INCITE establishes publishing imprint; first series, "Dispatches from the Field," launches next month

We at INCITE are pleased to announce that we have established an independent publishing imprint, under the moniker INCITE Press. The press will promote work by graduate students and other budding scholars, while also serving as an outlet for innovative and unconventional expressions of scholarship that may not fit the parameters of traditional academic publishers. By publishing manuscripts and compositions that blend disciplines, genres, and styles in creative and revealing ways, the press supports INCITE’s mission to holistically engage, investigate, and address social issues.

The first work to come under the imprint is Issue 1 of Dispatches from the Field, an annual publication series dedicated to bringing ethnographic data to a broader public. The book is the result of collaborative research, writing, and editing by current and former MA students of the Department of Sociology at Columbia University. As a hard copy publication, Dispatches from the Field challenges traditional book formats, opening the way for non-linear approaches to reading and interpretations that will vary according to each reader’s path through the documents.

This year’s edition includes a series of reflections that refer to the American Dream, or rather, a set of differing American Dreams and their elusive promises. A collection of interview transcripts, field notes, poems, and drawings describe a multitude of ideals based on individual experiences with labor, immigration, incarceration, and participation in the informal economy. Dispatches from the Field: The American Dream will be released on May 7th.