Peeps is an online independent magazine that focuses on adapting expert-generated content in cultural anthropology, history and the humanities to provide insights in a format more familiar to the general public than pure scholarly research.

Initially conceived as a print magazine, Peeps published two issues in print in 2015 and 2016, before moving to an online format in 2019, in partnership with Ontario Creates. Now, Peeps produces four issues each year, drawing on the insights of our editorial team and the best of worldwide published scholarship.

• Winner, Magazines Canada’s Best Special Interest Story (2017)
• Shortlist, Stack Independent Magazine Awards (2016)

Our formula for information works. It’s not just about sharing the best information, it’s about delivering it as a good read.

In an age where the reliability of the information we consume comes under increasing scrutiny, our readers are assured that the information we provide has been verified through peer review and research client validation before our editorial team begins working with authors to redevelop their insights for our readers.

Unlike a large proportion of science news reporting, our stories are adapted by the original researchers themselves, meaning the work they’ve done and the insights they’ve developed cannot be misinterpreted or misrepresented in the writing.

Based on the principles of scholarly research and the methods of cultural anthropology, our stories are developed with time. Time to research, to think through phenomena, and for the peer review process to work its course. We serve insights about the world, but specifically about the culture and context that the events in the news are born from, for our readers to understand issues from a more complex, holistic perspective.

When Peeps was launched in 2015, we started a conversation about how best to make scholarly research in the social sciences and humanities accessible. Many of our readers, frustrated with their loss of confidence in conventional media since the decline of investigative reporting, find themselves at home engaging with ethical and rigorously-produced information in independent media options, including Peeps.

As a community of members, Peeps is accountable only to its readers and the ethics of verified information. Our writers are recognized experts in their fields, bringing you insights that usually take years to come through traditional media.

• There are no ads.
• When sponsors support Peeps, they are behind a firewall and do not have the ability to shape content.

Peeps’ digital presence was made possible through the kind support of Ontario Creates, a creative fund devoted to entrepreneurial enterprises.

We are building a community of people interested in changes in using deep research to shape cultural change, but mostly we hope to entertain and inform people who are looking for reliable information in a good story about peoples and cultures around the world.

Although we serve our members, we recognize the value of our stories to the reading public. All Peeps stories labeled “Open Access” or “Free to Read” can be read in full by anybody, with no need to sign in, and with no paywall.

Some of our stories are open access for a limited period of time, while others are permanently open access. If you have a question about the availability of an open-access story, please ask us.

Our editors are authorities in cultural studies, literary theory, and development studies, and our editorial mission is to inform and entertain our readers with verified stories about real people around the world, and their experiences.

Often, this means that many Peeps stories are based on peer-reviewed scholarly research in cultural anthropology, meaning that we share the insights of experts working in communities in every part of the globe, conveying lived experiences through the eyes of researchers who have participated in and/or have observed the people and the events first-hand. Other stories are based on interviews with experts in arts, culture, and contemporary social developments.

Why? The art of doing and communicating good social research is, to quote one of our contributors, understanding how to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange. By replacing what can be sometimes reductive facts or misleading stats with what anthropologists call “thick description,” we are able to provide evocative and engaging understandings of the world around us that expand our connection to others rather than reducing them to sometimes indiscernible facts.

Our designers use the same theory we apply to the writing of the articles to the design and photography used to share it. In short, we bring you cutting edge social theory to both share the information we offer and for you to make the kind of changes you want to see in the world.

We are always happy to welcome new contributors to Peeps. If you are interested in joining our network of writers, researchers, photographers, and illustrators, we would be delighted to hear from you. In advance of doing so, please read our guidelines and requirements here.

We are always happy to welcome new contributors to Peeps. If you are interested in joining our network of writers, researchers, photographers, and illustrators, we would be delighted to hear from you. In advance of doing so, please read our guidelines and requirements here (https://peepsmagazine.ca/contribute/).

We’re thrilled you’re interested! If you want to help support Peeps, you can:

• Become a member.
• Follow us on social media.
• Sign up for newsletter.
• Volunteer or Contribute.
• Share our ‘Open Access’ stories with your own friends and peers.
• Have your organization become a sponsor

The best way to support Peeps is to become a member. In addition to gaining full access to all our content, and immediate access to all new content, Peeps members are at the heart of what we do. We keep innovating to bring our members content that helps them stay on the cutting edge, including issue-themed playlists, podcasts, reading and screening lists, and dynamically-updated articles.

We are deeply heartened by the increase of accessible scholarly content across the media-scape, glad that they are joining a conversation Peeps initiated in 2015. Most particularly, we are glad that readers who have lost confidence in conventional media options are finding ethically and rigorously produced information in independent media options, including Peeps.

Our new website holds all of the content from what used to be Peeps Forum, in addition to the stories that were originally only available in print from Issues 01 & 02.

Membership gives you access to all of this, plus our quarterly publication, and the information and content that we will generate for our members throughout the year. We are building a community of people interested in changes in culture, as well as applied social theory, but mostly people who are looking for reliable information in a good story about peoples and cultures around the world.