A team of scholars from Stanford University in California have recently launched a new academic journal on Black studies.
Created by the Black Academic Development Lab at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, the Journal of Black Language and Culture is an interdisciplinary publication featuring articles that connect the study of Black language practices with cultural life and identity. In addition to empirical studies and more theoretical articles considering existing research, the JBLAC editorial board is interested in pieces written by and for students. The editors have also developed fellowship programs to get students involved in soliciting, reviewing, and editing submissions.
JBLAC will begin publishing in early 2026 through Cambridge University Press, in partnership with the Linguistic Society of America. The team at Stanford aims to publish 20 to 24 articles per year on an ongoing basis as pieces are accepted. Upcoming issues of the journal will focus on special themes, such as Black media, academic freedom, and the language and literacies of Africana spirituality.
“We’re challenging the traditional boundaries of language and culture research, with a focus that just isn’t found in other journals,” said lead editor Anne Charity Hudley, co-principal investigator of the Black Academic Development Lab and a professor and associate dean at the Stanford Graduate School of Education “There are journals that focus on linguistics or culture separately, but we’re offering a space where they’re fully interconnected – where language practices are centered as both a product and shaper of Black cultural life.”
Over the next few months, JBLAC is hosting a series of webinars regarding how to submit articles and apply to the editorial board, as well as information on upcoming special themes.
