Ebba Sjögren

The disparate and heterogeneous body of work that falls under the rubric of “valuation studies” has really taken off in recent years. There are a number of exciting edited volumes and special issues that have been published in the past couple of years (e.g. Berthoin Antal et al. 2015; Cefai et al. 2015; Dussauge et al. 2015; Kornberger et al. 2015). This journal, recently just an idea, is now completing Volume 5 with its tenth issue. Sometimes we hear mumbled irritations about how valuation studies are about everything—and are actually everywhere. “Victory!” we could then answer in triumph, not without noticing how the valuation of valuation studies (and, indeed, of Valuation Studies) goes hand-in-hand with a sense of academic terrain, and the occupation thereof. 

Valuation studies is an emerging feld with visible momentum. This is evidenced not only by the existence of this journal. In 2015 alone, several edited volumes and special issues were published on the explicit theme of examining valuations and how things are made valuable (Berthoin Antal et al. 2015; Cefai et al. 2015; Dussauge et al. 2015; Kornberger et al. 2015). One common feature of the histories of valuation studies which has been mentioned in these and other contributions is that valuation emerges as a long-standing core concern for a diverse array of scholars, as varying as it is delimited: by time, geography, and/or academic discipline.