A good question to ask is what would a BASA journal do that is distinctive and not already done elsewhere. Surely the objective is to get information to the widest possible audience, not to preach to the converted. Therefore one way to disseminate information about black and asian studies is to encourage BASA members to submit their research to existing journals as well as to more popular magazines. There was for example a fascinating article in The Local Historian back in 1997 on 'Muslim migration to the north east of England during the early twentieth century'. I bet the average reader of that journal knew nothing about Somali seamen working out of South Shields before that item appeared.
As the unpaid editor of a niche journal (ARCHIVES, the journal of the British Records Association) I can testify that getting good quality articles even for a publication that only appears twice yearly is hard work; getting them copy edited, proof read and all the rest of the stuff that needs to be done to get the journal printed and distributed is also hard work. I'd be delighted to publish something on sources for black and asian studies - but so far no one has submitted anything on those lines.
Regards
Ruth
Ruth Paley
Hon Editor
ARCHIVES
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