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The Modern American
A Scholarly Publication Dedicated to Diversity and the Law
The Modern American is American University Washington College of Law’s scholarly publication dedicated to diversity and the law. TMA is a student-run publication founded in 2004. The Modern American is a name that conveys the nation’s evolution as an increasingly diverse and complex place that is experiencing tremendous change, both exciting and frightening, in the era of twenty-first century politics.
Our mission is to provide a forum for frank, yet beneficial discussion of the law’s treatment of marginalized and under-represented people in America. We publish articles with cutting-edge analysis of timely legal, social, and political issues affecting marginalized people and their communities. Our goal is to feature a spectrum of viewpoints in articles written by students, legal scholars, activists, and practitioners from all over the country.
Mission
Our mission is based on the fact that today we live in a time where the lines that separate issues of race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, gender, and ability are rapidly moving closer together. Intersectionality is no longer an academic insight, but a lived reality for those who often experience marginality. As an increasingly diverse society the meanings of legal issues can longer be isolated to sound bites like “blacks vs. whites,” “liberal vs. conservative,” or “women vs. men.” We, at The Modern American, have initiated a discussion about the issues that affect systemically marginalized people, marginalized experiences and voices, as well as the complexity within marginalized communities themselves, with a track-record of publishing articles offering unique perspectives and analysis of diversity and the law. It is our belief that issues of race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, gender and ability are lens that are not reserved to any particular ideology—our philosophy is to provide an incisive and critical look into these issues from a variety of perspectives.
Vision
The Modern American is not a traditional scholarly law publication that is limited to technical, sometimes esoteric discussion of legal issues. Our publication believes legal writing must examine political, historical, and social contexts, to engage in complex and full legal analysis. TMA publishes legislative updates, book essays, interviews, conference reports, and other legal happenings, in addition to scholarly articles and essays that are relevant to people pushing for legal and social change.
Equally important, we aim to be accessible to a broad audience. Our articles are shorter and plainly written compared to traditional law publications. Similarly, our published issues are available online, in print by free subscription, and are archived in every major law database, including Hein Online, LexisNexis, Westlaw, and the Index to Legal Periodicals & Books. As a platform for traditionally under-represented scholarship, voices and views, we make an effort to publish cutting-edge work by students, emerging scholars, practitioners, and non-traditional scholarship and commentary by established legal minds and advocates.
TMA is one of the leading publications in the country on diversity and the law, and it continues to expand in its readership and visibility across the world.
Founders' Day Symposium 2011: March 23, 2011, 6:00 - 8:00pm, Washington College of Law, Room 603
Minorities are expected to become the majority in America by the year 2050, ending nearly 300 years of a white majority. How have societies dealt with such changes throughout history, and how will Americans react to this change? Does recent backlash, such as elements of the Tea Party Movement, indicate growing recognition of, and resistance to, this reality? Or does election of President Obama and the appointment of Justice Sotomayor indicate that the American people have already begun to accept this inevitability? Finally, will the constitutional and statutory protections set in place to protect minorities continue to be relevant in a Minority Majority America?
TMA @ The Digital Commons & Blog
The Modern American is proud to announce that the publication is on the Digital Commons, the new legal scholarship repository and online publication destination. Visit this website for our most featured online content and to submit to The Modern American. Also, visit Modern America: The Modern American's New Law & Politics Blog.
Readers' Survey
TMA would like to hear from YOU. Please participate in our online survey about the publication by March 1. A completed survey will not only help us better learn you--a TMA reader---but it will automatically enter you into a raffle for an ipod shuffle.
Volume 6 Issue 2 Inside the Author's Studio & LatCrit Conference Interviews
Inside the Author's Studio: Anne Parsons, A Fraudulent Sense of Belonging
Inside the Author's Studio: Rachel Zoghlin, Insecure Communities
Inside the Author's Studio: Katy Bosse, A Price Tag on Constitutional Rights
LatCrit Interview: James R. Hackney, Northeastern University School of Law
LatCrit Interview: Jennifer Chacón, University of California Irvine School of Law
LatCrit Interview: Robert Ashford, Syracuse University College of Law
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Disclaimer: Any opinions appearing in The Modern American are those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of American University Washington College of Law or The Modern American.
