CFP: Topic Proposals for Peitho Special Issues

The Peitho editorial team invites those interested in serving as guest editors to send topic proposals for special issues of Peitho. Traditionally, these are our summer issues, so guest editors must be available to help finish the issue during the summer. This editorial team’s term goes through Summer 2025, and we are looking for special issue topics for Summer 2023, 2024, and 2025. The Peitho editorial team and editorial board will review topic proposals and make an initial decision for Summer 2023, with rounds of decisions for 2024 and 2025 soon following. Proposals not selected for Summer 2023 will automatically be considered for Summer 2024 or for a Cluster Conversation section in an issue unless prospective guest editors request otherwise.

We invite topic proposals on a wide range of topics related to feminist theories and gendered practices, including but not limited to:

  • archival scholarship
  • digital interventions
  • emerging pedagogies
  • feminist methodologies
  • global rhetorics
  • historical research
  • Indigenous studies
  • institutional critiques
  • issues of embodiment
  • LGBTQ+ studies
  • minoritized rhetorics
  • rhetorical theory

Special issues can include traditional scholarly articles as well as other kinds of projects, such as video content (with captions), Recoveries and Reconsiderations pieces, cluster conversations, manifestos, and book reviews. Guest editors are expected to adhere to the practices expressed in the Anti-Racist Scholarly Reviewing Practices: A Heuristic for Editors, Reviewers, and Authors statement.

 

Examples of past special issues of Peitho

Fall/Winter 2014, “The Critical Place of the Networked Archive”

Fall/Winter 2015, “Looking Forward: The Next 25 Years of Feminist Scholarship in Rhetoric and

Composition” (25th anniversary of the Coalition of Feminist Scholars in the History of Rhetoric and Composition)

Summer 2019, “Rhetorical Pasts, Rhetorical Futures: Reflecting on the Legacy of Our Bodies, Ourselves and the Future of Feminist Health Literacy”

Summer 2020, “Transgender Rhetorics”

Summer 2021, “On Race, Feminism, and Rhetoric”

 

Topic proposals for special issues should include the following:

An editorial board-facing description (1000-1500 words) of the idea for the special issue, along with an explanation of why the guest editors (you) are interested in the topic. What needs will this special issue meet — in research, teaching, academia, and/or community work? Have other journals had special issues on this topic? Have scholarly presses published edited collections on this topic? If so, how would this special issue build on the previous work? This description should include a brief review of the previous scholarship on the topic and a bibliography. 

A public-facing call for article proposals (500-750 words): this can use some of the same language as the description for the editorial board, but it should also include a timeline and criteria for review of proposals and brief explanation of the review process. Invited submissions are acceptable if there is transparency about these decisions, so invited submissions need to be addressed in the public-facing call for proposals if guest editors plan to invite submissions, such as for a cluster conversation. Book reviews and Recoveries and Reconsiderations pieces should be addressed in the public-facing CFP as well, if those are planned as part of the special issue.

CVs from the guest editors. If this is a collaboration, please provide a brief note about previous collaborative projects and/or how and why you decided to form a partnership together for this proposal. 

The editorial board and editorial team will review topic proposals using the following criteria from our reviewer guidelines:

  • Timeliness of or need for research on the topic (new or little-known material? New understanding of known material?)
  • Engagement with current scholarship in rhetoric and feminist studies
  • Commitment to methods and practices of feminist scholarship

Topic Proposals for Summer 2023 Special Issue Due: May 15, 2022

Decision from Editorial Team: June 1, 2022