Call for Submissions

Call for Submissions

The Journal of Military Experience, Volume 4

Deadline to Submit Creative Works and Scholarship:

—DECEMBER 31, 2013—

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Creative Prose and Artwork

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Creative submissions will be accepted from military veterans of any era or branch of service as well as spouses and those who’ve worked directly with the military community.

The JME is not in the business of rejecting creative prose or artwork outright. Instead, we work one-on-one with each contributor, helping them express themselves confidently and on their own terms. Contributors will be acknowledged of received submissions promptly and, if of acceptable quality, they will be forwarded a list of formatting guidelines.

Shortly after receiving the formatted submission, the contributor’s piece will be sent to the editorial staff for review. If the contributor follows up with the editor concerning corrections and suggestions for improvement (think of this process as a conversation, not a one-way street of imperatives) in a timely manner, he or she will then be considered for publication in the upcoming volume.

Themes based on basic training, field exercises, combat deployments, family life, and the return home are great starting points, but the truly great works focus on what made these circumstances unique to the individual.

We’re always on the lookout for artwork created by veterans or by artists who wish to depict military life. In addition, one submission for each volume is selected as the cover art. See Matt Foley’s The U. S. Island and Jessica Dittbenner’s Deployment Sketches for examples.

Even if you are just in the formative stages of writing a story we’re here to help. Send us your ideas and questions. We would love to hear from you and help you get started.

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Scholarship

 

By sharing your research with other military scholars from around the country and for readers around the world, you are expanding the public conversation surrounding the reality of military experience.

We provide veterans with a cathartic, creative outlet to actively help them narrate their pasts in a healing way, educating non-veterans about military service in the process. Veterans write to be understood. As they reach out to the country and the academic community, it is our job to respond in kind.

Therefore, the JME’s fourth volume will offer a forum for scholars and supporters of the veteran community, sustaining the conversations about veteran culture started in our first two volumes. Our editors have work closely with both our veterans’ creative submissions. We do the same for our scholarly submissions from those in higher education.

Telling one’s story is only the first step in fully comprehending self and society; veterans must critically examine their military experience within the greater context of their life narratives to gain some semblance of control over who they were, who they are, and who they want to be. To facilitate your brainstorming, consider the following starter ideas:

  • Literary, historical, anthropological, ethnographic, or psychological analysis of war art literature, and culture
  • Theoretical engagements with the transition from soldier to civilian, soldier to academic
  • Unconventional approaches to post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans, spouses/partners, families, and support networks
  • Candid analysis of veteran support groups and efforts
  • Case studies of local veteran support efforts

Our goal in pairing scholarship, art, activism, and academic research is to encourage readers to reflect critically on both their own experiences as well as those shared in the journal; we hope to do that by providing our readership with essays which articulate provocative and useful theories and research for an audience as diverse as JME’s readership is: academics, soldiers, families of soldiers, and those affiliated with neither academia nor the military. Publishing all of this information in one place fulfills the practical purpose of allowing scholars to interact directly with the selfsame subjects they’re writing about, to allow a more transparent flow of communication among scholars, soldiers, veterans, and academics. This assures that veterans and soldiers have a say in the scholarship being written about them.

Submissions

All contributors to Military Experience and the Arts are required to fill out the submission form. Once you complete the form you will be taken to a confirmation page that details our copyright information, privacy information, and an email address to where you can send your works. Sending us your submission means that you have read and agree with our policies, including the right to reproduce or publish your work.

Click Here for the MEA Content Submission Form.

 

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