NAAS Meeting Minutes

Participants:

·       From SAAS: Maria Holmgren Troy, Adam Hjorthén, Jenny Bonnevier, Bo Ekelund, Chloé Avril.

·       From FASA: Reetta Humalajoki, Janne Lahti, Benita Heiskanen, Tuula Kolehmainen, Rani-Henrik Andersson.

·       From ASANOR: Cassandra Falke, Stefan Rabitsch, David Mauk, Marit Dale, Alf Tomas Tønnessen.

·       From DAAS: Anders Bo Rasmussen, Marianne Kongerslev, Jørn Brøndal, Niels Bjerre-Poulsen, Mikkel Jensen, Clara Juncker.

1.     Approval of the agenda

a.      Agenda is appoved

2.     Appointment of meeting secretary

a.      Mikkel Jensen is appointed

3.     Appointment of scrutinizers

a.      Niels Bjerre-Poulsen and David Mauk are appointed

4.     Approval of minutes from the last general meeting on Zoom

a.      Minutes approved

5.     President’s report

a.      In June of 2021 NAAS sent a letter to University Press of Southern Denmark to discontinue the collaboration with the publisher.

b.     Final bill was paid in December of 2021

c.      Anders says that the general quality of submissions is high

d.     Anders suggests an electronic submission system

e.      The economic situation is similar to situation two years ago. Some of the money could be used for editorial assistance and graphic design now that we do not send the journal out in physical form anymore.

f.       NAAS has a new website: www.nordicaas.org. Jay Cannon was instrumental in making the website.

g.     Anders notes that it is difficult to find the website on google.

h.     Since 2019 a Facebook page has replaced the NAAS Newsletter. Alf calls for more activity on that page.

i.       Niels asks how we make the websites more visible. Marianne suggests it’s an algorithm.

j.       Alf says that NAAS pays for the domain.

k.     Adam says that it’s curious that the website name switches when you enter it. Adam further notes that the NAAS website contains a blog so that people who are not on Facebook also have access to the news.

l.       Anders says that the editorial assistant can help with that going forward.

m.    NAAS membership has seen a decline from ca. 115 to 101. ASANOR and DAAS numbers are low while FAAS and SAAS numbers are high. Alf notes that we maybe should do more to retain numbers. Alf notes that ASANOR has reduced its membership cost after American Studies in Scandinavia went open access. The main income comes from 106,000 in 2022 (from Nordforsk) and 126,000 NOK in 2020 (from Academy of Finland).

                                                          i.     Regular expenses:

1.     Graphic design: 47,500 NOK per year to William Thomsen

2.     Editorial assistance: 11,500 NOK in 2022 and 2,000 NOK in 2023

3.     Each issue costs around 15,000 DKK per issue

                                                         ii.     Balance in Nordea account

1.     August 2019: ca. 11,200 euros

2.     May 2023: ca. 5,844 euros

3.     Anders Bo notes that the lack of funding in 2019 accounts for much of this drop in the balance

4.     No NOS-HS calls for funding in 2023

5.     There will be no call for funding in 2023.

6.     Anders Bo Rasmussen and Janne Lahti have ideas for how to seek funding in Denmark and in Finland.

7.     Alf suggests that ASANOR might consider granting money to NAAS like in ASANOR did in 2013. But this is not the best option and we should seek funding elsewhere before considering this option.

8.     Can’t NAAS members do the graphic design ourselves? (David Mauk)

9.     Jenny notes that NAAS already relies heavily on unpaid labor. That would be a problem for many NAAS members

10.   Niels notes that ASiS once had a separate economy but now it is NAAS’s money.

11.   Maria Holmgren Troy says that the subscriptions did not pay for the journal and tells that the journal was in dire straits when Ari Helo took over.

12.   EAAS will have its conference in Munich in April 3-7, 2024.

13.   There will be a women’s symposium in 2025 in Karlstad hosted by Maria Holmgren Troy

6.     Editor’s report (American Studies in Scandinavia): Anders Bo Rasmussen.

a.      Anders shows the new website at CBS and tells about the latest issues of the journal.

b.     The journal is now completely open access.

c.      Facebook: Nordic Assoication for American Studies. Instagram: NordicAAS. Twitter: @tabularamussen and @jannelahti

d.     Strengths of the journal:

                                                          i.     Several strong submissions every year

                                                         ii.     Free open access

                                                       iii.     Indexed in Scopus, DOAJ, Web of Science etc.

                                                       iv.     50,000+ annual downloads

                                                         v.     Graphic design(er) with concrete vision for online readership

e.      Weaknesses

                                                          i.     Economy in terms of resources and time

                                                         ii.     Uneven editorial field (course reduction, proof reading, PhD students screening submission)

                                                       iii.     One-man band (50+ years unbroken of white male editors.)

                                                       iv.     Difficult to find the journal online, which means that it is not very visible internationally.

f.       Opportunities

                                                          i.     Promoting huge back catalogue 

1.     E.g. a ‘most read’ function

                                                         ii.     Reaching a larger readership

                                                       iii.     Could professionalize peer review process and editorial work

g.     Threats

                                                          i.     Currently no funding for 2024

1.     Possibilities: DFF, Novo, Finish Learned Societies, emergency help from ASANOR?

                                                         ii.     Editorial structure:

1.     It has been difficult to find an editor for more than five years. But Justin Parks takes over now.

2.     Going forward it should be a team and not just one person. This would make it more stable

h.     Thank you to Henry King, Anne Mørk, Jay Cannon, Janne Lahti, Niels Bjerre Poulsen, Marianne Kongerslev, Clara Juncker, Alf Tomas Tønnesen and Justin Parks.

i.       ASiS accepts between 1/3 and ½ of the submissions for publication right now.

j.       Jørn notes that crowd funding might be an idea for the online journal.

7.     NAAS conference in 2025 will be in University of Turku, June 4-6 2025

a.      CFP in august 2023 with ‘Aspirations’ as conference theme. The conference website will go online in August as well.

b.     Benita Heiskenen tells us that the conference will be open to more exploratory workshops and creative forms of expression. Other than the traditional formats.

c.      Benita calls for more internordic panels.

d.     The city of Turku is helping fund the conference.

e.      The organizers have ambitions about making the conference environmentally sustainable and promises more bicycles.

8.     Election of NAAS President for 2023-2027

a.      Committee: Blanck, Helo, Mauk and Brøndal (who withdrew eventually)

b.     David Mauk informs that the nominating committee nominates Jørn Brøndal.

c.      Jørn accepts the nomination but notes that it would make sense that a Finnish-based scholar would be good idea given how NAAS 2025 will be in Turku. The idea is discussed.

d.     Jørn is elected

9.     Election of the editorial team for ASiS

a.      Justin Parks would like an editorial team.

b.     Thus far the presidents of the national organizations were that team.

c.      Anders notes that it would be a great help if all the presidents help find reviewers

d.     Anders will stay on this team

10.   Election for the Nomination Committee

a.      Maria Holmgren Troy is elected for SAAS

b.     Reetta Humalajoki is elected for FASA

c.      Alf Tomas Tønnesen is elected for ASANOR

d.     Marianne Kongerslev is elected for DAAS

11.   AOB

a.      There is the question of whether the membership fees should be raised. This, however, is an issue for the national organizations.