Duke University Press Log

Celebrating TSQ at the Berkshire Conference, Toronto, May 2014

We were so excited to welcome TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly with an official launch at the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians in Toronto last week. The inaugural double issue, "Postposttranssexual: Key Concepts for a 21st Century Transgender Studies," features nearly ninety keyword contributions that "showcase the breadth and complexity of the field." You can subscribe to the journal here.

Editors Paisley Currah and Susan Stryker, along with editorial board membors A. Finn Enke and Frank Galarte, participated in a roundtable on TSQ that included information about the initial conception of the journal, current calls for papers, ideas for special issues in the future, the necessity (and difficulty) of the book review section, and how fashion would be an exciting part of the journal with Frank Gallarte acting as the Fashion Editor. It was thrilling to have an engaged audience participating in the conversation surrounding the bright future of the journal.

Following the roundtable, we had an official launch reception for TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly in the beautiful Croft Chapter House. We were happy to toast the journal with so many interested scholars, contributors, fans of the field, and conference organizers!The temporary tattoos we gave away with the TSQ asterisk were a big hit and it was fun to see so many attendees rocking the tattoos for the rest of the conference.

Check out the photos below for some highlights from the official launch. We hope that everyone will continue to contribute to the conversation on social media using the #TSQjournal hashtag.

Congratulations, TSQ!

From left to right: Book Review Editor A. Finn Enke, co-Editor Paisley Currah, co-Editor Susan Stryker, moderator Elspeth Brown, and (joining the roundtable via Skype) Fashion Editor Frank Galarte

Much of the roundtable was facilitated by enthusiastic questions from attendees. It was also enjoyable to follow the thoughts of those who were live-tweeting.

The recption, held in Croft Chapter House, included food, drinks, temporary tattoos, and a lot of great conversation (all the necessary items to make a good party!).

 

 

 

 

 

Co-editors Susan Stryker (L) and Paisley Currah (R) address the reception attendees.

Celebrate Mardi Gras with our Journals

Maybe Mardi Gras isn't celebrated in your city, but who says you can't get into the spirit? Duke University Press has published many journal articles on Mardi Gras, and we've made these two freely available for the holiday—so don your beads and mask, cut a slice of king cake, and dive into these articles.*

"Spenser and Milton at Mardi Gras: English Literature, American Cultural Capital, and the Reformation of New Orleans Carnival" by Richard Rambuss in boundary 2 (27:2)

Read an excerpt:

Milton may be far from mind when one now thinks of or, better, experiences what is advertised as the world's greatest free party. Yet, as we have begun to consider, a rather detailed, even learned usage of literature—particularly English Renaissance and classical literature—played a structuring role in Comus's endeavor to appropriate and dignify the residual Latin traditions of Carnival. Propounding a caste status for its founders that was then more an aspiration than an actuality, a commemorative booklet issue by the Mistick Krewe in 1947 thus explains that 'as the members of Comus were socially important this meant that their celebration of Mardi Gras was orderly, educational and cultural.' (pages 49-50)

For more of "Spenser and Milton at Mardi Gras," click here.

 

"Mardi Gras Tourism and the Construction of Sydney as an International Gay and Lesbian City" by Kevin Markwell in GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies (8:1-2)

Read an excerpt:

Mardi Gras attracts many domestic and international tourists to Sydney during February, and their numbers peak just prior to the parade and party at the end of the festival. The festival, parade, and party are major events on Australia’s tourism calendar. There is a strong representation from countries such as the United States, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, and France, as well as increasing numbers of tourists from Southeast Asia, and Mardi Gras packages are advertised in the gay and lesbian press in European and North American countries. While approximately 15 percent of the eighty events at the festival are free, many of the most popular ones require tickets... Full participation in the festival is an expensive undertaking, especially when coupled with the costs of outfits; body treatments such as waxing, tanning, gym training, hairstyling, and party drugs; and, for tourists, accommodation and transportation costs. Many people are willing, however, to spend large sums because Mardi Gras becomes for them the major yearly event that helps define their gay or lesbian identity. (page 84)

For more of "Mardi Gras Tourism," click here.

 

Don't forget to check out Matt Sakakeeny's new book Roll With It: Brass Bands in the Streets of New Orleans while you're on your Mardi Gras kick!

 

*If you're in a location that really celebrates Mardi Gras, don't be concerned. You can still read these articles through the end of the month. Recover from your festivities and then get to reading.

Two Radical History Review Articles Win Awards

Two articles published in the Duke University Press Journal, Radical History Review, have recently won awards. Congratulations to the Radical History Review and to these authors!

Gregg Mitman and Paul Erickson’s article "Latex and Blood: Science, Markets, and American Empire" from the special issue Transnational Environments: Rethinking the Political Economy of Nature in a Global Age (issue 107) has been awarded the Ralph Gomory Prize, which distinguishes historical work on the effects of business enterprises on the economic environments of the countries in which they operate.

Camille Bégin’s article “‘Partaking of choice poultry cooked a la southern style’: Taste and Race in the New Deal Sensory Economy,” which appeared in the special issue Radical Foodways (issue 110) has been awarded The Belasco Prize for Scholarly Excellence from the American Society of Food Studies. 

 

Radical Foodways

Today’s New York Times features an article about a school district in Greely, Colorado that is a forerunner in the back-to-scratch food movement.  Most of the school’s lunches will be prepared from scratch this year, rather than relying on packaged or frozen foods, in an effort to combat obesity and poor nutrition.

The back-to-scratch movement is just a small part of the growing “Good Food Revolution” that Americans have embraced. “Radical Foodways,” the most recent issue of Radical History Review examines this “revolution” (evidenced by best-selling books, popular movies and TV shows, local and organic agriculture initiatives, even a vegetable garden at the White House). It also looks at the foundations of the problems in our food supply, including the historical structures of colonialism, labor, regulation, memory, racial and gender inequality that persist in every bite we eat. 

Read the introduction for free here.

Pittburgh Reporter Searches for Paris's Best Baguette

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter Bob Hoover recently traveled to Paris in search of the perfect baguette. He took along Steven A. Kaplan's 2006 classic Good Bread is Back as his inspiration and guidebook. Kaplan, he writes, is known as "the world's authority on the social history of bread in Paris," but his critics sometimes refer to him as an "ayatollah." Hoover visits some of the bakeries Kaplan recommends and encounters "bread factionalism."

Kaplan on Bread in ZagatBuzz LA

Steven Laurence Kaplan, author of Good Bread is Back, is interviewed in ZagatBuzz LA. Kaplan recently did a tasting event at Los Angeles's famous Breadbar bakery. Am ong other questions, reporter Merrill Shindler asks Kaplan, "If a meal without wine is like a day without sunshine, what is a meal without bread?" to which he replies, "A meal without bread is very much in the same idiomatic relation of necessity that your aphorism describes. It is more than a mere complement. It opens a whole organoleptic front. It enriches and delights."

Steven Kaplan on The Splendid Table

Steven Laurence Kaplan, author of Good Bread is Back, appeared on NPR's The Splendid Table with Lynn Rosetto Kasper yesterday.

Steven Laurence Kaplan in the Financial Times

Steven Laurence Kaplan, author of Good Bread is Back and The Bakers of Paris and the Bread Question, is featured in a nice piece by Michael Steinberger in the Financial Times (free registration is required to read the article). Steinberger writes, “[Kaplan is] not just the leading authority on French bread but the conscience of French baking – a conscience that does not hesitate to tug. . . . Good Bread is Back [is] a punchy, compendious account of how French baking returned to its artisanal roots and sparked a revival in quality crusts.”