Forum on Academic Publishing in the Humanities

November 7 - 8, 2008
A.D. White House,
Cornell University

Sponsors:
Cornell University Library, the Society for the Humanities, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, the Office of the Provost, and the Office of the Dean of Arts and Sciences

Technological, economic, and political developments of the past decade have drastically altered the means and the tempo by which cultural products of all kinds are disseminated. The news media and commercial book publishing are sites of increasing market volatility. In light of sweeping changes in the systems of information exchange in the society at large, what are the future prospects of scholarly publishing in the humanities? A recent MLA report identifies a “narrowing of publishing possibilities” in the humanities, due in part to economic pressures on the university presses that accompany a broad “corporatization of the university and the imposition of business models of efficiency and output.” How might the space for critical scholarly exchange in the humanities be preserved – even expanded – in the current environment?

Friday, November 7
2:00 PM
Opening remarks:
Anne Kenney, University Librarian, Cornell, and Timothy Murray, Director, Society for the Humanities, Cornell
Introductions:
Kizer Walker, Cornell University Library
2:15 - 5:30 PM
Panel I: Humanities Publishing, Network Culture
2:15 PM
Lindsay Waters, Harvard University Press
“Cognition in the Wild: Networks, Criticism and Crisis”
Responding:
William Y. Arms, Cornell
Moderating: Kizer Walker, Cornell University Library
3:30 PM
Coffee
4:00 PM
N. Katherine Hayles, Duke University
“Transforming the Humanities: Implications for Publishing”
Responding:
Susan Buck-Morss, Cornell, and María Fernández, Cornell
Moderating:
Jonathan Culler, Cornell
5:30 PM

Reception

 

 

Saturday, November 8
9:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Panel II: Publishing Crisis, Institutional Perspectives
Moderating:
Oya Rieger, Cornell University Library
9:30 AM
Joseph S. Meisel, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
“University Presses Observed, 1929-1979”
10:00 AM
Donald J. Waters, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
“Reconceptualizing Archives and Scholarly Editions”
10:30 AM
Coffee
10:45 AM
Roundtable Discussion
Peter U. Hohendahl, Cornell,
Peter J. Potter, Cornell University Press,
Naoki Sakai, Cornell
12:30 PM
Lunch
2:00 - 5:30 PM
Panel III: Reading Practices, Digital Objects
2:00 PM
Milad Doueihi, University of Glasgow
“Digital Objecthood and Scholarly Publishing”
Responding:
Philip Lewis, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and
Timothy Murray, Cornell
Moderating:
Neil Saccamano, Cornell
3:30 PM
Coffee
4:00 PM
John Guillory, New York University
“How Scholars Read”
Responding:
Jenny Mann, Cornell, and Brett de Bary, Cornell
Moderating:
Laura Brown, Cornell


Contact:
Kizer Walker
kw33@cornell.edu