Astrid Van Oyen, Assistant Professor in the Department of Classics at Cornell, has recently been appointed to Associate Editor of the Journal of Roman Archaeology (JRA). She will join an all-new editorial team along with Editor-in-Chief Jennifer Trimble (Stanford University), Associate Editor Benjamin Russell (University of Edinburgh), and Book Reviews Editor Justin Leidwanger (Stanford University).
Van Oyen, who is a Roman archaeologist specializing in the social, cultural, and economic dimensions of empire in Roman Italy and the Western provinces, has had an exciting year. In addition to taking on the role of Associate Editor of the JRA, she also had her most recent monograph published by Cambridge University Press in May, titled The Socio-Economics of Roman Storage: Agriculture, Trade, and Family. The book tackles the practical and moral aspects of Roman storage practices, exploring the link between the scales of farmer and state (for more information, see here).
The new editorial team of the JRA is just one of the changes that the journal is going through right now. Van Oyen says, “It is a particularly exciting time to be joining this team, as founding editor John Humphrey is retiring after thirty-three years of making the JRA into the journal of Roman archaeology, read by an international audience and held in high esteem as a platform where archaeologists and historians have advanced some of the big debates in the field of Roman studies.” The JRA was started by John Humphrey in 1988 and has published annual issues since then. The journal focuses on all aspects of archaeology in Italy and the Roman world from approximately 700 B.C.E. to 700 C.E., and includes contributions from international scholars in several different languages.
Volume 33, which was published in October 2020, was the last one edited by John Humphrey. Beginning with Volume 34, the JRA will be published by Cambridge University Press. Commenting on the upcoming transition, Van Oyen says, “We aim to continue to attract and publish the best research in Roman archaeology, while making this transition as smooth as possible. This involves migrating the journal’s content and submission system to an online portal and ironing out some hiccups in the process.”
As Associate Editor, Van Oyen’s job will be to work closely with the Editor-in-Chief throughout the editorial process, “from initial desk read to reviews and revisions and, finally, production.” When asked what she is most looking forward to about her new role, Van Oyen says, “I’m particularly excited to have this front-row seat in Roman archaeology, seeing the wealth of new research that is happening. Like the rest of the team, I am also especially keen to continue to work with early career scholars and international authors to publish their research, and to think about how to move the discipline forward.”
More information about the JRA can be found here.
