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GU IDE TO THE OPEN CONVERSAT IONS FORMAT : MYRNA PEREZ SHELDON TheOpen Conversations section is a new format for Isis. “Diversifying the Discipline or Disciplining Diversity?” is a conversation among seven scholars that has been edited by Projit Mukharji and myself, with some of our own thoughts contributed to frame and introduce the various themes and threads that emerged in these exchanges. Each contributor was asked to respond to a set of questions about a proposed plan from the Editorial Board of Isis to collect demographic information about those who submit articles to the journal. After the initial round, the contributors were all asked to respond to at least two other pieces in a follow-up reflection. Projit and I then wove all these together into this set of exchanges. These are our seven contributors: Elise K. Burton, Junior Research Fellow at Newnham College at the University of Cambridge, will soon be joining the University of Toronto as Assistant Professor of Science and Technology Studies. Her work looks at how nationalism and genetics constantly and dynamically recombined in the twentieth-century Middle East, particularly in Turkey, Iran, and the Levant, thereby fashioning an evolving palette of raced identities.