Plans to revive the journal Repercussions came together during the Spring of 2011. In our initial conversations, we wondered how we could bring the legacy of Repercussions as a premier, progressive publication forward, contribute something unique to a field already crowded with excellent publications, and serve the interests and needs of graduate students. The model for Repercussions that emerged, still very much open to modification, is presented here.
The prominence of a publication with the interactivity of a conference
We have re-imagined Repercussions as a jumping-off point for discussion and a resource for research. As in the past, Repercussions will feature outstanding original scholarship by advanced graduate students and junior faculty alongside contributions from senior scholars. Unlike in previous years, Repercussions will publish online in open access, media-rich PDF and other e-publication formats, allowing for embedded audio files, YouTube clips, playable scores, and other dynamic features. In the hopes of encouraging and facilitating conversations among authors and readers, we will include web-based comment pages for each article and provide space for further reading and other material relevant to the title concept.
“Concept”-based organization
Repercussions volumes will be organized under a title concept. Not a “theme” dictating content in the traditional sense, the title concept sets the direction for the respondent’s contribution (see below) and is meant to provide a lens for reading and discussion (we borrow this notion of the “concept” as an heuristic tool from the work of Paul Rabinow: see http://bios-technika.net/index.php). Title concepts for each issue are selected for their pertinence to a wide breadth of scholarship in music studies and their ability to convey an issue felt to be ripe for further articulation and/or reproblematization. The title concept loosely guides the selection of submissions for publication; its main function, though, in the manner of a provocative seminar discussion point, is to direct discussion and, at best, prompt some unexpected and divergent reactions to the published material.
Senior scholar respondents
Repercussions will engage a senior scholar whose work deals with issues suggested by the title concept. This affords the opportunity, firstly, for authors to have their work put in dialogue with that of a prominent scholar. More importantly, though, the respondent’s piece will reflect explicitly on the title concept in light of the published articles and her or his own work, beginning the conversation and opening the floor to further discussion. At its most successful, these opportunities for exchange will highlight new areas of concern for future publications.
Please direct questions or suggestions to the editors at repercussions@berkeley.edu