Re:Locations Journal, also known as Re:Locations, was founded in 2014 by a team of graduate students and faculty from the University of Toronto. With the support of the Dr. David Chu Asia-Pacific program, the Journal was established as a progressive platform for students and emerging scholars working on/within the Asia-Pacific world to share their research. The founding editorial team identified a wide gap in existing graduate journals in Canada: many of these forums did not provide adequate space for critical academic and artistic exploration of Asia and Oceania.
As the Journal has developed, so too has the editorial team as we continue to engage with the limits imposed by disciplinary and geographic boundaries. While the expanded regions of Asia and Oceania remain a focus, the Journal now more broadly invites critical engagement with ideas that shape social, spatial, cultural and political dialogues. The Journal was also created to provide a platform to discuss the disenfranchisement that is a direct result of past and ongoing colonialist practices across Asia and Oceania. Our team remains committed to highlighting works with anti-imperialist, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive analyses.
Discussions surrounding our use of terminology and the hyphenation of “Asia-Pacific” are ongoing. Instituted in 2019, the annual Re:Locations conference provided an additional platform for students from (or working within) this region. While Asia-Pacific studies has historically focused on the Pacific rim, the inaugural symposium sought to recentre the “Pacific,” encouraging a consideration of Oceania as a diverse and networked region. The editorial team also seeks to broaden definitions of “Asia,” and is interested in research that similarly considers connection and exchange between East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the wider continent. In a world that is now connected by digital networks, we are interested in the exchange of ideas that occurs across all national and disciplinary boundaries.
The Re:Locations team takes seriously our responsibility as an academic publisher to embed equitable and inclusive practices into all aspects of the journal. We seek to improve representation of BIPoCQT+ scholars, editors, and peer-reviewers. We continually review and revise our policies and statements related to this: read our most recent statement here.