA Critic, recently published a double issue commemorating its 80th anniversary with content from the history of the journal. The issue includes essays from Willa Cather, H.L. Mencken, Pearl Buck, Wallace Stevens, Phillip K. Dick, Margaret Atwood, John Updike and many others. Editor Jeri Craver joined us for a lively discussion about the social issue and the journal's place in the field.

Jeri Kraver, The CEA Critic

Qwo-Li Driskill's poetry was featured in the Spring 2018 issue of the journal Feminist Formations

Sick T'ang Poems, Qwo-Li Driskill

They Think They Can Tell By Looking, Qwo-Li Driskill

The Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University held a September 2015 conference and subsequent talks about the New Russia of President Vladimir Putin. The journal South Central Review recently published a collection of articles from those events called "Putin's New Russia: Fragile State or Revisionist Power." Andrew Natsios, Director of the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs at the Bush School, guest edited the issue and joined us for a discussion about the issue.

Andrew Natsios, South Central Review

In 2017, the journal Perspectives in Biology and Medicine published a pair of articles arguing in favor of a tax on soda. The two authors - Dr. Neal Baer, a television writer and producer and a pediatrician, and Dr. John Maa, a San Francisco-based surgeon - provide a concise history of the obesity epidemic and its connection to the consumption of soda in their articles. They joined us for separate interviews about the issue and why they feel tackling the problem of soda is important to the health of Americans.

Neal Baer and John Maa, Perspectives in Biology and Medicine

In 2012, the journal Theory and Event published a symposium of essays on the killing of Florida teen Trayvon Martin earlier this year. The symposium brought together an array of contemporary theorists - Anna Marie Smith, Anne Norton, Michael Hanchard, Stephen H. Marshall, Ange-Marie Hancock, Mark Reinhardt, Christopher J. Lebron, and George Ciccariello-Maher - to demonstrate ongoingness of theorizing, the ways we are always to an extent in the middle of the events we endeavor to understand. Guest editor Neil Roberts joined us to talk about the symposium.

Neil Roberts, Theory & Event

A team at Oregon State University took over the editorial duties for the journal Feminist Formations in 2016. Editor Patti Duncan took some time to talk with us about the journal and its innovative work in women's, gender and sexuality studies when she visited Baltimore for the National Women's Studies Association Conference in late 2017.

Patti Duncan, Feminist Formations

In March 2017, eight scholars from a variety of disciplines gathered at Texas A&M University for a two-day conference called "1917: A Global Turning Point in History and memory." The discussions and presentations were later developed into a special issue of the journal South Central Review. Adam R. Seipp, A Professor in the Department of History at Texas A&M and guest editor of the issue, joined us to talk about the project and the important historical and cultural lessons we can learn from 100 years ago.

Adam Seipp, South Central Review

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