Dear All,
Please see the two attachments for your perusal/information. Short biographies of the Journal’s Editorial and International Advisory Boards Members are included.
The Management of the University of the Gambia (UTG) and I are pleased to announce an exciting new Journal for the first quarter of 2021, Gambia Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (GJHSS), to be published biannually by the University of The Gambia. A call for papers will be sent out, in due course, and UTG’s IT Service Desk is currently working on designing the Journal’s website. The proposed Journal would be available in both hard and electronic copies and is going to be an open access one, meaning that anyone in the world with access to the Internet can visit the website, view GJHSS, download its papers, editorials, and comments for free. It is also hoped that a print edition of the journal will be published contemporaneously with the electronic version. Furthermore, the Gambia Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (GJHSS) would be peer-reviewed by emerging and accomplished Gambianist/Africanist scholars of varied disciplinary orientations and needless to say, emphasis is going to be on empirical research with strong theoretical foundations.
Focus and Scope: The proposed Gambia Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (GJHSS) is going to be the first-ever scholarly journal devoted to the study of the Gambia – the country and its people – covering important themes relevant to contemporary Gambia, in the context of a globalized world, and also serving as an outlet for research on regional and global issues carried out in The Gambia and elsewhere. Primarily, the Gambia Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences will aim to publish research papers across all academic disciplines in the fields of humanities and social sciences by providing a timely platform for Gambians and non-Gambian scholars to foster and advance interdisciplinary studies in the humanities and social sciences. However, worth mentioning here are earlier attempts at starting a UTG based scholarly Journal by Cameroonian Historian and Associate Professor, History Department of UTG, Dr Nicodemus Fru Awasom, which regrettably, did not bear fruit at the time.
It is hoped that the proposed Journal would provide a peer reviewed multidisciplinary forum for the critical discussion of, and reflections on, the Gambia and the contemporary world. Contributions would be welcomed from both emerging and established scholars researching and writing on the Gambia or on issues of relevance to the Gambia and Africa. The proposed GJHSS would be aimed at the highest level of scholarship, promoting the publication of original research, book reviews, policy briefing papers, interviews, drama, fiction and poetry – in all areas of Gambian Studies. In sum, contributions are expected to come from varied disciplinary areas in the humanities and social science such as Literary Criticism, Linguistics, Legal Studies, Gender Studies, Anthropology, Arts, Communication, English, Film and Media Studies, History, Performance Studies and Political Science.
Aims and Objectives: Despite the outgrowth of the Community of Gambian and Gambianist Scholars, to date, there has been no journal solely for the purposes of, or prioritising deliberating on (Sene)Gambian studies. Therefore, the proposed Gambia Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (GJHSS) will be the first of its kind and shall have the following aims and objectives, among other things:
• Provide an outlet for high quality interdisciplinary research on (Sene)Gambia
• Substantially contribute to knowledge on The Gambia
• Provide opportunity to revise, update, and expand literature that exist on certain areas
• Bridge the imbalance in literature on The Gambia especially those areas that have had little or no attention
• Introduce and expose works of Gambian academics especially some of those teaching at The University of The Gambia
• Encourage scholarship seeking to make sense of the contemporary regional and global issues from where we are: The Gambia
• Provide an accessible source of literature on The Gambia
• Be a platform for scholarly debates on contemporary world issues of relevance to, or as seen from The Gambia
• Become the reference point to explore and learn about scholarship on Gambia
• Publish special issues on specific themes when possible
Editorial Policies:
Our Editorial policy would be to keep away from (adherence to) any partisan viewpoint or ideology. We would aim to provide a fair and balanced evaluation or assessment of all the issues so as to provide a more nuanced and deeper understanding of what is happening in the Gambia today by offering a rigorous analysis of the Gambian situation, in order to make relevant, constructive and informed policy choices. All articles submitted to the Journal would, at the onset, be evaluated by an Editor, who would then decide the suitability of the article for peer review. Articles that are considered to be suitable would then be assigned to anonymous reviewers to assess the article for coherence, lucidity, solid methodology/analysis and validity of conclusions. The journal will operate a double-blind peer review process, and this means that prospective contributors and reviewers are to remain anonymous for the review process. Articles are to be between 3000-6000 words in length, although the editors will, in certain cases, be happy to consider longer or shorter articles.
Publication Frequency: The Gambia Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (GJHSS) is going to be published twice – annually – by the University of the Gambia. The GJHSS would be a Journal of the School of Arts and Sciences of the University of the Gambia (UTG).
Principal Contact: Professor Pierre Gomez, Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic (Affairs), The University of The Gambia Brikama Campus P.O. BOX: 3530 The Gambia
Potential Contributors: The dearth in Gambian scholarship is becoming something of the past. Furthermore, there is a growing community of academics who have begun to show considerable interest in The Gambia, and in some instances, have either published or working to do so. Most of these scholars have already expressed keen interest in taking part in this proposed Journal.
The Editorial Board: The Editorial Board is made up of both emerging and eminent scholars of African Studies more generally, and particularly Gambian Studies.
EDITORIAL TEAM
Professor Pierre Gomez, University of the Gambia (Editor-in-chief)
Dr Abdoulaye Barry, University of The Gambia and Dr Abdul-Karim Kamara, University of The Gambia (Managing Editors)
Professor Ayo Adesopo, University of The Gambia, Professor Sylvie Coly, University of Gambia, and Professor Raphael Kolade Ayeni, University of The Gambia (Editors)
Dr Nelson Goldpin Obah-Akpowoghaha, University of The Gambia (Associate Editor)
Mr Nana Grey-Johnson, University of The Gambia and Mr Hassoum Ceesay, National Centre for Arts and Culture, The Gambia (Book Review Editors)
EDITORIAL BOARD
Dr Amina Sillah, Towson University, USA
Dr Fatima Denton, Director of the Institute for Natural Resources in Africa, United Nations University, Ghana
Dr Haddy Njie, North Carolina State University, USA
Professor Sylvie Coly, University of the Gambia
Professor Pierre Gomez, University of The Gambia, The Gambia
Professor Ayo Adesopo, University of The Gambia
Professor Raphael Kolade Ayeni, University of The Gambia
Dr Nelson Goldpin Obah-Akpowoghaha, University of The Gambia
Dr Abdoulaye Barry, University of The Gambia
Dr Abdul-Karim Kamara, University of The Gambia
Mr. Nana Grey-Johnson, University of The Gambia
Dr Ebrima Ceesay, University of Birmingham, UK
Dr Tijan Sallah, Poet, Biographer, Author, Economist and Ex-World Bank Manager, USA
Professor Ebrima Sall, TrustAfrica, Dakar, and former Executive Secretary, CODESRIA, Senegal
Professor Mbye Cham, Professor of African Studies, Howard University, USA
Professor Assan Sarr, History Department, Ohio University, USA
Professor Peter Karibe Mendy, History and Africana Studies, Rhode Island College, Providence, USA
Professor Rudolph Sock, Université des Sciences Humaines de Strasbourg, France
Mr Baaba Sillah, Author and Independent Scholar, Norway
Dr Lawalley Cole, Executive Director of the Coalition on Media and Education for Development Africa Forum (CAFOR)
Mr. Hassoum Ceesay, National Centre for Arts and Culture, The Gambia
Dr Abdoulie Sallah, University of Manchester
The Editorial Team will also be assisted in its work by an International Advisory Board of highly-respected scholars from around the world. The Editorial Committee and the International Advisory Board are composed of a number of distinguished scholars from a variety of different fields within African Area Studies and from other disciplines.
INTERNATIONAL ADVISORY BOARD
Professor Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Professor, Chair and Director, Columbia University
Professor Nwando Achebe, Jack and Margaret Sweet Endowed Professor of History, Michigan State University
Professor Toyin Falola, Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities and University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, USA
Professor James Ndow, University of Aberdeen, Scotland
Professor Gibril Faal, Professor in practice at London School of Economics (LSE)
Dr Momodou Sallah, Reader, De Montfort University, UK
Professor Donald Wright, Emeritus distinguished Teaching Professor of History, State University of New York College.
Professor Michael Ba Banutu-Gomez, Rowan University, USA
Emeritus Professor Jean-Dominique Penel, Limoges University, France
Professor Oumar Sougou, Gaston Berger University, Senegal
Professor Oumar Ndongo, Cheikh Anta Diop University, Senegal
Professor David Perfect, University of Chester, Geography & Development Studies Department
Dr Amy Niang, University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa
Professor Alice Bellgamba, Political Anthropology and African Studies, University of Milan- Bicocca
Emeritus Professor Abdoulaye Saine, Miami University, USA
Professor Tanure Ojaide, Frank Graham Porter Professor of Africana Studies, African Studies department at University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Dr Omar Touray, author, diplomat and Foreign Policy Scholar
Dr Karamo Sonko, author, economist and Chief Strategist for Africa, Orca Gold Inc. (Vancouver, Canada)
Professor James Freeman, Professor of Economics, Coordinator for African, African American, Diaspora Studies, Wheaton College (MA), USA.
Professor Bala Saho, Oklahoma University
Research Ethics and Integrity: The journal would religiously adhere to the strictest principles of good ethics, originality and best practice in scholarly publishing. All contributions to the journal are going to be thoroughly peer-reviewed by external reviewers. In addition to the rigorous peer review process, all articles submitted for publication are to be automatically pre-screened for possible plagiarism by using anti-plagiarism software that would be able to compare the article submitted to a large database of academic content, so as to alert our editors to any possible problems.
Be among the first to publish in the Gambia Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences (GJHSS), which intends to publish first-rate research in the field of humanities and social sciences.Once the website is done, GJHSS would welcome submissions via its on-line portal (yet to be completed) or by email to the Editorial Secretariat, whose email address will be shared at the appropriate time.
Best wishes,
Professor Pierre Gomez
Ag. Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic
The University of The Gambia