Confluence is a free-access journal with a 20+-year history of publishing the best work from faculty, students, and alumnae/i of AGLSP member programs. Although still conceived as the premier showcase publication for work from AGLSP member programs, the Journal now accepts submissions from any institutions and areas of interest that reflect the interdisciplinary engagement that is constitutive of a liberal education. Confluence welcomes essays, research papers, short fiction, creative nonfiction, art pieces, and photography, as well as book reviews of interdisciplinary works of interest to the Liberal Arts community. We also publish poetry, with a particular interest in poems that address the issues and the conditions of contemporary life, including personal experiences, struggles, and realizations.
Confluence publishes new, full issues twice per year – in the Spring and Fall. Additionally, newly accepted manuscripts are published regularly on the Confluence website. Submissions are welcome year-round, and will be reviewed promptly after receipt. Authors will generally be notified of the verdict on their work within four to six weeks, with publication often soon thereafter.
For complete submission instructions, please visit the Instructions for Authors page.
* * * S P E C I A L S E C T I O N S * * *
Liberal education bears the responsibility for providing the tools with which to question, to discuss, and to recognize and cultivate new manners of relating. As the voice for graduate liberal studies in North America, Confluence works to foster the kind of dialogue, engagement, and relation that constitutes the heart and the value of a liberal education. Work published in this section will deal specifically with applications of ‘liberal’ learning to questions of human values and contemporary challenges to the stability and security of human society.
Human Values—Insights, Implications, Applications
COMMENTARIES
Commentaries are brief opinion pieces (1,000 to 2,000 words) that are intended to introduce an idea or identify connections between works which beg for deeper investigation and analysis. Explicitly not an account of a research project or a comprehensive investigative endeavor, a Commentary in Confluence is a snapshot, a single moment from the initial encounter with an idea or connection that suggests possibilities for interrogation toward new understanding. The Commentary is an appeal to think about an idea, to consider a question, and to take up in earnest the possible conversation toward which the Commentary points.
Book Reviews are brief but compelling evaluations (1,500 to 2,500 words) of interdisciplinary works of interest to the Humanities and Liberal Arts community. Reviews should introduce the text, give a general characterization of its purpose and content, and discuss aspects of particular relevance to the ‘humanities’ as either an academic or existential endeavor.
book reviews
Reader’s and educator’s corners
Are you currently reading (or have you recently read) something which you feel would be particularly relevant to the general AGLSP community? Have you found a creative way to engage the students/faculty in your classroom or in your program? Please tell us about your experience and spark a conversation!
Confluence Reader’s Corner
The Reader’s Corner features brief accounts (no more than 1,500 words) of one specific aspect of a text and suggests its particular significance for the AGLSP community.
Confluence Educator’s Corner
The Educator’s Corner features brief accounts (no more than 1,500 words) of a particular classroom experience, in which the writer identifies the program or class context, describes the strategy and its outcomes, and offers insight into how similar strategies might be appropriate and effective for other classes and programs.
All approved submissions will be published at the Confluence/AGLSP websites as a discussion forum, and featured submissions will be published in a print issue of Confluence.