Local Culture is a journal published by and for undergraduates who share a common interest in sustainable human practices.
We understand a “local” culture to be the means by which a community built to human scale preserves itself and its place. Members of a local culture care for themselves and one another, for their land and air and water, not only by local knowledge and skill but also by restraint and virtue, by justice and mercy, and by the principles of economic cooperation.
Call for Submissions
Local Culture seeks the submission of news and photographs, and all unsolicited submissions must be the work of undergraduates. Submissions should concern some aspect of cultural or ecological sustainability.
All submissions, whether essays, news, or photographs, must include the author’s name, academic affiliation, and year in school. Submissions must be made electronically to Nick Borchert, Editor-in Chief, Local Culture, at nicholas-borchert@augustana.edu.
All submissions will be subject to blind review. Send queries to Nick Borchert, Editor-in Chief, Local Culture, at nicholas-borchert@augustana.edu. Information regarding each kind of submission is available on its respective page.
Essays
Local Culture seeks the submission of undergraduate essays for its Winter edition. Submission length should range from 1,500 to 8,000 words (approximately 5 to 20 pages, double-spaced) and should include a 100-word abstract. We welcome discussions related to any issue of sustainability or ecology, including but certainly not limited to arguments favoring/opposing a piece of ecological legislation, commentaries on environmental writers or works, interviews with figures in the contemporary sustainability movement, personal or narrative essays, research essays on the ecological views of an historical or philosophical figure, accounts of the sustainable (or unsustainable) practices of foreign cultures, works on environmental/sustainable economics, non-technical scientific essays, and pieces related to any question of sustainability generally.
All submissions for Local Culture‘s Winter issue must be received by Sunday, December 20. Please email your submissions or queries to Nick Borchert, Editor-in Chief, Local Culture, at nicholas-borchert@augustana.edu. Authors will be notified of the status of their submissions by January 17.
News
News submissions are published and updated regularly on our website, and, although there is no restriction on length, our “News” section will contain generally shorter works than our “Essays” section. Topics for news submissions are open-ended; we especially welcome feature stories, with photographs, on student-led ecological projects at colleges and universities. News articles are published on a rolling basis. Authors will be notified of the status of their submission within 14 days.
Photographs
Photographs submissions are published and updated regularly on our website, and many photographs published on our website will also be published in our print edition. We welcome ecological wonders (or eyesores), sustainable (or unsustainable) architecture/technology, and/or any interesting image generally related to sustainability. Photographs are published on a rolling basis. Authors will be notified of the status of their submission within 14 days.
Reviews
Local Culture seeks the submission of book and movie reviews by undergraduates. Reviews should be on books and movies published and produced in the last two years and should range in length from 800 to 2,000 words. We welcome reviews of fiction, nonfiction, documentaries, and dramas related to any issue of sustainability, ecology, or localism. Reviews are published on a rolling basis. Authors will be notified of the status of their submission within 14 days.
Based at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, “Local Culture” is the name adopted by students who wish to think and act locally. Their work currently includes, in addition to this journal, housing renewal projects intended to retrofit houses for energy efficiency and for occupancy by students committed to living locally.