Rescued from extinction by ASU faculty, an online issue of “TRIVIA: Voices of Feminism” will be launched in April with the theme “Southwestern Voices.”
The historic feminist journal will be under the new editorial leadership of Julie Amparano and Monica J. Casper, New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences faculty members from West campus.
"Julie and I both enjoy writing and editing," Casper said. "We also could not bear to see an important feminist journal expire for lack of interest and energy."
The journal was originally established as a print publication in 1982 under the title of “TRIVIA: A Journal of Ideas,” Casper said.
"It went on to become an international, award-winning publication that endured for more than a decade," she said. “‘TRIVIA: Voices of Feminism,’ the successor publication, was re-founded in 2004 as an online public forum for creative and critical thinking.”
An editorial collective and an advisory board are also involved in the production of the journal, she said. The primary source for funding the online publication is the Center for Critical Inquiry and Cultural Studies.
"As we guide this (publication), we may see a need to involve more people or to focus it in different ways we haven’t imagined," Amparano said.
The journal publishes submissions that vary from photography to poetry, exploring a variety of topics, Casper said.
The original print editions included works by notable feminists such as Simone de Beauvoir and Susan Glaspell, she said.
"More recent issues have focused on the body, memory, love and lust, the ‘extinction’ of lesbians and ways of knowing,” Casper said.
The journal features a wide variety of expressive writing, Amparano said.
"You could be reading a poem on one page and then a few pages later a critical essay,” she said.
The theme of the upcoming issues is driven towards topics such as Arizona’s immigration politics, environmental concerns and culture, Casper said. However, the issue will also touch on general submissions as well.
Though feminists in the past dealt with different issues than the feminists of today, new sets of issues arise as the years progress, Casper said.
"While women have made substantial progress on many fronts, we are also facing a resurgence of misogyny and a retrenchment of fundamentalisms of all kinds that challenge women’s gains," Casper said. "With an upsurge of violence, militarism and mindless consumption, women from all perspectives within feminism need to contribute to the dialogue about how to create a more just and sane world."
A new issue of “TRIVIA” will be published online twice annually.
Echoing its values of the past, the journal is intended to offer a venue by which feminist ideas can be expressed in a creative way, Casper said.
"We recognize that there is no one version of feminism and no one way to be a feminist," she said. "We hope that ‘TRIVIA’ can continue to be a site where ideas and stories are shared with a thinking public."
Reach the reporter at dgrobmei@asu.edu
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