What Subject Areas Does The Ohio State University Press Specialize In?

Updated

The Ohio State University Press specializes in literary and cultural studies, American studies, rhetoric and communication, gender and sexuality studies, and race and ethnic studies. If your interest falls in one of those fields—or in regional studies—its catalog is likely relevant. The press was established in 1957 and currently publishes 50–60 new books a year, so the list is selective rather than broad.

The core subject areas

According to the press's own description, it specializes in:

  • Literary and cultural studies, including comics, narrative theory, Victorian studies, and medieval studies
  • American studies
  • Rhetoric and communication
  • Gender and sexuality studies
  • Race and ethnic studies, including Black studies and Latinx studies

It also acquires books in regional studies.

What this means for your shelf or syllabus

The subfields listed under literary and cultural studies are specific enough to be useful when judging fit. If you work on comics, narrative theory, Victorian studies, or medieval studies, those are named areas rather than incidental titles. The same applies to Black studies and Latinx studies within race and ethnic studies.

The new and forthcoming list shows the range in practice. Recent and upcoming titles include Decolonial Dreamwork: Africanfuturism and Imagination Beyond Development, A Conditional Embrace: Black Queer Feminism in Performance, Touchdown!: Latinos Breaking Through the NFL's White Lines, The Epic Catalogue: List Form and Reception from Beowulf to Paradise Lost, and Hard Right: Muscular Rhetoric and the New Nationalism. Poetry, essays, and memoir also appear, such as Weird Girl: Poems, Shamewreck: Essays, and Men I Hate: A Memoir in Essays.

How to check whether a specific book fits

  1. Go to the press's new and forthcoming titles list on ohiostatepress.org.
  2. Scan the subject matter of each title against the areas above.
  3. If a book sits in literary and cultural studies, check whether it falls under one of the named subfields (comics, narrative theory, Victorian studies, medieval studies).
  4. For race, gender, and sexuality topics, look for the specific framing—Black studies, Latinx studies, Black queer feminism, and similar—since the press names these directly.

The press also invites readers to subscribe to its email newsletter with an email address and first and last name, which is a practical way to track new titles in your area as they are announced.