ephemera’s response to the coronavirus crisis

Throughout its 20 years’ existence, ephemera’s purpose as a journal has been to critically engage with the theory and politics of organization. In the face of the current re-organization of public and private life on an unprecedented scale, ephemera’s editorial collective has decided to slow down the processes of running a journal. This means that the publication of issue 20.2 (May 2020) will be suspended and future issues will be postponed by 3 months. We are aware that junior scholars in particular rely on timely publication; we will continue to support the development of their work and publish it in the forthcoming contributions section on our website.

We have made this decision to slow down our publication processes in light of the gravity of the situation and in solidarity with those who are currently experiencing pressure, struggles, and suffering. 

Crisis is not only something new and transitory, it also crystallizes and reinforces existing inequalities. But crises may also hold a potential to create other political imaginaries and new organizational realities. We hope that the decision to slow down the journal enables the ephemera community to make time and space to collect itself, to listen, to read, to reflect in a way that makes us part of a transformation rather than being simply controlled by it. Crises raise important questions: what have we been doing and what are we doing now as academics, as citizens, as friends, as parents, and as members of different communities? This crisis may be a moment to pause, to (re)think what kind of life we want, what kind of work we want, and what kind of care we can give and receive. 

This is the moment when we ought to begin building a new academy. Let us slow down our labour. Let us do away with journal rankings, impact factors, and other metrics of productivity. Let us support those in precarious positions. Let us demand decent conditions of work and life. This may sound utopian, but this is exactly the time to start thinking about and constructing utopias.