de 
fr 
Three years after launching the DEI Working Group, we are pleased to have a story to tell about our commitment to a diverse and inclusive publishing program.
Why DEI?
For me, the introduction of a DEI initiative at Peter Lang was an extension of what I had been striving to do as an Acquisitions Editor since I joined the company in 2010. But it also reflected a long-term commitment that was part of my academic career before Peter Lang.
While a PhD student and then Lecturer at the University of California, San Diego, my main aim was to help students think critically about the world around them, including dismantling a worldview guided by the white, patriarchal mainstream. In the “Dimensions of Culture” program, I had the opportunity to educate students about the history of slavery and oppression in America, introduce them to the work of great writers like Gloria Anzaldúa and Leslie Marmon Silko, and break down barriers to talking about gender and sexual identity. I often think back on the texts and themes we taught and how they may have shaped that generation, and what positive effects that may have had on progress, even if that fight takes a while.
These threads influenced the later development of my own courses while a Lecturer at UCSD, where I was tasked with teaching German and comparative literature and film. I created for the first time at UCSD a course on “Multicultural Germany,” giving students access to literature and film created by People of Color and immigrants to Germany. Introducing students to Fatih Akin, Yoko Tawada, May Ayim, Angelina Maccarone and more, we explored themes like transnational and transgender identity, experiences of oppression and resistance, and possibilities of solidarity across ethnic groups in Germany. The aim of the course was to change students’ perspective on what it means to be German and, by extension, what that might mean for their own lives in America.
DEI in Practice
When I joined Peter Lang, I was keen to continue to give voice to the oppressed and dismantle the canon through my work as an Acquisitions Editor. This role gives us a unique opportunity to shape the direction of publications in the fields in which we acquire and, for me, my overriding goal was to transform the program into one that was diverse and inclusive.
Over the past 14 years, I have been launching new series intended to privilege the work of creators from persistently marginalized groups and to shine a light on topics like health and disability, feminist and anti-racist movements, social justice and equality. The series editors and editorial boards I recruited were also intended to reflect equity and inclusion, helping to give scholars from underrepresented groups the chance to have their work reviewed in a fair and unbiased way. Read more about these series in our latest Diversity, Equity and Inclusion catalogue.
I also strive to integrate diverse perspectives throughout the books I publish, regardless of the series. This has become a particular hallmark of books in the series Genre Fiction and Film Companions, where every companion includes texts reflecting international, inclusive, and diverse voices.
DEI Working Group at Peter Lang
Starting the DEI Working Group was, for me, a logical extension of these efforts to diversify our publishing program, integrating these principles into all levels of the company. We launched the group in 2021 to explore both internal and external efforts that we can undertake as a company to encourage a diverse and equitable approach to our work. The central aims of the group are to think about how we are presenting ourselves to our contacts, how we can support contacts of all identities and abilities, and how we can enable more inclusive and diverse publications. The following describes our activities thus far.
Supporting Emerging Scholars
One of the first initiatives of the DEI Working Group was to launch the Emerging Scholars Competition, a reimagining of our long-running Young Scholars Competition. The aim of this new competition was to support early career academics working in fields that have been historically underrepresented, offering them the opportunity to win a prestigious contract for publication through a rigorous review process.
Our competitions in Black Studies (2021), in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies (2022) and in Indigenous Studies (2023) have resulted in 15 emerging scholars benefiting from contracts for publication. The winner(s) of this year’s competition, in Environmental Humanities, receive a Gold Open Access contract, furthering our efforts to make scholarship accessible to as broad an audience as possible. Planning for our 2025 competition, in Queer Studies, is already underway.
Read more about the Emerging Scholars Competition here.
Changing our Language
The DEI Working Group developed a statement of our commitment to DEI, acknowledging our privileged role as a publisher and recognizing the importance of offering a platform for voices and topics that have gone unheard and unseen. We also recognize the need to continually analyze our own practices and policies and reflect on how these may be affecting our partners both externally and internally. We state our commitment to always strive to do better.
With those aims in mind, we revisited documentation that is sent out to authors, examining the kinds of questions we ask on our proposal and peer review forms to ensure that we are supporting an equitable approach to evaluating the work of scholars in the fields in which we publish.
We have also written an internal DEI Handbook with information for our team about best practice for equitable peer review, building of diverse editorial boards, use of gender-inclusive language, respect for pronoun usage, and more.
These efforts are ongoing by our dedicated team, with the aim of making DEI part of our practice across the entire company.
Lifting up Voices
We are meanwhile pleased to feature on our DEI webpage the voices of our authors, including an annual catalogue with educational resources for DEI practice, books that cover diverse and inclusive subjects and approaches, and series that invite new proposals in these fields.
We welcome authors who wish to take part in our Peter Lang et al. blog by writing about their research, their experiences and their own take on DEI. Recent blog posts have set the stage for these discussions, and we invite all our authors to participate.
We hope you will join us on this journey, whether by entering our Emerging Scholars Competition, becoming a peer reviewer, or coming to us with a new book proposal. We always welcome new book proposals and series on DEI topics and scholars from diverse backgrounds. Please reach out to us at editorial@peterlang.com or via our webform. We look forward to hearing from you.
