Advice on Journals for Non-Established Anthropologists?

[Polanthro]

I'm in my second year of applications for cultural anthropology PhDs and am already quite sure I won't be making it in anywhere with funding. I'm trying to turn an awful feeling into something more positive and am thinking about ways to do research and get my writing out there.

Since I am trying to switch over to anthro from political science, I am not too familiar with some of the journals out there for younger scholars who are not yet in possession of a PhD. My interests are focused on ethnic conflict and nationalism, South Asia (Sri Lanka) and development discourse. If you all know of any journals that are focused on those issues, perhaps from an interdisciplinary perspective, would you mind letting me know?

Many thanks!

[CarlieE]

You may want to try non-American journals ie. journals from Australia or elsewhere since in those places many unis forego the MA thing and have only PhD programs. How this benefits a UG writer is that journals are more willing to look at work done by a junior scholar.

There are also specific journals for UG - try googling undergrad journals. Many are school-based so you may want to try to write for a journal which is affiliated with a school that is strong in South Asian studies.

If you are already in an MA program, have you spoken with you adviser? This is something they can help you with generally..

[msafiri]

Honestly, I'm not sure that publishing in a low-tiered journal that isn't focused in your discipline will help you that much. I mean, you could try to find graduate student oriented journals that might be interested in your work or regionally-focused journals. I'd recommend that you contact your university's librarians and see if they can help you locate journals.

That said, I'm curious about why you didn't apply to UT given that Kamala Visweswaran is there...

[Polanthro]

Thanks all. Just to clarify, I finished my MA in Political Science two years ago, and while I was a grad student I got interested in anthropology through various area studies courses and grad-level anthro seminars that I took. I ended up writing an MA thesis that was sort of a cross between anthropology and political science. I am looking for suggestions of any kind about where I could publish a shorter version of my thesis, or some other papers I have. I don't care if they're low ranked, I just want to know what's out there. Even stuff that is online-only would be fine with me. Curious about anything that could help me broaden my horizons.

[Apegirl]

You don’t need a Ph.D. to be published. If you have solid research, it is possible to be published in any journal. Usually, it is a blind review, which helps ensure that the reviewers won't be bias. Obviously, there are ways for reviewers to sometimes know or figure out who wrote the article, but for most part they just receive an article to review, without knowledge of the author.

I say find a journal that your research will fit well within their scope and submit it. It is going to look a lot better on your CV if you were published in a well respected journal rather than something that no one has heard of.

[msafiri]

Why are you so eager to publish? Publishing something that isn't good or goes in a poorly perceived journal is going to look as bad as or worse than not publishing it all. Moreover, those publications will be on your CV for the rest of your life! When you go to apply for a postdoc or asst prof job, they'll read those pubs. Is that really what you want?

If you want to improve your qualifications for getting into an anthro program, take an anthro grad course, or even some undergraduate courses. Talk to the anthro faculty whose classes you took in your MA program and get their advice and recommendation letters from them.