Editing Journals across Languages and Cultures

Abstract

It might not be obvious to many, but academic journals, through their continuous serial publication, knit a fine yet extensive web of language that flows like a nervous system through society, connecting readers to multiple states of intellectual awareness and vibrant potentiality. The work of journal editing in language and literature studies interlaces a collective dialogue that takes place across all the issues of a journal; between that journal and other journals; and, just as important, within and among different nations. A multilingual journal constructs a palpable cultural viaduct, allowing intellectual and literary production to flow into new spaces in other cultures, creating alertness on both ends, for the practice of translation can transcend barriers of language. In an increasingly global way of life, multilingual journals are the catalysts of cultural fusion and assimilation, the place where translation becomes the lattice supporting the growth of the concept of otherness. However, I often wonder to what extent this observation is applicable to journals published in the United States, for editing across language and culture divides is such a scarce activity in this country. I wish to trace some of the forces that impede editing across the divide between English and other languages—particularly Spanish.