WESTERN AMERICAN LITERATURE:
A Journal of Literary, Cultural, and Place Studies

Published by the Western Literature Association and
the University of Nebraska Press

Since 1965, Western American Literature has been the leading peer-reviewed journal in the literary and cultural study of the North American West, defined broadly to include western Canada and northern Mexico.

We are constantly looking for new theoretical approaches to canonical figures as well as studies of emerging authors, filmmakers, and others who are expanding the canon of western literary and cultural production.

While remaining grounded in the geography of the North American West, we will continue to explore new approaches to literary and cultural studies more broadly, such as our groundbreaking work in ecocriticism and scholarly support for the Hispanic Literary Heritage Recovery Project.

In our desire to further this tradition of integrating western studies into global scholarly conversations, we are especially interested in publishing theoretical and critical articles in areas such as these:

critical regionalism
bioregionalism
place studies
global Wests
Native American studies global indigeneity
settler-colonialism
post-westernism
eco-memoir
place pedagogy
ecocriticism
gender and queer studies
feminist place studies
digital humanities
borderlands studies
new agrarianism
post-pastoralism
food studies
cinema and new media
critical materialism
petrocultures
affect theory
animal (and plant) studies
critical race theory

To receive the journal, become a member of the Western Literature Association. For membership information, see Membership.

We are now accepting article submissions through our online portal, which you can access here: http://wal.edmgr.com/

Individual articles are available at Project Muse: http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/western_american_literature/.

Ethics Statement

The editor and editorial board of Western American Literature are committed to the following:

—We will make our best efforts to ensure that our peer-review processes and editorial decisions are fair and unbiased, and that manuscripts are judged solely on their merits by individuals with appropriate levels of expertise in the subject area. 

—We have the right to reject a manuscript at any point in the process if, after an unbiased evaluation, it is the opinion of the editor(s) it does not align with the journal’s mission or editorial policies or would be in conflict with the journal’s legal requirements.

—We will treat submitted manuscripts as confidential documents and will not discuss them or share information about them with anyone outside the editorial staff, editorial board, potential reviewers, or the publisher.

—We expect transparency on the part of editors and reviewers regarding potential conflicts of interest and will assign manuscripts to individuals who are not expected to have such conflicts.

—We expect authors to help us uphold our ethical standards by 

o   submitting only original works; 
o   respecting the intellectual property rights of others; 
o   adhering to the journal’s policies regarding simultaneous submissions; 
o   acknowledging sources; 
o   appropriately crediting all authors, other research participants, and funding sources; 
o   disclosing any potential conflicts of interest; and 
o   notifying the editor and/or publisher of any significant errors discovered after submission or publication.

—We will promptly investigate any credible allegation of unethical or illegal practices related to an article we have published. When warranted, we will issue corrections, retractions, and/or apologies, working with the author(s) as appropriate to find the best resolution.

—Concerns may be reported to the editor or publisher.

For more information on the journal, please contact the editor, Amy Hamilton.

Please note that the journal’s mailing address is different from the association’s. It is

Western American Literature
Northern Michigan University
1401 Presque Isle Ave
Marquette MI 49855

And follow journal news on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/waljournal/ and on Twitter: @WestLiterature !