Editorial

Joy and/in ResistanceIn many ways, this is a very special issue.To those who embody historically marginalized identities and/or care about social justice, it has been hard to find joy these days.Yet, joy, or at least talk about joy, seems to be everywhere.From activist affirmations to neoliberal cooptations.In podcasts, mapping projects, and even in the latest US presidential election.Defined by Kristie Soares as "both a scholarly field and an activist movement dedicated to examining how joy functions as a form of political resistance among minoritized communities," critical joy studies is still an emerging field.Along with the American Historical Association panel mentioned by Soares in their field-defining piece here, this issue is an attempt to bring together people who are thinking critically about joy in/from different disciplines and fields and provides an exciting dialogue between academics, artists, and activists, as well as folks who defy these boundaries.This issue is also special on a personal level because it will be my last as a JFS coeditor, and I could not think of a better way to conclude this trajectory.I met Miguel Valerio when I served as a guest editor for JFS issue #3 and have been a fan of his work since.At the time, we were both writing books that, in very different ways, dealt with joy and celebration as forms of resistance. While his work has certainly inspired