Transforming Anthropology Joins the University of Chicago Press Journals Program in 2024

We are honored to announce that Transforming Anthropology will join the University of Chicago Press journals program beginning in 2024 (vol. 32, no. 1). Transforming Anthropology is the flagship journal of the Association of Black Anthropologists (ABA), which is a section of the American Anthropological Association (AAA). All 8,000+ members of the AAA receive online access to Transforming Anthropology through their membership, and that benefit will continue in this new partnership.

“Thanks to the vision and dedication of our editor, Aisha Beliso-De Jesús, the journal will maintain its tradition of supporting and nurturing emerging scholars, graduate students, and authors from the Global South,” said Bertin M. Louis, Jr., ABA President. “Our authors have also published award-winning books with the University of Chicago Press or published in Chicago’s other anthropology, social science, and humanities journals. This alignment was an important factor in our decision to partner with Chicago, and it supports our goal of creating generations of intellectual leaders through community, mentorship, and an active analysis and critique of both theory and method.”

Transforming Anthropology provides a venue to interrogate social inequities primarily affecting people of African descent through the rigor of a respected peer-reviewed journal, while also publishing commentaries, research reports, review essays, interviews, and other innovative content. The readership of the journal is highly committed—Transforming Anthropology has a reputation for publishing the latest research and debates that influence engagement amongst a diverse range of readers, including anthropologists, ethnographers, archaeologists, linguists, activists, artists, and others affected by the topics covered.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Transforming Anthropology into our portfolio of groundbreaking and respected anthropology, history, sociology, and humanities journals,” said Journals Director Ashley Towne. “Our partnership with the ABA is a commitment to the journal’s scholars and editorial leadership, and to the wider anthropology community.”

Institutional, member, and individual subscription access to all current and archival content will be managed and available through the University of Chicago Press. Back content will be available on the University of Chicago Press Journals Division website in late 2023 and all new issues will be published on the Chicago website beginning in 2024. ABA and AAA member access to electronic issues of the journal will be facilitated through the AAA website, with a redirect to the new official Transforming Anthropology homepage hosted by Chicago. All current subscribers and ABA members will receive access instructions by email in late 2023.

Transforming Anthropology will continue to be published semiannually, and beginning in 2024, ABA members may add a print subscription to their membership for only $25 through the University of Chicago Press. The journal will be promoted at the upcoming meetings of the American Anthropological Association, the American Sociological Association, the National Women’s Studies Association, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, and more.

Additional editorial support has been provided to the ABA by the Wenner-Gren Foundation in accordance with their mission to help anthropologists advance anthropological knowledge, build sustainable careers, foster an inclusive vision of their discipline, and amplify the impact of anthropology in the wider world.

“The Wenner-Gren Foundation is excited to partner with the ABA to promote the growth and flourishing of Transforming Anthropology,” said Danilyn Rutherford, President of the Wenner-Gren Foundation. “With its many strengths, the journal perfectly complements Current Anthropology, our flagship journal, and SAPIENS, our popular audience magazine. Current Anthropology and SAPIENS are also published in collaboration with the University of Chicago Press.”

The Association for Black Anthropologists (ABA) was founded in 1970 by a small group of intellectuals who sought to break down barriers that impeded their full participation in the discipline of Anthropology. By creating scholarship that linked anthropological theory to struggles for social justice, these elders transformed anthropology and helped create generations of intellectual leaders. The ABA is a section of the American Anthropological Association.

The University of Chicago Press publishes more than 90 scholarly journals that cover a wide range of disciplines, from the humanities and the social sciences to the life and physical sciences. In addition to working with departments and faculty of the University of Chicago, the University of Chicago Press publishes influential scholarly journals on behalf of learned and professional societies and associations, foundations, museums, and other not-for-profit organizations. All are peer-reviewed publications, with readerships that include scholars, scientists, and practitioners, as well as other interested, educated individuals.

The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, Inc. is a private operating foundation dedicated to the advancement of anthropology throughout the world. Located in New York City, it is one of the major international funding sources for anthropological research and is actively engaged with the anthropological community through its varied grant, fellowship, conference, and capacity building programs.