Book Reviews
Cultural Anthropology is pleased to announce the introduction of a regular book review section. Beginning with the November 2009 issue, each issue of Cultural Anthropology will feature a selection of reviews of recently published work. The aim of the review section is not to provide a comprehensive overview of current scholarship, but to focus on writings that resonate with Cultural Anthropology’s long-standing editorial policy of promoting new approaches – new empirical foci, new modes of research practice, engagement with new and emergent theoretical and interdisciplinary currents and, not least, new and experimental modes of writing and presentation.
The Society for Cultural Anthropology (SCA) has long been associated not only with new directions in anthropological inquiry, but also with fostering dialogue between anthropology and its interlocutors outside the discipline. In keeping with this ethos of intellectual openness, works reviewed will not be restricted to writings by anthropologists. Cultural Anthropology will also welcome the opportunity to review works by scholars in other disciplines, works of interdisciplinary scholarship, works of social and cultural theory and literary and artistic works that are likely to be of interest to the journal’s readership. It is also hoped that the review section will provide a forum for the discussion of scholarship published in languages other than English, and the journal welcomes suggestions from readers and SCA members as to recent non-Anglophone writings that might be reviewed in future issues. Cultural Anthropology is particularly interested in works (in any language) that defy easy categorization and that seek, not simply to inhabit, but to extend and transform existing paradigms of research and writing.
It is anticipated that the number of reviews will vary from issue to issue. Accordingly, there will be no rigidly defined format for reviews. Instead, Cultural Anthropology hopes to feature reviews of a variety of lengths and in a variety of formats. These might include longer or shorter reviews of individual works, comparative discussions of two or more works on a related theme, or, in some cases, more extended review essays. Reviewers should also feel free to experiment with the review format itself and to explore a variety of ways of entering into creative dialogue with the works they discuss.
Although the review section does not aspire to be exhaustive in its coverage of the discipline, we hope nonetheless to provide readers with a selection of some of the most challenging and innovative work being done in anthropology and other fields and to foster an expansive and open-minded sense of current possibilities for trans-disciplinary dialogue, creative collaboration and experimentation.
Publishers are invited to send review copies to the address below. The book review editor would also be delighted to hear SCA members’ suggestions for works to be reviewed in future issues and also to hear from anyone interested in acting as a book reviewer.
Contact details:
Stuart McLean
CA Book Reviews
Department of Anthropology
University of Minnesota
395 Hubert H. Humphrey Center
301 19th Avenue South
Minneapolis
MN 55455
E-mail: mclea070@umn.edu
