Draft:Theoria (sociology journal)

Theoria is a journal of social and political theory and is published by Berghahn Books. The first iteration of Theoria began in 1947 at the University of Natal in South Africa as a humanities focused journal before transitioning to its contemporary focus on political and social theory in the late 1980s. The journal is published quarterly. Theoria is a peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary journal with a focus on the political, social, and economic powers that influence the contemporary world. Their focus is on the political and social climates of Africa and the Global South and their interactions with the Global North. The journal's goal is to promote dialogue and writing about political and social theory in all of its forms and shapes, regardless of ideological alignment or methodology, in order to address the challenges of the modern world. These challenges that they point out are "how modern systems of power and traditional and emergent forms of politics bear on the central questions in social and political theory, such as democracy, freedom, equality, justice, race, gender, and identity."

Theoria is a part of Association of Political Theory in Africa, which is an open space for the development and exchange of political theory ideas to overcome the challenges facing Africa today. The journal is the flagship of APTA's mission to promote and lead the political theory discourse in Africa.

The journal is governed by APTA, and a company with the same name holds the legal rights to the journal. The association was formed to get ownership of the journal from the University of Kwazulu-Natal. This was done because none of Theoria's members were working at the university as of 2009.

African philosophy
African philosophy articles on topics like colonialism, eurocentrism, etc. are published by Theoria. Theoria is committed to supporting African thinkers because they feel that these individuals are best suited to address the contemporary challenges that Africa is currently facing, but they also encourage others to do the same.

The emphasis on community and collectivism in African philosophy is one of its key features. A lot of African philosophical traditions emphasize the importance of the community in forming one's identity and establishing moral principles. In contrast to the more individualistic approach of Western philosophy, this emphasis on the collective frequently results in a more holistic and interconnected understanding of the world.

The emphasis on oral tradition in African philosophy is another significant feature. Rather than being preserved in books, philosophical concepts and practices are transmitted orally in many African cultures. This oral tradition may consist of proverbs, stories, and other oral expressions.

The legacy of slavery and the experience of colonialism have both had an impact on African philosophy. The effects of these encounters on African cultures have been a source of much debate among African philosophers, who have worked to create philosophical frameworks that oppose and challenge Western dominance.

African philosophy, despite being diverse and multifaceted, has frequently been overlooked within the larger field of philosophy. But in recent years, there has been a growing appreciation of the significance and worth of African philosophy both inside and outside the academy.

Freedom as Power
The idea of "Freedom as Power" questions conventional ideas of freedom as the absence of external restraints and contends that real freedom necessitates the capacity to control one's own circumstances and environment. According to this perspective, the ability to act freely is not innate or inherent, but rather something that must be actively claimed and used.

This concept's central tenet is that freedom is relational and contextual. In his book Freedom is Power: Liberty Through Political Representation (2014), Lawrence Hamilton emphasizes that a person's or a group's power is shaped by the connections and structures they are a part of rather than being absolute or fixed. The ability to negotiate and shape the terms and conditions of one's interactions and circumstances is what this means when it says that freedom is not simply the absence of interference.

Understanding social and political systems will be greatly impacted by this conception of freedom. It implies that power dynamics and inequalities are shaped by people's and groups' ability to exercise agency and influence within their contexts, rather than simply being a function of how resources are distributed. This point of view also emphasizes how crucial it is to actively oppose and topple oppressive power structures rather than merely aim to loosen external restrictions.

Theoria advanced the idea of "freedom as power," which has since been expanded upon and studied by various academics in the field. By challenging conventional ideas of freedom as passive and individualistic and emphasizing the importance of actively asserting and using one's power to shape and determine one's own circumstances and surroundings, it offers a dynamic and relational understanding of agency and influence within society.

Aims & Scope
Theoria aim is to be a leading journal in Africa political theory but encourage other topics that concerns the Global South.

The journal publishes full and original articles, review essays and book reviews.

"Theoria is a journal which does not shy from the daunting task of dealing with issues which are not only increasingly complex but for which we no longer can make easy appeal to the certainty of foundations to answer. It deals with global issues in an authentically global way - it is interdisciplinary and intercultural in the very best sense of those terms and it understands that theory is one of the most important practices in which we can engage." —Professor James Buchanan, Xavier University

"Theoria is the practical journal of decolonization, providing a unique forum for scholars from the Global South to converse with those from elsewhere. It is inclusive on these terms, stimulating in its eclecticism, and rigorously argumentative in the best traditions." —Terrell Carver, Professor of Political Theory, University of Bristol, UK

Historical overview of Theoria
Theoria began in 1947 at the then University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg, now known as the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and one of its founders was the chief chemist of the university, Doctor Collins. The journal started out in the post-Second World War era with a focus on intellectual reflection on humankind. The journal was first known as "Theoria: A Journal of Studies of the Arts Faculty" when it was first published in June 1947 by the University of Natal. The title was later changed to Theoria: A Journal of Studies in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences to indicate the journal's shift to attempting to cover all the disciplines in the Faculty of Arts. The stated mission goal back then for the journal was to "include articles on a variety of controversial topics, such as contemporary theater, revolutionary theory, student revolts, and Bantu education." In the words of the journal's first editors, "Theoria seeks to promote an outlook of humane criticism in as many fields and as many groups of people as possible." A historical academic contributor to the journal was J. N. Findlay, a South African philosopher, who was a proponent of rational mysticism. In the first issue of Theoria, published in June 1947, a public lecture from J. N. Findlay was published. The foreword of the first issue was written by B. Notcutt and J. N. Findlay, where they stated that the aim of the journal was "to promote an outlook of humane criticism in as many fields and as many groups of people as possible."

Another notable event before the contemporary version of Theoria was when the author and anti-apartheid activist Alan Paton corresponded with Theoria in 1977 regarding the publication of Stephen Gray's "The Myth of Adamastor in South African Literature." The content of this correspondence was the criticism Paton received from Gray regarding his biography of the poet Roy Campbell, which Paton ultimately did not make because of his consideration of Campbell's family.

In 1989, Raphael de Kadt, professor of Political Science, took over as Theoria's editor-in-chief after the journal "reached a point where there was a management committee that was of the view that it should either be completely re-envisioned, redefined, or closed down," according to de Kadt. But during a lecture that de Kadt gave on democracy and modernity, which was part of a Richard Turner memorial lecture, one of the Theoria editors approached de Kadt and asked if he would be willing to publish with them, which later led to de Kadt being asked if he would also be willing to be Theoria's next editor-in-chief, which he accepted and remained there until 2009. Norman Bromberger, a South African economist who was part of the management at that time, was the one who asked de Kadt if he wanted to take on the role as editor-in-chief. During his tenure, Raphael de Kadt focused on modernizing the journal but met resistance from conservative forces within academia and the management committee during the early years of the journal's history. The reason for this was that they feared that with de Kadt leading the journal, a "left-leaning" attitude would take over Theoria. In 1989, de Kadt traveled to Detroit to meet Ronald Aronson, professor of humanities at Wayne State University and author of The Dialectics Of Disaster: A Preface To Hope (1983), to discuss the future of the journal's publication. Aronson introduced de Kadt to Marion Berghahn, founder of Berghahn Books [1], a publisher of academic journals. After some meetings in the early 1990s, Berghahn and de Kadt made an agreement, and in 1994, when Berghahn Books was founded, Theoria became one of the journals that were published with them. This was done to shift Theoria's non-digital format to a digital format with the rise of the internet, and by doing so, make the journal future-proof.

In 2009, Lawrence Hamilton, professor of political theory, became Theoria's next editor-in-chief after responding to an advertisement from the journal. During his tenure, the journal has reaffirmed its commitment to being a leading Global South journal by focusing on publishing articles from academics of the Global South or related to it. The journal is also ideologically open, according to Hamilton, as they are open to submissions from anybody anywhere, meaning that they are not exclusively focused on the Global South, but it is the journal's main readership. During this time, Theoria became part of the open access movement as a way to reach out even more to a global audience.

Abstracting and Indexing
Theoria is indexed/abstracted in:
 * Academic Search Complete/Main/Premier (Ebsco)
 * Academic Source Complete/Premier (Ebsco)
 * Advanced Placement Source (Ebsco)
 * Bibliometric Research Indicator List (BFI) – Level 2
 * British Humanities Index (Proquest)
 * Dietrich's Index Philosophicus (De Gruyter)
 * Emerging Sources Citation Index (Web of Science)
 * Electronic Current Contents of Periodicals on the Middle East (Dayan Center)
 * European Reference Index for the Humanities and the Social Sciences (ERIH PLUS)
 * Geobase (Elsevier)
 * Humanities International Complete (Ebsco)
 * Index to Jewish Periodicals
 * Index to South African Periodicals (National Library of South Africa)
 * International Bibliography of Social Sciences (IBSS)
 * Left Index (Ebsco)
 * MLA Directory of Periodicals
 * MLA International Bibliography
 * Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals, Series and Publishers
 * Periodicals Acquisitions (ProQuest)
 * Periodicals Index Online (ProQuest)
 * The Philosopher’s Information Center
 * Political Science Complete (Ebsco)
 * Social Sciences Abstracts (Ebsco)
 * Social Sciences Index (Ebsco)
 * Social Services Abstracts (ProQuest)
 * SocINDEX (Ebsco)
 * Sociological Abstracts (ProQuest)
 * United States Political Science Documents (ProQuest)
 * Worldwide Political Science Abstracts (ProQuest)

H5-indexing and ranking
Theoria indexes:
 * h5-index: 8
 * h5-median: 12