Call for Contributors Redux

As ever, we’re ready to welcome new contributors at Somatosphere.  At our meeting at the SMAs, a number of people said that they would be more likely to contribute if there was a list of possible types of posts they could write—or even if they could volunteer for particular roles or jobs—to write certain posts on a regular basis.

With that in mind, we’ve put together a list of several roles and different types of posts for the site. If you have some general ideas about what you’d like contribute, but want some additional suggestions, guidance or to be assigned certain topics—let us know and we can discuss different possibilities. As always, you can get in touch at admin@somatosphere.net.

There are two roles for each of which we’re hoping to have two or three volunteer: the journal and web round-ups.  Ideally, each person will be assigned to write a post during certain months or to cover certain topics.

Journal round-up 

I’ve been writing two types of posts in this category: one covers a special theme issue of a journal; the other rounds up interesting single articles from a variety of recent journals.  This role can also be divided up so that certain people agree to cover certain topical categories of journals, ie. medical and cultural anthropology; medical sociology and social studies of medicine; science studies and history of science/medicine; bioethics and medical humanities.

Monthly web round-up
I’ve been doing these under the rubric of “web gleanings,” and I’ve done them in a number of formats, some more time-consuming than others.  Obviously it would be up to you to decide how you would do this.  Basically these posts would cover non-academic media, blogs, and anything else that’s on your radar and of potential interest.



The following are types of posts which we’re always happy to run.  Some we have had in the past, others are new ideas.

Book review
If you’re interested in reviewing books for the site, please let us know your topical areas of interest so that we can assign you appropriate books to review.  Alternatively, if you have a particular book which you’d like to review, let us know.  Todd Meyers is taking on the role of book review editor, so if you’d like to write a review or suggest a book for review please contact him directly at books@somatosphere.net.  See our previous reviews here.

Other media review
Reviews of films, websites, resources, or any other non-book media of interest to readers of Somatosphere.

Summary of a recently published paper
For two examples of what this can look like, see Current Anthropology’s “Anthropological Currents” section and the new “Findings” column in Anthropology Now.

Reading group
The idea here is to use the weblog as a forum for a discussion of a book or article.  See the discussion group on Anna Tsing’s Friction at Savage Minds from a couple of years ago.

Issue review
A review of a particular issue or topic in medical anthropology or in a related discipline which we cover (STS, cultural psychiatry, bioethics, public health).  Obviously the scope here is wide open.

Rereading a foundational text
Review, critique, revive, or dissect a particularly significant or foundational paper or book in medical anthropology, STS, etc. While the context is somewhat different, there is a blog carnival called “The Giant’s Shoulders” which includes posts about “classic” science papers—which gives a rough template for this sort of post.

Syllabus 
Post a syllabus along with an explanation of how you’ve designed the course and some of the resources you’ve drawn upon.  I’ve written a post like this on an Anthropology of the Body course.

Conference or workshop report 
If you’re planning to attend a meeting of potential interest to Somatosphere readers and would like to write about it, let us know.

Fieldnotes
A dispatch from the field or a report on a research project in progress. This is a potentially useful format for getting some feedback on your initial observations.

Op-Ed
A report or op-ed piece from the field on a timely issue or a topic of general concern. The idea here is to draw on your local knowledge of a particular site (whether geographical, institutional, disciplinary or however you’ve framed your fieldsite) to write about a topic which is not necessarily your research focus, but is likely to be of interest to readers. Obviously it needn’t necessarily be something that’s “in the news” but two obvious examples of current relevance would be posts on the US health care debate or the H1N1 story, written from where you stand in the field.

Interview 
An interview with a scholar whose work interests you. We can run both text or audio/video, so either type of interview format would work.  The interviews at U Cambridge’s D Space are great examples.



These are just some ideas to get you thinking. If you’re interested in contributing any of these types of posts, or anything else, write us at admin@somatosphere.net.