In the spring of 2015, actor Ben Affleck appeared on PBS’s Finding Your Roots, hosted by Henry Louis Gates. In preparation for the show, which traces the genealogies of famous Americans, Affleck requested that information about his family’s ownership of black slaves be omitted from the broadcast, though details about Affleck’s more noble ancestors, including his mother, who was a Freedom Rider, were highlighted. When the omission was publically revealed, Affleck admitted that he was “embarrassed” by ancestors who owned slaves. “The very thought left a bad taste in my mouth,” he shared on Facebook.

Affleck’s unwillingness to publicly admit to a family history of racism mirrors a broader cultural reluctance to address the close ties between heritage—both personal and national—and hate.  Family genealogies are only one area where such relationships are erased or ignored. Geography is marked and marred by acts of hate, acts commemorated, memorialized, celebrated, condemned, mourned, hidden, and ignored by various populations across time. Sacred spaces and sacred time are dedicated to hate events, then erased and rededicated. Official and unofficial histories make and remake the meaning of such events, and popular culture interprets and reinterprets them. We invent rituals to engage us with our hateful pasts, and we also craft narratives that distance us from it. Among extremists, hateful heritage is a source of pride, while among others, it is a source of guilt, humiliation, trauma, and defensiveness. In sum, hate events are never settled but are instead a source of constant conflict as they resonate across generations, informing the contemporary moment in ways frequently unseen, especially by those in power, and misunderstood, often strategically.

The Journal of Hate Studies seeks submissions of manuscripts examining the relationships between hate and heritage. Potential topics include:

• Methods of studying the relationship between hate and heritage, including the use of interviews and oral history
• Oral history in the study of hate groups
• Oral history in the study of victims of hate
• The transmission of hate and the transmission of heritage
• Hate in heritage studies as an academic field
• Teaching histories of hate, especially to historically victimized populations or to populations that have historically victimized others
• Memorialization and commemoration of victims of hate
• Sacralization of spaces of hate
• Popular reinterpretation of hate in film, theater, art, and music
• Leisure, tourism, and travel and hate
• Hate and the decorative arts and handcrafts
• Hate and ethnic identity
• Hate in family history and genealogy
• Historical interpretation and reinterpretation of hate events
• The commodification and commercialization of hate
• Hate in history as framed by members of hate groups

The Journal of Hate Studies is a peer-reviewed scholarly journal published in an effort to fulfill the mission of the Institute for Hate Studies at Gonzaga University. Inter- and transdisciplinary, focusing both on the US and international contexts, JHS is committed to excellence and innovation in the scholarly study of hate from multiple perspectives as well as to providing activists with a research base to inform their work. It presents cutting-edge essays, theory, and research that deepen the understanding of the development and expression of hate. Submissions have historically come from American studies, area studies, anthropology, criminology, cultural studies, English, education, geography, history, law, philosophy, political science, psychology, rhetoric, social work, sociology, and women’s, gender, and sexuality studies, but scholars from all fields are welcome to submit articles.

Manuscripts for the special issue on hate and heritage should take one of the following forms:

• 5,000-10,000 word articles making original contributions to hate scholarship, written with precision and depth and which enhance, extend, and advance the study of and understanding of hate in its multiplicity of forms
• 800-1,600 word essays focusing on teaching, activism, or research methods, including information about strategies, sample lesson plans or assignments, and reflections

Submissions are due by December 21, 2015 and should be submitted via the JHS website, http://journals.gonzaga.edu/index.php/johs. They should be submitted in Microsoft Word and formatted following the style guide appropriate for the content of the article; appropriate choices include APA, ASA, Chicago style (both author-date and notes and bibliography), and Bluebook, though authors in disciplines that make use of other systems are encouraged to use the systems in place in those disciplines. All manuscripts within the scope of the mission of the journal undergo blind review. Questions about the special issue can be directed to the special issue editor, Dr. Rebecca Barrett-Fox, at rbarrettfox@astate.edu.