Focus and Scope

Reflections, a peer-reviewed journal, provides a forum for scholarship on public rhetoric, civic writing, service-learning, and community literacy. Originally founded as a venue for teachers, researchers, students and community partners to share research and discuss the theoretical, political and ethical implications of community-based writing and writing instruction, Reflections publishes a lively collection of scholarship on public rhetoric and civic writing, occasional essays and stories both from and about community writing and literacy projects, interviews with leading workers in the field, and reviews of current scholarship touching on these issues and topics.

We welcome materials that emerge from research; showcase community-based and/or student writing; investigate and represent literacy practices in diverse community settings; discuss theoretical, political and ethical implications of community-based rhetorical practices; or explore connections among public rhetoric, civic engagement, service learning, and current scholarship in composition studies and related fields.

Inquiries about Reflections should be forwarded to reflections.coeditors@gmail.com.

Vision Statement

We are honored to become co-editors of Reflections and hope to live up to the high standards set by outgoing editor Cristina Kirklighter. As incoming co-editors, we are proud of Reflections' nearly 20-year history of leading writing and rhetoric's scholarly and theoretical study of service learning, public rhetoric, community writing, civic writing, and community literacy. Under our leadership, the journal will continue to publish wide-ranging and innovative work on community-engaged writing.

Yet, we also see Reflections as a site for expanding the scholarship and praxis of community-engaged writing in this conjuncture, marked by Donald Trump's election and presidency and the planetary crisis of climate change. As a nation, we have entered a period of uncertainty, division, and fear. Among other disturbing trends, we see increased xenophobia, an uptick in hate crimes, and the rise of white nationalism. We are bombarded by fake news, alternative facts, and early morning presidential tweets. Trump's proposed budget for 2018, if passed, will have devastating consequences. We believe the journal has a crucial role to play in responding to these exigencies, which deeply affect local communities and our work as educators, scholars, and writers.

At the same time, even as we call for a response to these troubling times, we are heartened by existing and new resistance movements and by the growth of the subfield of community writing. We hope to provide a platform in the journal for a critical dialogue on social and economic justice in sites—campuses and communities—in which we work, research, and participate. Indeed, it is precisely this confluence of heightened political consciousness and community writing's dynamism that we hope to tap into in coming issues of Reflections.

Peer Review Process

All submissions deemed appropriate for Reflections are sent to external reviewers for blind review.

Sponsors

  • Penn State University Libraries