Meet the Co-Editors of The German Quarterly

Hester Baer

Karin Schutjer

THE GERMAN QUARTERLY

We appreciate the opportunity to introduce ourselves to the AATG community: we are Hester Baer of the University of Maryland and Karin Schutjer of the University of Oklahoma, the new co-editors of The German Quarterly. This is a thrilling time to be associated with GQ! Founded in 1928, and long regarded as the flagship journal of Germanistik in the US, GQ now has a global reach, with over 6000 library subscriptions on six continents and over 19,000 downloads each year. The scholarly purview of the journal has also vastly expanded over the years, from a traditional focus on German philology and literary history to a broad embrace of interdisciplinary, transnational cultural studies, thus reflecting the diversity and dynamism of our ever-changing field.

While the journal has been led for most of its nearly century-long history by a single editor-in-chief, we thought we could best serve its mission in the role of co-editors. We both believe that collaboration leads to a better result, fostering greater diversity and equity, smarter decisions, enhanced creativity, and new perspectives that emerge through dialogue. We also bring different and complementary scholarly interests and experiences. Hester is a scholar of cinema and media studies, feminism, and twentieth and twenty-first century literature and culture, who has experience as a co-editor of the journal Feminist German Studies. Karin is a scholar of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century literature with interdisciplinary interests in philosophy, religion, and social thought, who previously served as the editor of the book series New Studies in the Age of Goethe at Bucknell University Press. Yet the two of us are also natural partners because we worked closely as colleagues for eleven years in a small German program at the University of Oklahoma. As a result, we know and trust each other’s fundamental values and commitments, including mentoring, access, fairness, and diversity. ● We are continuing our predecessor Carl Niekerk’s practice of publishing special issues and forums that highlight important developments in the field. We have special issues on Black German studies and pre-1700 German studies in the works.

● We are planning outreach webinars to demystify the editorial process and to offer mentoring and guidance especially for early career scholars. Our book review editors Necia Chronister of Kansas State University and Elliott Schreiber of Vassar College recently brought together their colleagues from three other top German studies journals for “The Art of the Book Review: Best (and Worst) Practices,” a virtual roundtable that attracted nearly 100 participants. We plan additional webinars on how to write a scholarly article and how to offer helpful critical feedback in composing peer reviews.

● We are expanding the journal’s digital and social media presence. We encourage you to follow and engage with us on Facebook and Twitter, where we will post information about new initiatives as well as links to open-access articles.

We are doing our best to put those values into action. Here are some of the things we’re working on. We welcome your ideas and feedback about how The German Quarterly can best serve you and the field. You can reach us at germanquarterly@aatg.org.