Call for Editors or Book Proposals: Monograph or Edited Volume Proposals on Democratic Memory, Transitional Justice, and Historical Memory

Vernon Press invites monograph or edited volume proposals for a new series dedicated to Democratic Memory, Transitional Justice, and Historical Memory.

The year 2026 marks several significant historical anniversaries that invite renewed critical reflection on the legacies of authoritarianism and the processes of democratic transformation. These include the anniversary of the Argentine dictatorship, the 90th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War, and the 50th anniversary of Spain’s Law for Political Reform.

These milestones underscore the continued relevance of debates surrounding historical memory, democratic memory, and transitional justice, particularly in societies where the legacies of violence, repression, and political rupture remain unresolved or actively contested.

In recent decades, questions of how societies confront violent pasts have become central to political, cultural, and academic discourse. Democratization processes extend beyond institutional reform and involve complex negotiations over memory, accountability, reparation, and recognition.

From truth commissions and legal redress to memorialization practices and public narratives, democratic societies continue to grapple with how to address past injustices while shaping inclusive futures.

At the same time, the politics of memory remains deeply contested. Competing interpretations of the past, the persistence of silence or denial, and the resurgence of authoritarian discourses continue to challenge established frameworks of historical justice and democratic repair.

Scope of the Call

This call is open to proposals that address all aspects of democratic memory, historical memory, and transitional justice across different geographical and historical contexts.

Particular attention is encouraged to proposals engaging with the Spanish Civil War, the Francoist dictatorship and its aftermath, the Argentine dictatorship, and broader Latin American and European experiences of political transition, memory politics, and reparation processes.

The scope of the present call is broad. Possible topics include (non-comprehensive list):

• Transitional justice and democratization processes

• Truth commissions and mechanisms of accountability in Spain, Argentina, and beyond

• Legal, symbolic, and material reparations

• Memory laws and public policy, including the Spanish Law of Democratic Memory

• The politics of remembrance and forgetting

• Memorialization practices and public monuments

• Archives, documentation, and the construction of historical narratives

• Education and the transmission of historical memory
  The role of literature, film, and media in shaping memory cultures

• Testimony, trauma, and collective memory

• Exile, displacement, and diasporic memory, particularly in Spanish and Argentine contexts

• Gender, class, and race in historical memory processes

• Intergenerational transmission of memory

• The Spanish Civil War and Francoism in contemporary debate

• The Argentine dictatorship and its social, political, and cultural legacies

• Post-authoritarian transitions in comparative perspective

• The role of civil society and grassroots movements, including memory associations

• Denialism, revisionism, and the politics of history

• Digital memory and new forms of commemoration

• Ethics and limits of representing political violence

How to submit your proposal

Please submit monograph proposals (approx. two pages) to submissions@vernonpress.com including a summary, a short biographical note and (if applicable) a list of similar titles using this form: Proposal form. More information on what we look for in a proposal is available on our website.

Proposals can be sent in English or in Spanish. 

About the publisher

Vernon Press is an independent publisher of scholarly books in the social sciences and humanities. We work closely with authors, academic associations, distributors, and library information specialists to identify and develop high quality, high impact titles.