It’s only the first week of the year, but it’s already time to follow up on an unspoken New Year’s Resolution for the All the Russias blog. We had big plans when we launched this blog back in 2012, plans that included a number of projects that we still haven’t gotten around to developing (interviewing senior scholars in Russian Studies, for instance).
Today, though, I can announce a feature that is truly a no-brainer (always appealing when so many PhDs are involved). All the Russias is opening its virtual doors to scholars who want to share their recent projects with the blog’s readership.
There are already a few important and useful ways to let people know about one’s work, through organizations such as ASEEES and AATSEEL. And, of course, nearly all the journals publish book reviews (a process that usually involves a great deal of lead time).
What we would like to here is different. Basically, it would be more than an announcement, but less than a book review. We’ll keep developing this feature as time goes on, but as of now, I see a few different formats that could work:
1) A short blog post telling our readership about the project, preferably in a manner that could be engaging to readers beyond one’s narrow field of specialization.
2) An interview over email with someone from the All the Russias staff, in a fairly informal manner designed to elicit a readable and engaging back-and-forth dialogue.
3) Cross-posts of similar pieces that might already be developed for a publisher’s or university’s website.
We already have two posts in the works, and would love to do more. If you’re at all interested in contributing, please write to me at eb7@nyu.edu.
