Special Issue of Mississippi Quarterly,

“Emerging Scholars, Emerging Scholarship”

The Emerging Scholars Organization (ESO), an affiliate of the Society for the Study of Southern Literature (SSSL), is pleased to announce a collaboration with Mississippi Quarterly on a special issue that will showcase the work of emerging scholars in southern studies. The ESO was formed in 2014 to weave formal professionalization and mentoring opportunities for emerging scholars into SSSL’s structure. In their 2016 “Afterword” in PMLA's "Changing Profession," former ESO members Amy Clukey and Gina Caison defined emerging scholars as ranging from grad students to early-career and independent scholars from a wide range of career paths. The ESO advocates for and showcases the work of the profession’s most vulnerable researchers, educators, and other faculty, knowing that the future of southern studies–along literary studies more broadly– relies on our ability to nurture junior scholars. Emerging scholars contend with many difficult issues today including labor exploitation, racial exclusion, economic disparity, a dwindling tenure market, legal challenges to CRT, and scholarly freedom. As Clukey and Caison wrote, “If we are so quick to forgo discussions of our scholarly creativity, then who owns our futures?” Even today, as universities respond to the shifting political winds, emerging scholars must contend with two urgent demands: job insecurity and scholarly creativity. What does it mean for the future of southern studies if young scholars are prohibited or discouraged from entering the profession due to job scarcity and rising costs of living or external pressures to censure their intellectual creativity?

 This special issue will comprise works by those who identify as emerging scholars based on individual connection to the aforementioned definition. The issue will bring into question what it means to be “emerging” within today’s context. At this time, emerging scholars in southern studies and/or adjacent fields are encouraged to submit proposals for articles, book reviews (primary and secondary), on literature of the US South, the Global South, or other ways of imagining souths. Article topics may include—but are not limited to—ecocriticism and environmental humanities, animal and food studies, racial injustice, social (in)visibility and disability, family dynamics, gendered inequalities and queer theory, genre analysis, and aural and visual culture. We also welcome articles, think pieces, or creative projects that address the role of emerging scholars, their teaching, or their scholarship in the field of southern studies. All emerging scholars are encouraged to submit, regardless of previous publication history.

At this time, we only require a proposal, not a draft of the manuscript. We anticipate that drafts from successful applicants will need to be completed by mid-April 2025.

Submission Requirements:

Scholars should submit their work by filling out the submission form by Friday, January 17th. 

Submissions will not be considered if any of the following three requirements are not met:

●      A proposal (500 words maximum).

●      A biography (200 words maximum) for each author.

●      A response (300 words maximum) to the questions: “Why do you think you fit as an emerging scholar?”; and, “What are the unique challenges that emerging scholars face today?” This response should be separate from and independent of your proposal. In other words, your proposal can but does not need to be about emerging scholars.