We’re excited to be officially launching the Global Latin/o Studies series this week at the American Studies Association conference in Los Angeles. Stop by the UNP booth (number 111) to learn more and talk with one of our editors. For more information visit the series website at latinoamericas.weebly.com. Kristen Elias Rowley is the Cultural Criticism and American Studies editor at UNP. Follow her on Twitter: @KEliasRowley.

The University of Nebraska Press has always been interested in borders, in interstitiality and identity. We have published scholarship devoted to examinations of literal and figurative border crossings and over the last few years expanded our publishing lists, particularly in American Studies. So it seemed natural to grow in Latino studies as well. We already had important books of note in Latino studies in recent years: Jennifer De Leon’s Wise Latinas: Writers on Higher Education and Joy Castro’s memoir in essays, Island of Bones. Ultimately, however, while expanding our scholarly acquisitions in the field, I also wanted to start a book series that provides a forum for new and different inquiry in the field; it will be a platform with wide reach that fills a gap in current Latino studies.

The Global Latin/o Studies series does just that. Bridging the too-often disassociated fields of Latin American studies and Latino studies, the series seeks to explore the global impact of Latinos. Not limited in scope or subject matter, the goal of the series is to bring together research from a wide range of disciplines. I was thrilled to find two editors for the series who share my goals. General series editors Frederick Aldama (Ohio State University) and Lourdes Torres (DePaul University) bring a wealth of knowledge, prolific publishing credentials, and a vision for the kinds of books we want to bring to the series.

While other series already exist in this field, what differentiates the UNP series is its international, interdisciplinary perspective and its international editorial advisory board. Books in the series will give serious critical attention to the Latino experience within a global context; the series will showcase the variety and vitality of the presence and significant influence of Latinos in shaping the culture, history, politics and policies, and language of the Americas—and beyond. The series will contain short and midsized books—both single-authored and edited volumes—intended to bring different analytical approaches to bear on the exploration of all facets of the Latino/a experience. We intend to publish two or three books in the series per year, and by doing so stand poised to make a major intervention in the current discourse.

Our hope is that the series will provide a place for intersectional analytical approaches to the question of Latin/o influence across the globe that will critically expand the field and purview of Latino studies. We hope that the global composition of the series editorial board (scholars from a range of disciplines and universities across the world) will lead to the publication of work by a wide range of globally situated scholars as well. The series will be dedicated to breaking down borders between traditional Latin American studies and U.S. Latino studies, questioning the notion of borders, emphasizing the importance and range of Latin/o cultural production, and providing a forum for the breakthrough intellectual work being done outside U.S. borders. I’m eager to begin working with scholars in developing the series and I look forward to seeing the impact this exciting new series will make on the field.

-Kristen Elias Rowley