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Thank you @AIISIndia for supporting my research as a graduate student & for the Edward Cameron Dimock Jr. Prize & subvention for my first book. Publishing tenure books--specifically in marginalized subfields within art history--pose particular challenges. 1/6 https://twitter.com/AIISIndia/status/1296084528428191744
For art & architecture historians, the costs add up: researching artifacts in pvt. & public collections, studying architecture in-situ, mapping of and walking in lesser-known places & finally paying for rights to reproduce high-quality color images integral to the story. 2/6
Fieldwork & object-study sessions are indispensable even as digital resources expand access and methods. Kudos to @AIISIndia for prioritizing travel and language study grants for students and junior scholars, esp. dissertation to book workshop. 3/6
Scholars in the humanities & social sciences at large *do not* realize the time it takes to produce an academic book with up to 100-200 images. Not all presses have the expertise or resources. @AIISIndia @PrincetonUPress @mfkomie came along when nothing was moving. 4/6
Some presses suggested #arthistory does not talk to non-art historians; only Indian art exhibition catalogs sell; their focus is 18th & 19th c or Asian art, but not #Southasianart--a field still defined by region *not time* in jobs & curriculums & not taught in many R1 univs. 5/6
The hierarchical, colonial, racial, compartmentalized history of art history plays out for tenure-track faculty on various #margins in academia & in publishing. Even if your work questions these very foundations. Happy to share my experience, learnings, rejections, & battles. 6/6
