Studies in American Indian Literatures

Studies in American Indian Literatures (SAIL) is the only journal in the United States that focuses exclusively on American Indian literatures. With a wide scope of scholars and creative contributors, this journal is on the cutting edge of activity in the field. SAIL invites the submission of scholarly, critical pedagogical, and theoretical manuscripts focused on any aspect of American Indian literatures as well as the submission of bibliographical essays, review essays, and interviews. SAIL defines "literatures" broadly to include all written, spoken, and visual texts created by Native peoples.

SAIL is the official journal of the Association for the Study of American Indian Literature and members receive the journal as a benefit of membership.

Submission Guidelines
The editorial board of Studies in American Indian Literatures invites the submission of scholarly manuscripts focused on all aspects of Indigenous literatures, including bibliographical essays, review essays, and interviews. We define “literatures” broadly to include written, spoken, and visual texts created by Indigenous people in what are currently known as the Americas. Submissions should demonstrate critical engagement with the fields of Native American and Indigenous literary studies; we are especially interested in publishing work on lesser-known and non-canonical authors and texts. Manuscripts of roughly 5000-7000 words should be prepared according to the most recent edition of the Chicago Manual of Style, utilizing endnotes as preferred by SAIL, and emailed as an attachment. Submissions should include a brief 100-150 word abstract that provides a clear overview of the article and is accompanied by a list of 5-10 key terms that are repeated in the abstract. SAIL observes a “blind reading” policy to maintain academic integrity, so do not include any identifying information anywhere in the document. All submissions are read by outside reviewers, and the entire peer-review process from submission to publication can take up to a full year. Manuscript submissions and any queries should be sent to sail.editors@gmail.com .

Special Issue Proposal Guidelines
SAIL invites proposals for special sections of the journal, particularly those addressing lesser-discussed authors, texts and genres. A special section may include between 3-5 article-length essays (5000-8000 words each), with a shorter introductory piece (1000-5000 words) by the section editor(s).

Potential special section editors should send a 250-word proposal to sail.editors@gmail.com. Include the rationale for the special section and a listing of the essays and their authors to be included. We request that special section editors undertake a first round of peer review with their authors. SAIL will also submit the entire special section to two external readers for peer review. Because the process of finding reviewers for special sections can be more time-consuming than for individual essays, special section editors will want to plan for a full year from initial submission to final publication.

Call for Reviews
The field of American Indian literature includes poetry, drama, fiction and nonfiction, critical theory, cultural theory, history, and all forms of story in the shape of comics, movies, videos and games. Tell us what makes you think, answers your questions, or asks for response and revision. What are you reading, watching, playing, scrolling through? Studies in American Indian Literatures welcomes reviews of scholarly and creative works relevant to the field of American Indian literature. Reviews should be at least 500 words and no longer than 1000 words. To submit a review contact SAIL at sail.editors@gmail.com.

General Editors
Kiara M. Vigil, Amherst College

Book Review Editor
Jeremy M. Carnes

Editorial Board

Amy Gore, North Dakota State University
Mandy Suhr-Sytsma, Emory University
Matthew Herman, Montana State University
Tammy Wahpeconiah, Appalachian State University
Drew Lopenzina, Old Dominion University
Julianne Newmark, University of New Mexico
Kate Shanley, University of Montana
Shanae Aurora Martinez, Cal Poly
Anne Jansen, Cal Poly
Brian Twenter, Fort Lewis College
Alyssa Hunziker, Boston University
Grace Dillon, Portland State University
Jenna Hunnef, University of Saskatchewan - Saskatoon
Chris Pexa, Harvard University
Daniel Heath Justice, University of British Columbia 
Jenny Davis, University of Illinois 
Dan Radus, SUNY Cortland 
Phillip Round, University of Iowa
Caroline Wigginton, University of Mississippi

Editorial Assistants
Ty Smart

Editors Emeritus
Chadwick Allen
James Cox
Daniel Heath Justice
Helen Jaskoski
Karl Kroeber
Robert M. Nelson
Malea Powell
John Purdy
Rodney Simard

The Editorial Board of SAIL proposes to publish a Special Issue on: Ethical Relations in Indigenous Literary Studies. 

This issue will ask contributors to engage the following questions: What does it mean to be a good relative?  What is our ethical obligation in responding to conflict within identity politics, academia, and the practice of literary criticism, especially regarding predatory and extractive behaviors? How do we conscientiously talk about Indigenous worldviews in ways that are not reductive and objectifying in our teaching of Indigenous literatures? What do we do with representations of trauma in Indigenous literature, and how do we teach about it while not reproducing it? 

This Call For Proposals asks contributors to engage the ethics of relationality in an effort to produce new scholarship, pedagogical approaches, and other provocations that seek redress, reconciliation, and even rebuttal in response to the fraught history and ongoing impact of ethnic fraud and identity and resource theft, misogyny and sexism, homophobia, anti-Blackness, ableism, and more. 

The full Call for Proposals can be found here.

Please submit an abstract (no more than 500 words) and list of keywords for consideration via email to: SAIL.editors@gmail.com by January 2, 2025.

Trending Articles - Summer 2021

"Stolen From Our Bodies: First Nations Two-Spirits/Queers and the Journey to a Sovereign Erotic" (Vol. 16 No. 2, 2004)

"Witchery, Indigenous Resistance, and Urban Space in Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony" (Vol. 17 No. 4, 2005)

"Witnessing Story and Creating Kinship in a New Era of Residential Schools: Cherie Dimaline's The Marrow Thieves" (Vol. 32 Nos. 3-4, 2020)

"Reimagining the Four Rs of Indigenous Education for Literary Studies: Learning From and With Indigenous Stories in the Classroom" (Vol. 32 Nos. 3-4, 2020)

"On Critical Humility" (Vol. 32 Nos. 3-4, 2020)