DIALOGUES

EDITOR-REVIEWED

6000 words for combined first-person interviews and critical commentary on books, films, exhibitions, visual anthropology programs, and/or other happenings related to visual anthropology

Individuals wishing to undertake a DIALOGUE are encouraged to contact the appropriate editor with a brief proposal that outlines for the curator, author, filmmaker, collective, or other expert whose work they wish to engage.  

First piloted in the fall 2019 issue (Barnabas & Wijngaarden 2019) before being established as a regular and rotating section with the journal’s redesign, Dialogues were inspired by the journal’s earlier “In Dialogue” section that included transcripts of public dialogues (Bhabha & Burgin 1992), interviews at film festivals (Lutkehaus 1994), and conversations specifically for VAR with filmmakers and visual theorists (Chen 1992).

Submission Portal
After your initial proposal has been accepted by the correct editor, please submit all materials through ScholarOne. It is important to note that all revisions, re-submissions, and communication with authors about their manuscript are facilitated through ScholarOne. Authors are encouraged to check spam/junk folders for filtered emails from Wiley or the editors.

Authorship
Dialogues are jointly authored by the reviewer/interviewer and interviewee(s). The reviewer/interviewer should be listed as the corresponding author.

Deadline & Length
Dialogues are due on ScholarOne eight weeks after the editor’s acceptance of the proposal, unless otherwise agreed. Dialogues should be no more than 6000 words.

• Title Page. This document is not for peer-review and should include the following:

Author Information Dialogues are jointly-authored by the reviewer/interviewer and interviewee(s). The reviewer/interviewer should be listed as the corresponding author. Include all authors’ names, affiliations, and emails. Identify the corresponding author with an asterisk (*).
Article Title We encourage authors to include important keywords (ideally within the first 65 characters) and to keep titles short to enhance their discoverability. For tips, consult Wiley Author Services.
Short Title (4–5 words) This will be used as the running header.
Abstract (<100 words) Describe the focus of the conversation using essential keywords in the first two sentences. Avoid parenthetical citations in your abstract. 
Keywords (5) Each dialogue should have 5 keywords. These are critical terms that summarize highlights, themes, and content from your discussion and review.
Authors’ Bios (<50 words) If including current institutional affiliation, education, positions held, and/or relevant publication, please describe in narrative form rather than parenthetically.

• Dialogue. (6000 words, including notes and bibliography, follow VAR Style Guide) Upload this as the “Main Document” in ScholarOne. Dialogues are pedagogically-oriented, collaboratively authored works that combine a traditional review of either a film, curatorial project/exhibition, book, program, etc., with an engaged conversation between the filmmaker, author, curator, or creator (interviewees) and fellow scholar (interviewer). The review section of a Dialogue is framed with a strong introduction written by the interviewer that, like a traditional review (see content guidelines above), provides a clear context and history to the work or media being discussed with the interviewee. Authors are encouraged to provide more references to existing literature, media, and practices than typical of a review.  The dialogic portions are jointly authored because the interviewer and interviewee undertake a process-focused conversation that discusses the nuances of filmmaking, curating, and/or publishing, while further contextualizing these practices within the history of its practice and contemporary experimentation in the field of visual anthropology. Those collaborating on a Dialogue are encouraged to share with readers their process of discussion and include narration or evidence of mutual annotation and revision of their conversation to reflect the dialogic nature of this format. Dialogues are critically engaged conversations that take VAR readers further to specific works in order to expand knowledge into new happenings and innovations in the field of visual anthropology. Dialogues are imagined to become instrumental resources for classroom use to accompany films, media, books, and exhibition discussions. (See Webb & Yokobosky 2020 for “Fashioning Inclusion, Designing Internationalism: Pierre Cardin at the Brooklyn Museum, An exhibition review and dialogue between Matthew Webb and Matthew Yokobosky” from VAR 36.1 as an example.)

• Image Files. Upload each image as separate “Figure” files in ScholarOne. Label each with the the figure number that corresponds to the text (e.g., Figure 1, Figure 2). These images must be at least 300 dpi and in .jpg or .tiff format. It is not necessary to enter the caption text with the file upload. Please append a caption list instead.

• Caption List & Alt Text. Upload a complete caption list as an “Additional File for Review but NOT Publication” in ScholarOne. Ensure that the captions match each figure exactly. Include image credits in your captions. In addition to captions, authors are responsible for providing alt text (alternative text) for all figures. Alt text describes the content of the image in less than 125 characters for individuals unable to view the image. Captions and alt text should follow this format:

  1. FIGURE #. Name of Maker, Title, Location, YEAR. Photo by First NAME Last NAME. [ALT TEXT: 125 character description] Example: Figure 7. Kabusha Radio Remix installation, Paris, 2016. Photo by Kwame Phillips. [person sitting at desk wearing glasses looking at archival letters with stereo and headphones on desk]

  2. FIGURE #. Name of Maker, Title, Location, YEAR (optional if not included in descriptive title). Image courtesy of [Source/Name]. Example: Figure 4. Zanele Muholi, Sebenzile, Parktown, 2016. Image courtesy of Stevenson Gallery. [the artist Zanele Muholi’s upper body and head are draped in tubes from a washing machine and the tubes circle above their head forming a contemporary halo]

  3. FIGURE #. Descriptive Summary of the Image. Photo by First NAME Last NAME, YEAR. Example. Figure 9. Screenshot from Sent Away Boys. Harjant Gill, 2016. [individual sitting on a cot in a courtyard]

  4. FIGURE #. Description of the scene in the screen capture. Screenshot from Name of Film. Image Courtesy of [Source/Name]. Example: Figure 7. Unidentified woman of the Musk-Ox, her facial expression demonstrating recognition of the camera, Malerisiorfik. Frame grab from Med Hundeslæde gennem Alaska, 1927. [unidentified person of the Musk-Ox, their facial expression demonstrating recognition of the camera]

  If you have videos or links to media you can include it in this document. If the links lead to password protected sites, please ensure the password is current and included in this document.

Review Process
Each submission will be reviewed first by the appropriate section editors, and then the co-editors, who may each request revisions. Once a manuscript is accepted, authors will work with the editors on final copyediting via First Look in ScholarOne. Final revisions must conform to VAR Style or they will be returned. The editors may enlist an external copyeditor for an additional level of review. Authors will receive e-proofs from the publisher along with queries and corrections approximately six weeks before the issue goes to print. They should take this opportunity to carefully proof their article as this will be their last chance to make any changes. Both copyediting and proofreading must be completed in a timely manner to meet publication deadlines. Prior to publication, the author must complete the Author Agreement Form, which will be sent to the author directly via email from the publisher (Wiley-Blackwell).

Preparing Figures for Publication
Figures that are copyrighted must be accompanied by written permission for the journal to reprint them, granted directly by the copyright holder. VAR recommends that if such permission is required, authors begin the process as early as possible (ideally with the initial submission of the article to the journal). To that end, authors will be asked to complete a Visual Permissions Form. Please note, VAR does not have a standing budget for image licensing. Authors are responsible for any fees and securing any licenses.

Images for publication must be at least 300 dpi and uploaded in either .tiff or .jpg formats. Please do not compress images for publication! A typical image with the required specifications has a size of about 1.2 megabytes. Images that are not sufficient for publication will be returned to the author with a request to resize or replace. Name digital image files “Figure 1.” “Figure 2.” etc. Do not include lengthy descriptions in the figure name as this may cause confusion in the layout stage.

Supplements
Once your manuscript is in production, you will be invited to provide additional materials (images, videos, links to relevant news articles, etc.) for an online supplement to your work. This is a space in which we feature dynamic, multimedia, and pedagogical content that extends the impact of your work. Authors will work directly with the VAR editorial assistant on these. See recent examples here.