A Few Words from the EASA Book Series Editors

Annika Lems, Jelena Tošić and Sabine Strasser

In October 2020, we took over the editorship of the EASA book series from Aleksandar Bošković, who successfully curated the series for two terms. In this blog post we sketch the series’ aims and publication projects we intend to promote throughout our tenure. In doing so, we hope that we can contribute to efforts of demystifying the publication process in the discipline, something we believe to be important, particularly for young scholars who often build up a great degree of anxiety over their publication work, which as a rule takes place under precarious conditions.

The EASA book series was established in 1992, with the idea of creating an outlet for fostering and showcasing the work of the society’s members and for developing the anthropological discipline in Europe. Since 2003, the direction of the series has been closely interwoven with Berghahn, an established independent academic publisher the readers of the Anthropological Journal of European Cultures undoubtedly are familiar with. Thanks to the longstanding support of Marion Berghahn, the series has been able to publish close to seventy volumes. They include monographs and edited volumes written by anthropologists across generations. Scrolling through the list of published works on the book series website will show that some of the discipline’s most distinguished writers have published their work in the series.

We are often confronted with the assumption that the EASA book series has a regional focus on Europe. However, this is not the case. The aim of the series is to support the development of the profession of anthropology in Europe, and this includes ethnographic research members conduct around the world. The series therefore does not have a particular thematic or geographical angle. This openness is reflected in the wide range of topics the series comprises, covering a highly diverse set of theoretical and methodological approaches and ethnographic studies from across the world. While all three of us have an interest in novel anthropological takes on European themes and processes in their embeddedness in wider conjunctures, we are equally as keen to publish the work of EASA members focusing on other geographical areas. The series foregrounds anthropology of/in Europe, the latter understood as both a historical-geographical and epistemic “location” and thus as a prime vantage point of critical (self)reflection of anthropological knowledge production.

We are interested in promoting the broad spectrum of theoretical, geographical and empirical perspectives that make up the discipline. In terms of areas of interest, the three of us cover a range of geographical foci on Europe, Africa, the Mediterranean, Turkey, and Australia. At the same time, each of us also pursues different interests, thereby creating a wider range of expertise than one single book series editor could encompass. An editorial team comprised of three academics can work jointly and thus more efficiently (beyond self-exploitation!) than an individual editor, allowing for a more thorough and productive exchange about book projects. As an editorial collective we strive for diversity – both in terms of the representation of thematic angles and geographical regions as well as the authors the book series showcases. Our editorial collective is comprised of three generations of scholars. While some are tenured professors, others are still at mid- to early stages of their career. We therefore unite different experiential horizons, allowing us to share knowledge about how anthropological publications have transformed over time, whilst keeping an eye on questions emerging scholars are grappling with at the moment. This spirit of collaboration between senior and junior colleagues is something we would also like to bring into the book series. We therefore welcome book proposals by anthropologists at all stages of their careers. Knowing from our own experience how daunting the process of getting one’s first book published can be, we are always happy to advise young scholars on how to turn their dissertations into books. Like most academic publishing houses, Berghahn does not publish unrevised dissertations. Many young scholars are shocked to hear that they have to substantially rework the manuscripts they have spent years to complete. Yet, it is important to emphasise that a dissertation is not a book. There are crucial differences between the two formats, in terms of the build-up of the argument as well as in terms of the structure of the book, the flow of the text and the weight of the methodology. While PhDs are usually written in a defensive style, aimed at proving scientific soundness and expertise to a panel of thesis examiners, books are written with more confidence. Rather than relying on the work of others, they map out the author’s own take on the questions at hand. However, this should not keep young scholars from approaching us with their ideas. We see it as our task as series editors to accompany young authors in the process of molding a dissertation into an exciting book that will be of interest to a wider audience.