Co-Editor of the Critical Insights in American Studies Series at Edinburgh University Press
We are inviting expressions of interest for a new Co-Editor of the ‘Critical Insights in American Studies’ series, formerly the BAAS Paperbacks series. The series is published by Edinburgh University Press and overseen by the BAAS Publications Subcommittee. The new Co-Editor will replace Professor Martin Halliwell of the University of Leicester and work in tandem with the current editor Dr Joe Street of Northumbria University and the EUP Senior Commissioning Editor Emily Sharp, for five years in the first instance, until April 2031.
The Series has been running for over 25 years and has over 30 titles in print that each present original research in a lively and accessible style targeted at undergraduate and postgraduate readers. The series combines books that adopt a single disciplinary perspective on the United States and interdisciplinary studies.
Currently, we are keen to recruit proposals that expand the reach of, and engage with the concept of, American Studies. We would especially like to see more work on/in: Black studies; Indigenous studies; environmental, animal, and oceanic studies; disability studies; planetary, global, transnational, and hemispheric approaches; early America; approaches to learning and teaching; America in the era of rapid technological change. This is not an exhaustive or proscriptive list by any means.
Co-Editor Person Specification:
• A scholar with a significant research profile in American Studies
• An active member of the British Association for American Studies
• Possessing good international American Studies research networks
• Experience of scholarly editorial work, preferably with a university press
• Willingness to work collaboratively and proactively with the series co-editor and the EUP commissioning editor
• Responsible for commissioning new work and seeing contracted projects through to publication
• Co-responsible for helping shape the future direction of the series
• Available for a review meeting with the EUP Commissioning Editor once a year
• Available to attend BAAS Publications Subcommittee meetings and report on the series
We strongly welcome and encourage minoritised scholars to apply for the role, including women, LGBTQ+ scholars, scholars of colour, disabled scholars and others. We are particularly keen to recruit an editor whose profile includes literature and culture, to complement the expertise of the other editor Joe Street.
We will conduct interviews at the 2026 BAAS Conference in Glasgow on 8 or 9 April 2025 either in person or on Teams, as is practical for applicants. Please send expressions of interest to the EUP Commissioning Editor, Emily Sharp, by 13 March at 18:00:Emily.Sharp@eup.ed.ac.uk
Expressions of interest should comprise (i) a personal statement of 400 words explaining your interest in the role and how you address the person spec, and (ii) a 2-page summary cv.
