We’ve wrapped up another year of scholarly and creative work published in University of Illinois Press journals! As with each quarter, we’ve compiled the latest special issues, blogs, podcasts, and more into one “UPdate”—a name that recognizes our pride at being a University Press. If you missed the Q3 UPdate, you can check it out here.
Did you know we publish more than 120 journal issues each year? That’s a lot, so we’d better jump right in and provide you with a quick overview of some of the goings-on from the past quarter.
Special Issues
- “The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence I,” guest edited by Luciano Floridi. American Philosophical Quarterly Volume 61, Issue 4.
Luciano Floridi guest edits the first of three special issues of American Philosophical Quarterly on the ethics of artificial intelligence. Eschewing an ivory tower approach in favor of practical results, scholars unpack the confluence of technology, ethics, and innovation at the heart of the fundamental ethical issues—accountability, transparency, bias, and privacy—challenging philosophy in the AI era. Read a Q&A about the series on our blog.
- “Concussion’s Past,” guest edited by Stephen Townsend, Murray G. Phillips, Gary Osmond, and Rebecca Olive. Journal of Sport History Volume 51, Issue 2.
A growing number of historians have made significant contributions to deconstructing the ahistorical dimensions of discussions about sport-related concussion. The authors in this special issue of the Journal of Sport History add to this body of knowledge by offering new historical case studies, demonstrating the historical trajectory of sport-related concussion and encouraging us to critique, analyze, and rethink the ahistorical aspects of this phenomenon.
- “Participatory Mapping of Critical Encounters in Public Spheres: Feminist Glitching With Augmented Reality,” guest edited by Karen Keifer-Boyd, Brandi Lewis, and Maggie-Rose Condit-Summerson. Visual Arts Research Volume 50, Issue 2.
An international group of art educators used Augment Reality technology to overlay digital information on the real-world environments of a university campus, its buildings, and its environs in real time. This special issue of Visual Arts Research provides descriptions, critiques, and analyses of their discoveries and their efforts to challenge the weight put on women and femmes by white patriarchal US academia.
- “Dewey’s Art as Experience in Global Perspective,” guest edited by Richard Shusterman. Journal of Aesthetic Education Volume 58, Issue 4.
After five essays that focus on the reception of John Dewey’s Art as Experience in cultures where it was translated, the special issue concludes with three more essays that discuss how the book’s ideas can be applied to contemporary issues in aesthetics and philosophy more generally, while suggesting ways where the book’s goals could also be furthered by treating its limitations.
Blogs
In November, we celebrated University Press Week, hosted by the Association of University Presses, with daily blog posts that centered around the theme “Step UP.” For example, in response to the question “What does your press do to Step UP?” we had a guest blog contributed by a former intern, Hollis Druhet, who spoke about his internship experience at the University of Illinois Press. As part of that discussion, he mentioned specifically his interest in a special issue of Journal of American Ethnic History on “Asian American Disability,” guest edited by Naoko Wake. In response to “How does your press Step UP?” we shared a reading list of books and articles in support of National Education Week, as being a University Press and promoting scholarship is an important part of our identity.
We also welcomed two new editors: Daniel A. Nathan to Journal of Sport History and Brian Walters to Illinois Classical Studies. Read the blog posts introducing them to learn more about their backgrounds, goals, and how to submit your work.
While you’re on the blog, find your next read on one of our other reading lists:
Featured Top Articles
What’s been a highly read article or book review in these journals for the past three months? Many of our journals have content on several different online platforms, so this feature section is only highlighting one top article from one platform (in the case of the below, these are top articles from Project Muse).
- Journal of Aesthetic Education: “Learning Jazz Language by Aural Imitation: A Usage-Based Communicative Jazz Theory (Part 1)” by Mattias Solli, Erling Aksdal, and John Pål Inderberg (Vol. 55, No. 4) *OPEN ACCESS*
- Journal of Animal Ethics: “Utilitarianism, Deontology, and Ethical Veganism” by Andrew Nesseler and Matthew Adelstein (Vol. 14, No. 1)
- Women, Gender, and Families of Color: “An Introduction to Race, Gender, and Disability: Intersectionality, Disability Studies, and Families of Color” by Liat Ben-Moshe and Sandy Magaña (Vol. 2, No. 2)
- American Literary Realism: “‘The Trouble Begins at Eight’: Mark Twain, the San Francisco Minstrels, and the Unsettling Legacy of Blackface Minstrelsy” by Sharon D. McCoy (Vol. 41, No. 3)
- Music and the Moving Image: “Music, Noise, and Nature: Energetic Ambiguities in Benedikt Erlingsson’s Woman at War” by Heidi Hart and Beate Schirrmacher (Vol. 15, Iss. 3)
- American Music: “Music, Memory, Pixar” by Daniel Goldmark (Vol. 39, No. 2)
- Journal of English and German Philology: “The Medieval Chastity Belt: A Myth-Making Process” (review) by Claudia Bornholdt (Vol. 108, No. 1)
- Journal of Film and Video: “Film Collaboration and Creative Conflict” by Carroll Hodge (Vol. 61, No. 1)
- Visual Arts Research: “Soil: Threshold Spaces of Subjectivity, Pedagogy, and Place in Landscape Art” by Patti Pente (Vol. 36, No. 1)
- Journal of Sport History: “Witnessing Painful Pasts: Understanding Images of Sports at Canadian Indian Residential Schools” by Taylor McKee and Janice Forsyth (Vol. 46, No. 2)
Podcasts
Guest Editors Dr. Cian T. McMahon and Dr. Darragh Gannon joined The UPside podcast to discuss a new special issue of Journal of American Ethnic History on “Globalizing Irish America,” as well as trends in global history scholarship, the importance of relationship building in academia, internationalism, and more. You can listen to the podcast here or read on our blog for a transcript of the conversation.
For another recent podcast episode, JAF: A Global Quarterly (Journal of American Folklore) editor Dr. Lisa Gilman sat down with special issue guest editor Dr. Anand Prahlad to discuss a recent special issue of the Journal on “Folklore Studies and Disability.” Their discussion touches on how Dr. Prahlad found his way to disability studies, what folklorists can learn from disability studies scholars (and vice versa!), disability art, mentorship, and much more. You can listen to the podcast here or read the transcript on our blog.
What’s Next UP?
We have several journals welcoming new editors in 2025, including JAF: A Global Quarterly (Journal of American Folklore), Connecticut History Review, Italian Americana, Journal of Appalachian Studies, and Bulletin of the Council for Research on Music Education.
January is Utah History Month! Check out a clip from our podcast last year with Utah Historical Quarterly editor Holly George, Assistant Editor Mark Melville, and Utah Historical Society Public Historian Wendy Rex-Atzet below or access the full episode here: https://soundcloud.com/press-marketing/interview-celebrating-utah-history-month
Read the transcript of the full episode on our blog here: https://www.press.uillinois.edu/wordpress/interview-celebrating-utah-history-month/
Stay tuned for new volumes, special issues, blog posts, and more as we enter into the new year.