Applications are now open for the RaceB4Race First Book Institute, and the RaceB4Race Second Book Institute!

Presentation

Applications are now open for the RaceB4Race First Book Institute, and the RaceB4Race Second Book Institute!

There is a glaring need to support early career premodern critical race scholars through the process of publishing their first book, a critical juncture in an academic career. Premodern critical race studies remains under-acknowledged and underrepresented in scholarly publishing. In order to ensure that this vital scholarship is made available, the RaceB4Race First Book Institute will provide early career scholars with the opportunity to focus on their monograph project with a group of invested scholars and an expert institute leader. 

The RaceB4Race First and Second Book Institutes are part of the fully virtual RaceB4Race Mentorship Network, a Mellon-funded initiative based at the Folger Shakespeare Library and directed by Patricia Akhimie.  

The First Book Institute supports early career premodern critical race scholars through the process of publishing their first book, a critical juncture in an academic career. Participants will meet twice monthly to discuss and workshop their writing, and will participate in professional development opportunities organized by the institute leader, Dr. Cord J. Whitaker.

The Second Book Institute supports mid-career premodern critical race scholars in writing their second books and getting them into print. Participants will meet twice monthly to discuss and workshop their writing, and will participate in professional development opportunities organized by their institute leader, Dr. Jean E. Howard.

2025 First Book Institute

This year’s First Book Institute leader is Cord J. Whitaker. 

Cord J. Whitaker is Associate Professor of English at Wellesley. He writes and teaches on Chaucer, medieval romance, the historical development of race, black and African American medievalism in modernity, and the political afterlives of the Middle Ages. He is the author of Black Metaphors: How Modern Racism Emerged from Medieval Race-Thinking (2019). He is currently writing books on Harlem Renaissance writers' strategic political uses of the Middle Ages and on the intimate relationship between fascism and antiblack racism in the U.S. Whitaker has edited special issues on race and the Middle Ages in postmedieval and Speculum. His essays on race, literature, the Middle Ages, and politics have appeared in venues as varied as PMLA and Politico. In addition to his antiracist activist and administrative work in medieval studies and at Wellesley, he has served on the editorial boards of Speculum, Exemplaria, and PMLA. 

Details

• The First Book Institute runs from February through June each year. 
• All participation in the First Book Institute will be virtual via Zoom. 
• Scholars working in premodern critical race studies who hold a PhD and are in the process of writing their first book (whether a revised and expanded dissertation or other project) are invited to apply, regardless of what stage in the project they are in. 

Goals

• Make progress on the writing of a first book, starting from any stage 
• Discuss what is unique about the first book, and how it differs from a dissertation  
• Discuss publishers’ expectations of a first book project
• Discuss the unique challenges of writing a first book at a busy stage of professional life, and explore strategies for meeting those challenges  

Expectations

• Attendance at all Institute sessions 
• Faithfully reading the work of fellow members of the Institute and being prepared to discuss it in a constructive manner 
• Writing and presenting a book proposal, chapter, or part of a chapter, at one of the Institute sessions 

RaceB4Race Second Book Institute

While some supports exist for early career scholars, far fewer support structures are available for mid-career scholars, and almost none that directly advance the work of mid-career scholars of premodern critical race studies. Because this crucial field of knowledge is still under-acknowledged and under-represented on publishers' lists, in bookstores, libraries, and syllabi, there is a pressing need to support mid-career premodern critical race scholars in writing their second books and getting them into print. To further this goal, the RaceB4Race Second Book Institute provides mid-career scholars with the opportunity to focus on their second monograph with a group of invested fellow scholars and an expert institute leader.

Participants will meet twice monthly to discuss and workshop their writing, and will participate in professional development opportunities organized by their institute leader.  

The RaceB4Race First and Second Book Institutes are part of the fully virtual RaceB4Race Mentorship Network, a Mellon-funded initiative based at the Folger Shakespeare Library and directed by Patricia Akhimie.  

2025 Second Book Institute

This year’s Second Book Institute leader is Jean E. Howard.

Jean E. Howard is a George Delacorte Professor Emerita in the Humanities at Columbia University and an award-winning author and teacher. She is the author or co-author of six monographs, editor and co-editor of numerous collections, and is co-editor of The Norton Shakespeare (3rd Ed. 2015). Her book Theater of a City: The Places of London Comedy 1598-1642 (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007) won the Barnard Hewitt award for Outstanding Theater History. Strongly committed to the development of premodern critical race studies scholarship, Howard has decades of experience as a reader for journals and presses and as an outside reviewer for tenure and promotion cases. 

Details

• The Second Book Institute runs from February through June each year. 
• All participation in the Second Book Institute will be virtual via Zoom. 
• Scholars working in premodern critical race studies who hold a PhD, have previously published a book, and are in the process of writing their second book are invited to apply, regardless of what stage in the process they are in. 

Goals

• Make progress on the writing of a second book, starting from any stage 
• Discuss what is unique about the second book, and how it differs from a first book  
• Discuss publishers’ expectations of a second book project
• Discuss the unique challenges of writing a second book at a busy stage of professional life, and explore strategies for meeting those challenges  

Expectations

• Attendance at all Institute sessions 
• Faithfully reading the work of fellow members of the Institute and being prepared to discuss it in a constructive manner 
• Writing and presenting a chapter, or part of a chapter, at one of the Institute sessions 

Submission guidelines

Applications for both the First and Second Book Institute are open

through Friday, November 15th.

Use the following links to visit the RaceB4Race website, and apply.

• Please use the application platform to submit a description of your book project of 500 words or less, a sample chapter, and a brief letter describing the progress you have made on the project to date. 
• Please feel free to contact raceb4race@asu.edu with any questions.

Institutions and Individuals Responsible

• The RaceB4Race Book Institutes is part of the fully virtual RaceB4Race Mentorship, Network, a Mellon-funded initiative based at the Folger Shakespeare Library and directed by Patricia Akhimie.
• The First Book Institute will be led by Dr. Cord J. Whitaker, and the Second Book Institute will be led by Dr. Jean E. Howard.