Emerging student-run publication Prospect: A Journal of International Affairs launched its new Web site last week, marking a major step toward creating what editors hope to see become a regular campus outlet for the discussion of contemporary social and political issues.
According to the journal’s co-founders, Prospect seeks to showcase commentary in a wide variety of literary and artistic mediums, ranging from academic papers that dip into themes in global politics to photographs and paintings that critique current events.
‘We want it to be a medium of exchange, sort of a forum for social sciences, humanities and the arts,’ journal co-founder and John Muir College junior Dipan Patel said. ‘We’ve come to realize that it’s at that intersection where, ultimately, policy is interpreted and made memorable.’
Patel and his co-founder, John Muir College junior Ran Jiao, said that while Prospect was initially envisioned solely as a social-sciences publication, the journal now hopes to attract submissions from students across a broader range of disciplines.
‘We noticed this big, gaping hole for social-science students,’ Patel said. ‘There was no publication out there for us. There was no place for us to showcase our work and really exchange information with our peers in a streamlined, interactive, easy-to-use basis. There was no central place to do this. Then we said, ‘Wait, we can take this one step further. Why not include literature and the arts, since they deal with themes that we’re interested in, but in a different way?”
The journal solicited submissions from political-science students earlier this week by sending out an e-mail to the department, calling for research papers, travelogues, literary reviews, films and more. Patel and Jiao said a similar request will be sent out to literature students.
Currently comprised of a seven-member student editorial staff and one faculty advisor, Prospect was entirely self-funded until last week, when the A.S. Council approved a request for $1,700 to cover projected printing costs. Patel and Jiao estimate that the journal’s first issue should go to print by sixth week of Spring Quarter.
‘We want to represent UCSD,’ Jiao said. ‘We want to showcase what UCSD has to offer. We want to learn from each other, from our peers.’
Prospect will be considering submissions for its first issue through April 6, and will accept submissions for its Web site, www.propsectjournal.ucsd.edu, on an ongoing basis.
Readers can contact Reza Farazmand at [email protected].