Urban Anthropology and Studies of Cultural Systems and World Economic Development (ISSN 0894-6019) is a journal devoted to studies in urban anthropology and world economic development. From 1972 to 1985 it was issued under the name Urban Anthropology.
History and Evolution of the Journal
The journal URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY (hereafter “UA” in this article) was founded by Jack R. Rollwagen (Ph.D. University of Oregon, 1968) in 1972 as a professional journal which was to be published twice a year at that time. Shortly thereafter (1973), he incorporated under the name The Institute for the Study of Man, Inc., with himself as president. The name “Urban Anthropology” was trademarked in 1985. Because of the growth of interest in anthropology about research on cultural systems in the larger context of national and international frameworks, the name of the journal was changed in 1987 to URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY and STUDIES OF CULTURAL SYSTEMS AND WORLD ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (hereafter “UAS” in this article). In that same year, the name of the corporation was changed to “The Institute, Inc.” Throughout the years between 1972 and the present (2012), The Institute for the Study of Man, Inc. and The Institute, Inc. have been the legal copyright holders to all of the issues of UA and UAS. Jack R. Rollwagen has been the editor of UA and UAS since its inception in 1972. The Institute, Inc. continues to be a closely held corporation with Jack R. Rollwagen as president.
When UA was founded, the editor decided that UA would not include any advertisements because he felt that the journal would in that way present a more classically scholarly stance. However, recognizing the interests of anthropologists in the multi-faceted dimensions of this emerging field, Rollwagen held conversations with Robert V. Kemper (who had just received his Ph.D. at the University of California at Berkeley) about the need for a newsletter to accompany the journal. Thus, the URBAN ANTHROPOLOGY NEWSLETTER (hereafter “UAN” for this article) was created. Kemper edited three volumes (each containing two issues) of the Newsletter from Spring 1972 through Fall 1974. UAN included short essays, notices of current events, book reviews, and book advertisements. When the UAN was combined with the journal beginning in 1975, Kemper accepted the position of associate editor of UA/UAS, which he holds to the present. Subscriptions to early volumes of UA/UAS were mostly by individual anthropologists, with some major institutions subscribing beginning with the first volume. After 1975, subscriptions have been overwhelmingly by university libraries, now handled mostly through subscription agents.
In 1975, Plenum Publishing Corporation, a major publisher of academic journals at that time, inquired into the possibility of assuming the publication of UA, however assuming only the printing, distributing, and subscription aspects of the journal, but not any rights as legal copyright holder. As part of the agreement with Plenum, The Institute, Inc agreed to publish UA as a quarterly publication. UAS continues to be a quarterly publication today. Plenum published UA from volume 4, number 1 (1975) until volume 9, number 4 (1980). However, in 1980, Plenum agreed to return all printing, distributing, and subscription aspects of the journal to The Institute, Inc.
In 2009, the organization then known as JSTOR contacted The Institute, Inc. and invited The Institute to agree to having UAS available online in its database of articles. The agreement was that JSTOR would operate under a “moving wall” agreement, that is to publish issues of UAS no more recent than three years before the current issue, leaving The Institute, Inc. with the sole rights to publish recent issues of UAS in paper format and to provide paper back issues of UAS to subscribers. That agreement was concluded, and in 2012*** all of the issues of UA and UAS from 1972 to 2009 were digitized by JSTOR and were made available in their online database. The parent organization that publishes JSTOR is now known as “Ithaka.” JSTOR remains today the only authorized distributor of UAS through its online database.
During its more than 40 years of publication, UA and UAS have sought not only to publish issues of the journal that covered the most innovative research in the journal’s chosen field, but also to extend invitations to scholars throughout the world to contribute, that is to internationalize the contributions in the journal. In the beginning of the journal, the editor used his personal contacts in anthropology to invite individual scholars to contribute individual articles, and looked in the annual proceedings of professional associations in anthropology for individual papers that related to the topics of UA/UAS. As the number of scholars interested in putting cultural systems in larger contexts expanded, and as numbers of scholars began to organize symposia at annual meetings of various professional organizations in anthropology on topics that were of interest to the journal, the editor took the opportunity to invite symposia conveners to have symposia participants prepare “special issues” of UA/UAS that would include the papers from those symposia. Thus, the journal moved from issues of the journal being composed of the works of individual scholars in which the individual articles in any one issue of UA/UAS were topically diverse to the present situation in which each issue of the journal is composed primarily of articles that are centered around a particular theme. With the growth of the internet and the creation of listservs by North American and European associations of anthropologists, UAS has reached out to include special issues incorporating the research of anthropologists and others throughout the world. Frequently this is done through postings of proposed thematic topics for the journal on the listservs of those professional associations in anthropology that seem pertinent to the thematic request for contributions. Special issues of UAS may be organized by individuals other than the journal’s editor, upon agreement with the editor. All manuscripts submitted and deemed appropriate for any particular special issue are peer reviewed using a “double blind” approach. Manuscripts that are recommended by peer reviewers for publication continue through the editorial process. Authors may be required to revise to respond to the comments of the peer reviewers.
Additional information may be found on The Institute, Inc. website: www.the-institute-ny.com
Board of Editors of UAS (2012):
Lourdes Arizpe, Museo Nacional de Culturas Populares, Mexico;
Talal Asad, Department of Anthropology, CUNY Graduate Center;
David Barkin, Metropolitan Autonomous University, Xochimilco, México;
A. Lynn Bolles, Women Studies, University of Maryland at College Park;
Manuel Castells, Department of City and Regional Planning, University of California, Berkeley;
Billie R. DeWalt, Director, Carnegie Museum of Natural History of Pittsburgh;
Leela Dube, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, New Delhi, India;
T. Scarlett Epstein, SESAC (Social Assessment Consultant), formerly Professor, University of Sussex;
M.Patricia Fernandez-Kelly, The Johns Hopkins University Institute for Policy Studies;
Nancie L. Gonzalez, Department of Anthropology, University of Maryland;
Larissa Lomnitz, Department of Anthropology, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México;
T.G. McGee, Institute of Asian Research, University of British Columbia;
Sidney W. Mintz, Department of Anthropology, The Johns Hopkins University;
June Nash, Department of Anthropology, City College, City University of New York;
Lisa R. Peattie, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Massachusetts Institute of Technology;
Helen I. Safa, Department of Anthropology, and Latin American Studies, University of Florida;
Saskia Sassen, Department of Sociology, Columbia University;
Jane Schneider, Ph.D. Program in Anthropology, Graduate Center, City University of New York;
Amalia Signorelli, Department of Sociology, Università di Napoli;
Immanuel Wallerstein, Department of Sociology, Yale University.
Sample Table of Contents, UAS 41: 2,3,4 (2012):
SPECIAL ISSUE: The Chinese State, Local Communities, and Rural Economic Development
SPECIAL ISSUE EDITOR: Jack R. Rollwagen
Zongze Hu 131 “Wild Ghost,” “Backer,” or More? A Continuum of Views About the State in a North China Village
Lili Lai 179
A Culture Plaza in Shang Village: Why “Culture”? Whose Plaza?
Ning Zhang 211
The Wenchuan Earthquake, Social Organizations, and the Chinese State
Christine B. Avenarius and Xudong Zhao 247
To Bribe or Not to Bribe: Comparing Perceptions About Justice, Morality, and Inequality Among Rural and Urban Chinese
Chi-Pui Cheung 293
The Paradox of China’s Urban-Rural Integration: The Hukou System, Rural Policy, and Rural Land Development
Xianghong Feng 329
From Labor to Capital: Tourism and the Poverty of Resources in Rural Ethnic China
William Nitzky 367
Mediating Heritage Preservation and Rural Development: Ecomuseum Development in China
Mengqi Wang 419
The Social Life of Scripts: Staging Authenticity in China’s Ethno-Tourism Industry
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