A journal on gender and language?

Tue Jun 22 22:48:41 UTC 2004

DISCUSSIONS ABOUT A JOURNAL ON GENDER AND LANGUAGE.

At IGALA-3, in Ithaca NY, I gave a report at the business meeting on recent
initiatives to launch a journal on GENDER AND LANGUAGE.  Because we were not
able to fully discuss all of the complex issues associated with this project
at the business meeting, it was suggested that the discussion be carried
over to this list.

SOME BACKGROUND

At the time of the founding of IGALA, several different groups had been
thinking independently about the need for a journal focused on gender and
language.  One group, based in the U.K., was fairly far advanced in putting
together a proposal, and had begun to circulate it to publishers.  The
founding of the organization facilitated the networking of the various
interested groups.  Sara Mills and I have been working on a proposal for a
journal for the past year, with generous input from the executive and
advisory board members of IGALA.  We submitted the proposal this spring to
Cambridge University Press.  Just before the IGALA meetings in June, we
heard that Cambridge had decided to DECLINE our proposal.  The proposal had
been reviewed by 7 scholars, and they were evenly split on whether or not a
journal was desireable. Many of the reviewers suggested that the proposal
was strong‹if they could have been convinced of the desireability of the
journal, this proposal would have done it.  My personal reading of the
review comments is that all were balanced, thoughtful comments from people
thinking carefully about the direction the field should take‹but that there
was a sharp division amongst scholars in the field about what was
desireable. In this message, I describe the concerns, and solicit feedback
and comments from list members on these.  Any comments  you offer will be
used by the executive and advisory board of IGALA, as well as by Sara Mills
and me, in deciding what the next step in this initiative should be.

DEBATES ABOUT THE DESIREABILITY OF A JOURNAL ON LG. AND GENDER

There were 3 key reasons offered by reviewers for declining the proposal.

(1)       The field would not necessarily benefit from a new, dedicated
journal.  Such a journal could marginalize work in the area.

(2)       There is no shortage of first-rate outlets for publishing work on
lg, and gender, and good work on language and gender has had no difficulty
in being published in top-tier journals.  It would be difficult to convince
scholars to publish good work in a new journal with little brand-name
recognition, no track record or formal ranking when other outlets exist.

(3)       There is not enough outstanding work in the area to sustain a key
journal.  Much of the strongest work is already being published in key
journals, and work published elsewhere is not of the highest quality.

 We would welcome your comments on and responses to these arguments.

POSSIBLE OPTIONS

There are several options now open to us:

 (1)       On-line journal.  Cambridge, though not interested at this time
in published a print journal, has left the door open.  They remain willing
to consider an on-line journal, with the possibility of an annual paper
publication.  There was some discussion about the advisability of this at
IGALA, with many people raising concerns about such a forum.  We welcome
additional  comments.

(2)            Another publisher.  We could approach another academic press
about the possibility of publishing the journal.  A successful proposal
would, I think, need to come up with some compelling responses to the 3
concerns listed above.

(3)       Other for a.  We might agree that the field is not best served at
this time by a print journal, but that we do nonetheless want some regular,
reliable forum for bringing together work on language and gender.  Some
options:

(a)  IGALA could publish conference proceedings, or edited volumes with
selected papers from the biennial conferences.

(b)            IGALA could sponsor an on-line working papers., or something
akin to the Chicago-based language-and-culture series, in which key scholars
publish well-developed drafts, with two respondents, and list discussion,
and then publish the work in a key journal.

 (c )            Several people noted at the meeting that one of the
advantages of a journal is that with first-rate editing and reviewing, the
scholarship in the field will improve.  There is, many argued, a certain
amount of rather  slipshod work in the field.  Some thought we should try to
think about innovative ways for scholars to get detailed feedback on their
work at the IGALA conferences that extend beyond the usual Q-and-A periods,
or discussant comments. Perhaps a one-hour time-slot in which pairs or trios
of scholars met to exchange comments on drafts?

(d)            Your suggestion hereŠ..

We would welcome your comments on which of these options seem most
attractive.  Please keep in mind that the number of papers, and the amount
of resources the organization can invest, are finite, so it would be very
helpful to get responses which RANKED which options you find most desireable
at this time.

You are welcome to direct comments on the proposal to the list, or to any of
the following:

Bonnie McElhinny <bonnie.mcelhinny at utoronto.ca>

Sara Mills Sara Mills <SaraMills at eclipse.co.uk>

Jane Sunderland, president of IGALA <j.sunderland at LANCASTER.AC.UK>

We look forward to your feedback.

Bonnie McElhinny

--

Bonnie McElhinny
Associate Professor
Anthropology and Institute for Women's Studies and Gender Studies
University of Toronto
100 St. George St.
Toronto ON M53 3G3

Email:  bonnie.mcelhinny at utoronto.ca

Office phone:  416-978-3297

Fax:  416-978-3217