Weaving a New Horizon for NAA: Epistemological Plurality and Ontological Multiplicity between the Americas and Germany
The academic journal Notas de Antropología de las Américas (NAA) is pleased to announce a new stage in its trajectory after four years of uninterrupted operation. This coincides with the launch of our new web portal on the OJS (Open Journal Systems) platform, featuring a dedicated server and a redesigned site. This has been made possible thanks to the invaluable support of the Open Access Service Center at the ULB of the University of Bonn.
In keeping with our commitment to opening new spaces for knowledge, we have adopted a decolonial ethos grounded in epistemological plurality and ontological multiplicity, which will guide every aspect of our editorial work. The adoption of this approach has concrete implications. One of them is the formation of a Scientific Committee comprising distinguished scholars from across the Americas and Europe. This team of experts brings relevant perspectives and extensive experience to guide NAA's thematic agenda, propose Dossiers and Special Issues, and ensure the highest ethical standards in our operations. Their support will be fundamental to strengthening our multilingual character (German, Spanish, English, Portuguese) and guaranteeing that the journal remains a bridge for transcultural dialogue and (more) symmetrical ontological coexistence.
As part of our commitment to bibliodiversity and linguistic heterogeneity, we are announcing a pilot program for publishing in Indigenous languages. For the first time, NAA will receive and publish contributions written in Aymara, Quechua, and Mapudungun (and soon others). Promoting knowledge production in these languages is essential for a true academic paradigm shift: it means actively recording the memory of Indigenous peoples in written form in Europe and, in doing so, elevating viewpoints often undervalued through omission.
We are also pleased to announce that starting next year, we will launch Special Issues coordinated by Guest Editors, dedicated to key themes in anthropology and disciplines related to Altamerikanistik, the research culture promoted by our Department of Anthropology of the Americas. These issues will bring together diverse contributions around a specific thematic focus, fostering a deeper and more focused exchange. In organizing special issues on urgent and emerging topics, we have also considered co-curation with Indigenous communities and other social groups, thus encompassing everything from cutting-edge theoretical debates to contemporary social problems in the Americas.
With all these innovations, we reaffirm NAA's core mission: to be an open, diverse, and transformative space for the anthropology of the Americas. We are deeply grateful for the continued support of our community of readers, authors, and reviewers, without whom this process would not be possible.
