July 7, 2026
The following letter was sent to current and recent ASECS members on July 7, 2026.
Dear ASECS colleagues,
It is with great joy that I write to you for the first time as ASECS president, as we continue the United States’ semi quincentennial celebrations.
Two hundred and fifty years ago, 1,320 words inaugurated a new era in world history. In declaring independence from tyrannical rule, British Americans also articulated in 1,320 words ideas of equality, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, words that would resonate far beyond the moment of their creation. Much has been written about the universality of these rights—their uneven application and the many people excluded from their promise—as Nikole Hannah Jones, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, or Howard Zinn have reminded us. Yet those principles also became a compass and a beacon for people both within and beyond the eastern seaboard of North America. At Washington College, as Professor of Spanish and Black Studies, I learned that, however imperfectly realized, these ideals continue to be contested, defended, and renewed. As an eighteenth-century scholar in ASECS, I have learned more deeply about the zeitgeist that made both their articulation and their contestation possible—a zeitgeist in which plurality and unity existed not as opposites but along a continuum.
Nearly a decade ago, I was sworn as a United States citizen in Philadelphia. Since then, while raising two U.S.-born children, I have realized the importance of creating another sort of continuum: one between the critical perspective I brought as someone born in Mexico and the profound love and care and I have developed for this country as a naturalized citizen. That a Mexican-American now serves as President of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies is not an irony but, rather, a meaningful reflection of the Society’s values in this ever-evolving nation.
Today, looking at the future, I celebrate United States history, the key role of our Society in this conversation, and our work as decoders of a century that not only crafted concepts such as equality and liberty, but also citizenship, democracy, the commons, and the public sphere. I believe that this anniversary is a great opportunity for our collective reflection and for the reclaiming of our national pride.
I invite you to embrace this moment of reflection within ASECS. Let us continue the momentum we built in Philadelphia, under Misty Anderson’s outstanding leadership this past April. Renew your membership. Become involved in committees and caucuses. Serve on prize and grants juries, or as a book reviewer. Submit your scholarship to our grants and awards.
More importantly, join us in Portland in April 1-3, 2027. Bring new colleagues with you and show them why ASECS is our intellectual home. Read the excellent scholarship published in Eighteenth-Century Studies and Studies of Eighteenth-Century Studies, and consider submitting your own work in the future. Finally, donate to ASECS and ensure the future of our organization for generations to come.
Standing on the shoulders of my immediate predecessors — Lisa Freeman, Paola Bertucci, and especially Misty Anderson — and along with the 2026-2027 Board: Amy Freund, Tili-Bon Cuillé, Misty Anderson, Olivia Sabee, Al Coppola, Brian Cowan, Chloe Northrop, Pamela Ahern, Jared Richman, Wendy Bellion, Danielle Spratt, Mike Lynn, Nush Powell, and our Executive Director, Mackenzie Kelley, I make a small but solid promise: that I will do my best to ensure that ASECS remains a stable, vibrant, and intellectually ambitious home for our scholarship, our community, and our collective imagination.
With gratitude,
Elena Deanda-Camacho, Ph.D.
ASECS President 2026-2027