Smith College, Wesleyan University to Launch Scholarly Journal Devoted to Women of Color
Northampton, Mass.
Smith College of Northampton and Wesleyan University of Middletown, Conn., have joined forces to launch the first peer-reviewed, scholarly journal devoted entirely to issues affecting the lives of women of color.
Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, was expected to be in libraries and with subscribers by late last month. Start-up funds for the project were provided by Smith and Wesleyan and supplemented by a $200,000 grant from the Ford Foundation.
"Tenure for women of color has often been stymied by getting published in traditional scholarly journals," says Gloria Steinem, Smith alumna and trustee.
Smith's president, Dr. Ruth J. Simmons, has strongly supported the initiative as a way of bringing previously marginalized voices into the mainstream of academic life and of "contesting the norms of traditional disciplines."
The senior editor of the biannual publication is Dr. Kum-Kum Bhavnani, a sociologist from the University of California at Santa Barbara who is currently a visiting professor of women's studies at Smith. A local editorial group of Smith and Wesleyan faculty members as well as a national board of leading scholars, activists and artists will help lead the publication.
More information about Meridians, including submission guidelines and subscription information, is available a www.smith.edu/meridians.
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