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Editor Interview: Anthropology and Humanism

Q: Describe what you publish in 25 characters or less.

A: Anthropology: all genres!

Q: What other current publications (or publishers) do you admire most?

A: American Anthropologist, Sapiens

Q: If you publish writing, who are your favorite writers? If you publish art, who are your favorite artists?

A: Julie Spray, John Colman Wood, Habiba Ibrahim, Page McClean, Amrapali Maitra, Susan Haris, Beth Vale, Susan Wardell, Emanuela Guano, Sally Campbell Galman, Adrie Kusserow, Jamie Davidson

Q: What sets your publication apart from others that publish similar material?

A: Anthropology and Humanism is unique in publishing multiple peer-reviewed anthropological writing genres that center the experiences and voices of individuals.

Q: What is the best advice you can give people who are considering submitting work to your publication?

A: Read through some of our recently published pieces to get a sense of the kinds of things we publish.

Q: Describe the ideal submission.

A: An ideal submission is creative, depicts people as fully-fledged individuals, and contributes to anthropological knowledge about what it means to be human.

Q: What do submitters most often get wrong about your submissions process?

A: Most people get it right, but sometimes we get submissions that are just about literature and have nothing to do with anthropology, or very conventional articles that would be better suited to a more traditional anthropology journal.

Q: How much do you want to know about the person submitting to you?

A: We don't require cover letters or need to know anything about the author's status or previous publications. We do expect authors to have a background in anthropology and/or ethnography.

Q: What additional evaluations, if any, does a piece go through before it is accepted?

A: Pieces are evaluated by an admin for anonymity and word limit, then by the Editor-in-Chief, then an editor (we have specialized editors for articles, creative prose, poetry, and book reviews), and then by at least two peer reviewers. An editor makes a decision based on input from the peer reviewers. Most pieces go through at least one round of revision, sometimes followed by an additional round of peer review, before a final decision is made.

Q: What is a day in the life of an editor like for you?

A: I spend about 5 hours each week editing the journal, which includes emailing with authors and peer reviewers, routing submissions through our online system, reading articles, and doing final edits on accepted pieces.

Q: How much do you edit an accepted piece prior to publication?

A: I do substantive edits on all accepted pieces, which authors then approve.

Q: Do you nominate work you've published for any national or international awards?

A: We publish the 1st place winners of the Society for Humanistic Anthropology's annual prizes for creative ethnographic prose and poetry. Second and third prize winners are invited to submit through our peer review process.