''Representations'' is an interdisciplinary journal in the
humanities
Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...
published quarterly by the
University of California Press
The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by faculty ...
. The journal was established in 1983 and is the founding publication of the
New Historicism movement of the 1980s. It covers topics including literary, historical, and
cultural studies
Cultural studies is an interdisciplinary field that examines the political dynamics of contemporary culture (including popular culture) and its historical foundations. Cultural studies researchers generally investigate how cultural practices re ...
. The founding editorial board was chaired by
Stephen Greenblatt
Stephen Jay Greenblatt (born November 7, 1943) is an American Shakespearean, literary historian, and author. He has served as the John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University since 2000. Greenblatt is the general edit ...
and
Svetlana Alpers
Svetlana Leontief Alpers (born February 10, 1936) is an American art historian, also a professor, writer and critic. Her specialty is Dutch Golden Age painting, a field she revolutionized with her 1984 book ''The Art of Describing''. She has also ...
. ''Representations'' frequently publishes thematic special issues, for example, the 2007 issue on the legacies of American
Orientalism
In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...
, the 2006 issue on cross-cultural
mimesis
Mimesis (; grc, μίμησις, ''mīmēsis'') is a term used in literary criticism and philosophy that carries a wide range of meanings, including ''imitatio'', imitation, nonsensuous similarity, receptivity, representation, mimicry, the act ...
, and the 2005 issue on political and intellectual redress.
Topics covered
* The Body, Gender, and Sexuality
* Culture and Law
* Empire, Imperialism, and The New World
* History and Memory
* Music
* Narrative and Poetics
* National Identities
* Philosophy and Religion
* Politics and Aesthetics
* Race and Ethnicity
* Science Studies
* Society, Class, and Power
* Visual Culture
Anthologies
The UC Press ''Representations'' books series has collected and reprinted many essays originally published in the journal, including:
* ''The Making of the Modern Body: Sexuality and Society in the Nineteenth Century'', edited by Catherine Gallagher and Thomas Laqueur
* ''Representing the English Renaissance'', edited by Stephen Greenblatt
* ''Misogyny, Misandry, Misanthropy'', edited by R. Howard Bloch and Frances Ferguson
* ''Law and the Order of Culture'', edited by Robert Post
* ''The New American Studies: Essays from Representations'', edited by Philip Fisher
* ''New World Encounters'', edited by Stephen Greenblatt
* ''Future Libraries'', edited by R. Howard Bloch and Carla Hesse
* ''The Fate of "Culture": Geertz and Beyond'', edited by Sherry B. Ortner
References
Further reading
* Randolph Starn, "Making Representations", ''Chronicle of the University of California'', 6 (Spring 2004): 160-167.
*
External links
* {{Official website, http://www.representations.org
University of California Press academic journals
Multidisciplinary humanities journals
Publications established in 1983
Quarterly journals
English-language journals