Abstract
It is an honor to have been chosen to be the new Editor of JAPA and to help shepherd the journal into the next decade. The knowledge base of a profession is its heart and soul—it gives all of us reasons for doing what we do, whether it be scholarly work or clinical practice, or, often enough, both. Our knowledge base is an open, living, and evolving entity, a fertile source of dialogue and debate. JAPA has been a key player in psychoanalytic knowledge production since 1953, first functioning as the “scientific” arm of the American Psychoanalytic Association and gradually evolving—through years of inspired editorial leadership by John Frosch, Harold Blum, Ted Shapiro, Arnie Richards, Steve Levy, and Bonnie Litowitz—into a journal of impressive intellectual and geographic influence.
I am taking over editorial responsibilities from Bonnie Litowitz, who has led JAPA for the past five years with a remarkable blend of intelligence, integrity, and care. She has enlivened the journal with an ethos of intellectual open-mindedness and purposeful engagement with scholars from other disciplines and clinicians who in the past, perhaps, were kept outside the psychoanalytic pale. She has expanded JAPA’s reach into Asian countries via translations of key papers, augmented JAPA’s podcast offerings, and curated unusual content, such as Julia Kristeva’s “Maternal Eroticism” (62/1, 2014)—efforts that, collectively, have given JAPA more theoretical dimensionality and scholarly and clinical impact (such efforts will be continued under my tenure). Bonnie has also used JAPA’s relationship with Sage Publishing to contact growing numbers of readers and listeners through digital platforms. Those of us who have worked closely with her have learned a great deal, and I cannot imagine being in my current position without the benefit of her generous and wise mentorship.
In my estimation, we have as a collective become quite good at espousing particular, if not entirely idiosyncratic, points of view; unfortunately, we have also become less able to debate and engage in meaningful conversation with contrary points of view. Those of us who write and publish within the psychoanalytic orbit ought to aspire to know about and be in conversation with—to indulge in contemporary vernacular—the other, whether that other be a different psychoanalytic perspective, an unfamiliar cultural or gender position, a seemingly nonpsychoanalytic psychotherapy, research data that confounds received wisdom, or an adjacent knowledge domain that in one way or another we may have ignored or disparaged. In this light, I endeavor to have JAPA be an arena in which these aspirations for knowledge and dialogue can be more fully pursued.
In this interdisciplinary and comparative spirit, as Editor I am keenly interested in various forms of writing that include but in no way are limited to the conventional psychoanalytic paper. Submissions of personal essays, short interventions, research reports, interviews, and review articles on subjects both obviously psychoanalytic and of potential relevance to psychoanalysts are welcome. Clinical writing that describes a conundrum or dilemma within a psychoanalytic or psychodynamic treatment is of special interest, and we will be developing a JAPA section devoted to such work. Writing more directly addressing sociopolitical questions, issues that cannot help but impact psychoanalytic thinking and practice, is also welcome. Whatever the form and content, we are dedicated to publishing original writing that is sharp and clear, based on conceptual rigor and responsible scholarship.
To aid in this effort, I am fortunate to have a team of Associate Editors that brings to JAPA a wealth of experience in the consulting room, in psychoanalytic scholarship, and in editorial duties. Anne Erreich, Nathan Kravis, and Stephen Portuges have been Associate Editors for a number of years and have generously agreed to continue in that role. They will be joined by newly appointed Associate Editors Aisha Abbasi, Jane Kite, and Donnel Stern. As always, along with our Editorial Board reviewers, we will endeavor to handle submissions with respect and care, aiming for both prompt turnaround and working generatively with authors to bring their writing to publication. This important work could not be possible without the tireless efforts of our Managing Editor, Jennifer Mahar, and our legendary Manuscript Editor, Michael Farrin.
On a more personal note, I want to especially acknowledge the truly exceptional work that Rosemary Balsam and Paul Schwaber have done over the past fifteen years as editors of JAPA’s Review of Books. Their dedication, erudition, and good cheer have been so obviously reflected in the quality and breadth of the reviews offered to our readers. Rosie and Paul have now stepped down, and their final edited set of reviews will be published in the April issue. We are fortunate that the book section will remain in more than capable hands; Anne Adelman and Jennifer Stuart have now taken over as editors of the Review. Finally, Gail Reed, our polyglot Foreign Book Review Editor, has also stepped down after many years of exceptional service. We are excited to have Rachel Boue-Widawsky assume this important role.
A central task of a leading psychoanalytic journal is to encourage the next generation of psychoanalytic scholars. Toward that end, we have working with us a fine group of Editorial Associates: Benjamin Herbstman, Leslie Keith, Michael Levin, and Gregory Rizzolo. JAPA also awards a First Paper Prize, given annually for the best paper by a first-time contributor to the journal.
JAPA plays an important role in the education of candidates and of our general readership. We intend to expand our selection of JAPA papers eligible for Continuing Education credit. This expansion will be especially relevant as we develop a series of review articles on key psychoanalytic concepts and in adjacent areas of research and practice that will be of value to our readership.
JAPA participates in the CORST Paper Prize Committee to encourage academic scholars with interests in psychoanalytic perspectives to publish in the journal, and we hope to have additional forms of academic-clinical collaboration in the future. To assist in this effort, I have available to me an Advisory Board of distinguished academic scholars and psychoanalysts, a board established under Bonnie Litowitz’s tenure. We are fortunate to have, as our five members, Morris Eagle (Professor Emeritus, Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, Adelphi University), Susannah Heschel (Eli Black Professor of Religious Studies at Dartmouth), Jonathan Lear (John U. Nef Distinguished Service Professor in the Committee on Social Thought, Professor of Philosophy, and Roman Family Director of the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society at the University of Chicago), Peter Loewenberg (Professor Emeritus of History at UCLA), and Bonnie Litowitz (former JAPA Editor and Associate Professor of Linguistics and Communication Sciences at Northwestern).
With this introduction, it is time to set sail. Psychoanalysis has at its heart a singular purpose that—from its very beginnings to the present day—seeks to speak to the margins and limits of human experience, and involves itself in a practice that attempts, as best it can, to live and breathe in these more liminal spaces. Such spaces remain our purview, in which the intersection of differing desires and perspectives comes to be, generating things new, perhaps unusual, and real. I sincerely hope that the work we do at JAPA, resting on the shoulders of those who have come before, adds meaningfully to this effort.
Comings and goings. We thank the following Editorial Board members who contributed greatly during the past three years and who rotated off the Board on December 31, 2018: Phillip Blumberg, Christopher Christian, Karen Gilmore, Steven Goldberg, Richard Kessler, David Lichtenstein. Erika Schmidt. Doris Silverman, and Donnel Stern. Benjamin Herbstman has also completed his term as Editorial Associate. The following colleagues have been appointed to the JAPA Editorial Board for the term January 1, 2019, through December 31, 2021: Sarah Ackerman, Todd Dean, Jill Gentile, Wendy Katz, Riccardo Lombardi, Pamela Meersand, Humphrey Morris, R. Dennis Shelby, Richard Tuch, and Kirkland C. Vaughans.