CFP: The Job market (Intermezzo)

CFP: The Job market



Intermezzo, a digital longform publication - http://intermezzo.enculturation.net/ - seeks submissions that deal with the job market in rhetoric and composition.



The academic job market has largely been defined for its shortcomings in the Humanities or languages. English Studies has been the most vocal among Humanities disciplines regarding the failures of the academic job market – from the lack of opportunities for current graduates to inappropriate behaviors witnessed during interviews to the dominance of the MLA in the search process to the unrealistic expectations of many ads to the ambiguous influence of neo-liberalism shrinking tenure line positions.



Rhetoric and composition, on the other hand, lacks such narratives since the narrative associated with rhetoric and composition is that its candidates are largely successful at obtaining tenure track jobs. While rhetoric and composition graduates often do well on the market, there is a need for theorizing, anecdotal narratives, and dissenting views regarding the field’s performance or future in securing tenure line jobs. The time has come to break the field’s homogenous outlook.



Intermezzo seeks 20-80,000 word submissions that explore the job market from the perspective of rhetoric and composition. In particular, we seek submissions that problematize rhetoric and composition and the academic job market by not simply repeating the English narrative nor by offering the idealistic counter point to that narrative, but by exploring



- The future of rhetoric and composition and the job market

- The current state of rhetoric and composition and the job market

- The unique experiences of rhetoric and composition job candidates

- The relationship to rhetoric and composition searches and the expectation of writing program administration

- The utopian mythology of rhetoric and composition’s stability on the job market

- The field’s response to race and gender concerns regarding academic job searches and hiring



Or other positions.



We are particularly interested in essays from a variety of professional backgrounds: professors, administrators, lecturers, and adjuncts. We are also interested in submissions which take advantage of organizational strategies print publications might not publish – such as the inclusion of audio, imagery, and video.



All work published with Intermezzo undergoes peer review. Intermezzo is committed to providing an outlet for essays too long for journal publication, but too short for monograph publication. Essays are published as open source, are registered with the Library of Congress,  and receive ISBN numbers.  They may include multimedia as well. Intermezzo expects to publish five new works in the next year and is one of the fastest growing outlets of alterative academic work.



Intermezzo is meant to be a venue where writers can produce scholarly work in unique ways, outside of institutional or disciplinary expectation, and it takes advantage of digital media as a platform for both content and distribution of timely topics.



Intermezzo accepts longform essays on a rolling submission basis, with no deadlines.



Please submit submissions, abstracts, or queries to



Jeff Rice

Series Editor

j.rice@uky.edu