Public Humanities is an international open access, cross-disciplinary, peer reviewed journal at the intersection of humanities scholarship and public life. The journal invites submissions for the upcoming Themed Issue Indigenous Public Humanities, which will be Guest Edited by Manuela Picq. The deadline for submissions is 2 January 2025.
Description
Indigenous people hold the world together, yet they seldom take centerstage in public humanities. As the planet collapses under the pressure of climate, political, and economic crises, indigenous peoples safeguard on their territories 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity, traditional knowledges that complement western science, and political practices based on non-domination and an ethics of responsibility. Despite the wealth of alternatives they offer, indigenous lifeways are largely overlooked in public life. What do indigenous perspectives contribute to public humanities and how to bring them to light?
This special issue opens a conversation for role and significance of indigenous public humanities. It focuses on the role of indigenous public humanities, from place-based water defenders to political principles of non-domination. What does decolonization look like in practice? How are universities to be held accountable to- and repair- regimes of dispossession they benefit from? Can indigenous languages and philosophies restore interspecies relations? Can indigenous governance counter the global authoritarian turn? How do ancestral knowledge of oneness joins quantum physics? The issue engages an array of indigenous experiences globally to learn from their resilience, cultivate collective responsibilities, and stir indigenous public humanities.
The editor invites submission tackling any form of indigenous public humanities anywhere, including but not limited to:
- Anti-mining movements
- Art
- Climate crisis and adaptation
- Consultation and consent
- Dispossession and colonialism
- Education and pedagogy
- Extractivism
- Gender and sexuality
- Genocide
- Governance
- Health and contamination
- International politics and organizations
- Interspecies justice
- Land and territory
- Language and linguistics
- Memory
- Missing and murdered indigenous women and girls
- Narcodeforestation and drug trafficking
- Orality
- Philosophy
- Politics of recognition
- Public intellectuals
- Resistance and resurgence
- Self-determination
- Sociobiodiversity
- Traditional Knowledge and science
- Urban indigeneities
- Water and nature defenders
- Water is life
- Wisdom, knowledge and science
Authors have the option to submit any of the following article types:
| Article type | Length | Abstract required | Description |
| Article | 6,000-8,000 words | Yes | Presents original research findings according to the typical research article format. |
| Roundtable | No more than 4,000 words | No | Considers the current ‘state of the field’, or reflects on seminal events or processes, or explores different methodological approaches or potential avenues for future research. Workshops or conferences often provide the initial stimulus for roundtables. |
| Reflection | 1,500-3,000 words | No | A space, outside of the conventional research article, where authors can offer personal perspectives on a topic or theme. |
| Case Study | 8,000 words | Yes | An article that provides an in-depth, detailed examination of a particular case within a real-world context. |
| Position Papers & Rejoinder | No more than 4,000 words | No | An opinion-style paper that makes a clear intervention or articulates an original vision. Papers will typically publish in conversation with each other. |
| Essay | 6,000-8,000 words | Yes | A discussion paper that reflects critically on a research topic or theme, rather than presenting original research. |
| Brief Report | 1,000-2,000 words | No | A report of empirical data related to the humanities and public life. |
| Policy Brief | 1,000-2,000 words | No | A brief, informed by humanities expertise, for authorities who hold power. |
Submissions should be written in accessible language for a wide readership across and beyond the humanities. Articles will be peer reviewed for both content and style. Articles will appear digitally and open access in the journal, which is published by Cambridge University Press.
All submissions should be made through the Public Humanities online peer review system. Author should consult the journal’s Author Instructions prior to submission.
All authors will be required to declare any funding and/or competing interests upon submission. See the journal’s Publishing Ethics guidelines for more information.
Contacts
Guest Editor name: Manuela Picq
Email addresses: [email protected]
Questions regarding peer review can be sent to the Public Humanities inbox at [email protected].