[Afridig] CfP: Pivotal Players: Academic reflections special issue

[Menno Van Zaanen]

Dear Colleague,

We are writing to invite you to contribute to a curated collection of
articles titled Pivotal Players: Academic reflections on major works
that have shaped research across the Arts, Humanities, and Social
Science.

ABOUT THE COLLECTION

The collection is premised on a deceptively simple observation: while
researchers regularly build on prior scholarship, we rarely pause to
reflect explicitly on which works have shaped us, and how. This
collection creates a dedicated space for exactly that reflection.

Contributors are invited to select a publication from before 2000 that
has inspired them in their own research; this may include, but is not
limited to, a seminal book, article, or comparable scholarly work, and
write a reflective piece examining its impact: on the field broadly, on
your own intellectual and methodological development, or both.
Contributions need not be uncritical. The collection welcomes honest
assessments of a work's limitations, contested legacies, or the ways a
field has moved beyond, or failed to move beyond, its foundational
assumptions.

The collection is anchored in Digital Humanities but is explicitly
transdisciplinary. Given that Digital Humanities is a relatively young
field, contributors are encouraged to draw on influential works from
cognate disciplines, including the social sciences, humanities, media
studies, information science, musicology, education, and beyond, and to
articulate how those works connect to current digital scholarship.

At a moment when knowledge production is accelerating, and the
boundaries of the digital humanities are being actively renegotiated,
this kind of reflexive scholarship helps the field understand its own
genealogy, surface underrepresented intellectual lineages, and think
more carefully about the assumptions embedded in foundational texts.

Routledge Open Research uses a transparent, post-publication peer-
review model that enables rapid publication and ongoing scholarly
dialogue. The format itself, reflective, personal, and rigorous, also
offers academics the rare opportunity to be truly transparent about the
works that have genuinely formed their thinking.

For more information about this new publication format, please contact
Kristen Brida <Kristen.Brida at taylorandfrancis.com>.

SUBMISSION DETAILS

Final submission deadline (with rolling submission): 31 March 2027
Collection page and submission portal:
https://routledgeopenresearch.org/collections/academic-reflections-major-works/about

We would warmly welcome your contribution. If you are interested or
would like to discuss a potential piece before committing, please do
not hesitate to contact us directly.

Janelize Morelli <Janelize.Morelli at nwu.ac.za>
Menno Van Zaanen <Menno.VanZaanen at nwu.ac.za>
CfP: Pivotal Players: Academic reflections special issue
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Prof Menno van Zaanen     menno.vanzaanen at nwu.ac.za
Professor in Digital Humanities
South African Centre for Digital Language Resources
https://www.sadilar.org
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