From the Teach Me Tonight blog:
This is a Call For People, rather than a Call For Papers. It is time for an academic society for the study of popular romance fiction, with all the rights and privileges appertaining thereunto, like a journal and conferences. So we have decided to start one! “We” being myself, Eric Selinger, and a few other people who are already interested in being involved.
The society will be called The International Association for the Study of Popular Romance (IASPR) and the journal will be an online, open-source journal called The Journal of Popular Romance Studies (JPRS).
So, we’re looking for people who might be interested in helping us build these institutions. Do you want to get in on the ground floor? Do you already have experience in the hierarchy of an academic organization or with an academic journal that you’d love to share with us, even if you don’t want to be involved in the day-to-day aspects of running either? Please let us know! For minimum involvement, for example, we’re going to need people to act as peer reviewers for the journal, so please let us know your specific area of interest in romance novels (paranormals? inspirationals? Regencies? heroes? romances published in the 1950s?). For maximum involvement, we’re going to need journal editors and IASPR board members. We especially need the input of people who might have done any of this before, so you can at least tell us what to avoid! :)
For now, the contact person for both the society and the journal is myself, Sarah Frantz. Comment here with a way to contact you and I’ll email you post-haste. (Or you can contact me at my Gmail account, which is my full first and last names as one word.)
Let me know what you’re interested in doing (A highly-valued affinity for numbers? You could be Treasurer! Technical Know-how? We need Web Gurus! Organization? We need a Membership Chairperson!). Or if you don’t know specifically what you might be able to contribute, but are really interested in being a part of the process, let us know that, too! We promise, we’ll find a use for you.
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What an interesting idea. Very exciting!
I love the idea too. When I was in college, lo these many years ago, I wanted to take a graduate seminar on popular culture. Unfortunately since I was an undergrad there was no room for me in the class. But I bought a few of the books that were on the syllabus anyway. One of them was Janice Radway’s Reading the Romance. I remember feeling that she was on the wrong track so it is good to see so many new academics showing interest in the romance genre. I can’t contribute to this new journal but I will read it with interest.
*sigh* I love this, one of my regrets in life was not to pursue my natural inclination towards literature and research. I am only a reader and have only been reading romance over the past five years so there is very little I could contribute except read the journal. :P
Great idea! How exciting.
Yes, please! This is far, far overdue, as far as I’m concerned! I’m an english major at college and am always plotting to do some with romance novels as a Literary piece…
I’m quite excited to find this site. I would like to help in any way I can. I have been writing since I was a child and have pursued a career in romance writing (though not a successful one, I must say). I have degrees in journalism and english and need to put them to use somewhere. Now that I’m no longer working as a nurse, I have time to devote to literary pursuits.