To be published: Spring 2025

Issue editors: Gillian Richards-Greaves (Coastal Carolina University) and Austin Okigbo (University of Colorado, Boulder)

ABSTRACTS DUE: May 1, 2024 (See below for full submission details and deadlines)

The term “diaspora” means “dispersal” and refers to an ethnic group residing outside of their previous homeland. In the seminal stages of examination, scholars tended to investigate the concept of diaspora linearly by examining the “push” and “pull” factors that mitigated migration, and the interactions between diasporas and former homelands. However, due to the processes of globalization, ethnic groups are often able to be “here” and “there” or in multiple homelands simultaneously. As such, scholars have found ingenious ways to interrogate the concept of diaspora, including the complexities surrounding rediasporization, which is the creation of newer diasporas from existing ones (Richards-Greaves, 2020). Despite the long history and voluminous body of work, the concept of diaspora continues to be relevant and even crucial to recent scholarly discourses, particularly due to the forces of globalization that are systematically connecting and reshaping the world.

This year, Americas: A Hemispheric Music Journal invites article submissions for a themed issue on North American diasporas, including new African and European (East and Central) immigrant communities, and Asian American communities. This issue redirects the discussion by exploring diasporic expressions as iterations and interpretations of current and previous homelands and identities. The issue will particularly focus on the ways that North American cultural spaces encompass and impact the people, music, and cultures of its diasporas, facilitating their preservation, reinterpretation, and propagation in unique and unbinding ways. We invite single-authored and co-authored submissions and submissions from authors who wish to collaborate on a particular diasporic theme or musical genre. We anticipate that this issue will exemplify the thought-provoking scholarly investigations that emerge from the intellectual cross-fertilization of interdisciplinarity. Topics may encompass artists and community groups and include:

  • Asian
  • ڰ
  • 䲹𲹲
  • East European
  • Middle Eastern
  • South America
  • Issues of identity such as race, gender, sexuality, and social class
  • Memory, place, and space
  • Nationalism and transnationalism
  • Spirituality
  • Resilience and change
  • The dynamics of voice, impersonation, or mimicry 
  • Media and liveness 
  • Eclectic/complex identities
  • Fandom and iconicity 
  • Dramaturgy, production, choreography

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES:

Articles of up to 6,000-8,000 words in length can be sent to americas@colorado.edu. Submissions should include text, all necessary figures, a 100–200-word abstract, and a short professional bio. In addition, authors may also submit shorter essays of 2,000-3,000 words as part of the journal’s “Listening In” feature. "Listening In" offers a more immediate exploration of musical scenes and the spaces and places where music is made, offering authors and readers an opportunity to explore performances, protests, and local soundscapes through a closer lens than traditional formats often allow. We also solicit contributions to our "Dialogues" section, which features interviews with composers, musicians, and others in the musical field whose direct perspective will be of interest to readers. We encourage the submission of edited interview transcripts of 1,500-2,000 words (including a short introduction). While it is encouraged that the interviews fit with the issue theme, it is not required that they do so. Both “Listening In” and “Dialogues” submissions should also include any supplemental figures, a 100–200-word abstract, and a short professional bio.

Authors should use endnotes, not footnotes or parenthetical references; and conform styles to the Chicago Manual of Style. Authors whose articles are accepted will be asked to provide camera-ready, publication-quality musical examples. High-resolution images are required. Authors are responsible for obtaining and providing necessary copyright permissions. Inquiries about this issue or general inquiries about the journal should be sent to Issue Editors Gillian Richards-Greaves (grichards@coastal.edu) or Austin Okigbo (austin.okigbo@colorado.edu).

THE SUBMISSION TIMELINE is as follows:

  • Abstracts due         May 1, 2024 (with invitations sent by June 30, 2024)
  • First draft due         September 1, 2024

Americas: A Hemispheric Journal is a peer-reviewed journal published by the University of Nebraska Press. Americas presents a broad view of American music, one that encompasses the diverse soundscapes within the United States as well as the wider Americas, including the Caribbean. Each annual issue focuses on one central theme. Recurring special sections highlight the spaces and places where music is made and the people who compose, perform, and otherwise support that music.