A pub[lishing] quiz

February 6, 2010 2:38 PM

I am looking for journals and periodicals that would be appropriate for submitting interdisciplinary articles in the humanities.

I have a PhD in Art History. My dissertation, however, was only nominally in this field. It actually involved bits of philosophy, French literature, Buddhism, comparative religion, and smatterings of other fields, while being largely focused on Surrealism and French modernism.
As a result of this training, and my natural inclinations and interests, I'm realizing that the writing that I want to do really can't be called "Art History" at all anymore. I'm at the very beginning stages of working out a project that is broadly going to be about the historical shift from an integrated and constricting art/society framework towards a more fractured and individualist culture. Without going word-crazy here, suffice to say it's probably going to involve a whole lotta stuff, from medieval history to William Morris to Borges to Duchamp (and will probably never be finished). Also, I would like to write it in a style that would probably be called more visionary and poetic than academic. It may even end up in the form of a pedagogical novel.
I would like to publish bits and pieces of this project as articles along the way. What suggestions would you have for journals, magazines, or periodicals, peer reviewed, popular, or otherwise, that might be interested in publishing such things? Also, suggestions for book publishers who might be interested in the final project are welcomed.
Thank you!

posted by crazylegs to Writing & Language (5 answers total)

Peer review tends to enforce a certain level of conformity, or at least disciplinary conventionality. Do you need to publish to advance a career? Are you in a tenure track position, or do you hope to get one? The answers to those questions matter a great deal.

Anyway, what you describe sounds already like it's the sort of thing, well done, that could interest Social Text, Critical Inquiry, or Public Culture. But it has to be damn good work to pass review at any of those very prestigious journals.
posted by fourcheesemac at 3:16 PM on February 6, 2010

Response by poster: I'm not in a tenure track position, nor, given the current academic job market, do I see myself being there soon, or perhaps ever. I'm currently working as a carpenter, with plans to become a librarian. In other words, current plan is to give up the academic career altogether, make my money in some other way, and pursue knowledge for its own sake since there's no money in it anyway.
posted by crazylegs at 3:25 PM on February 6, 2010

Considering your current career trajectory, be careful about pre-publishing too much that you hope to put into a book. If you're publishing around art history and hope to have a book published in art history, you might consider submitting material to the journals that publish on the other disciplines your work touches on—say French history, or religion. That way publishers won't be to greatly concerned about the originality of your material in their art history book market. In other words, publishers don't want to compete with your articles. Make sure your journal publications are about the interdisciplinarity of your work, and not about what might interest a book publisher. Academic book publishers don't generally specialize in interdisciplinary scholarship. They find projects that fit the disciplines they do publish in and occasionally that pushes boundaries into disciplines they don't normally cover.
posted by Toekneesan at 4:02 PM on February 6, 2010

Angelaki? Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism? There are lots out there methinks.
posted by rumbles at 5:51 PM on February 6, 2010

I immediately thought of an academic journal like Reconstruction, but if it were me, I'd consider steering the work toward a magazine like Harper's or the New Yorker. Sure, you might have to make the project a bit less "academic," but you'll open more doors in the process.
posted by rockstar at 11:15 AM on February 7, 2010