Established within The Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race (CSER), Roots is a unique space for academic and creative work directly related to the intersection of several axes of identity—namely race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, class, and ability. Open to both undergraduate and graduate students, Roots rejects the rigid boundaries of traditional scholarship, which has historically privileged the voices of the dominant class, and welcomes the interdisciplinary creations of the larger Columbia/Barnard community. Roots, our title, speaks to our desire to anchor Ethnicity and Race scholarship—and the students who conduct it—as essential to the fabric of Columbia University.
We invite submissions of academic and creative writing as well as visual art for our inaugural issue, to be released in Spring 2024. Guidelines for each submission category can be found below. Submissions from students of marginalized identities will be prioritized.
-
Visual Art
-
Includes photography, drawing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, video (website only), etc.
-
Maximum Submission: 5 respective works
-
-
Academic Writing
-
Includes essays, interviews, ethnography, etc.
-
Submission Length: 1,000-5,000 words total
-
Includes multiple submissions
-
-
-
Creative Writing
-
Includes poetry, prose, personal essays, fiction, plays, etc.
-
Submission Length: 5-10 pages total
-
Includes multiple submissions
-
-
Submissions are due January 16, 2024. We encourage you to submit finished works as soon as possible. Applicants will be notified of their submission status via email. Submissions will be reviewed blindly by journal editors and selected for publication in either our physical journal and website (in full or excerpted), or website only.
Please direct submission questions to cserjournal@gmail.com. If interested in submitting, refer to the attached Google form:
