Dear colleagues, I write to you with an update on the controversy regarding the Third World Quarterly publication on colonialism and the petition circulated last week on this listserve (available here: https://www.change.org/p/editors-of-the-third-world-quarterly-retract-the-case-for-colonialism) <https://www.change.org/p/editors-of-the-third-world-quarterly-retract-the-case-for-colonialism)>. The petition, with over 10,000 signatures collected in under 6 days, was formally submitted to Taylor & Francis senior management, Third World Quarterly journal, and all members of the Editorial Board on Monday September 18. Majority of the Editorial Board resigned on Tuesday September 19. They did so on the same grounds as the petition: the journal’s failure to uphold academic publishing procedures and scholarly rigor (resignation letter with details is here: https://www.facebook.com/vijay.prashad.5/posts/10214329816989010?hc_location=ufi) <https://www.facebook.com/vijay.prashad.5/posts/10214329816989010?hc_location=ufi)>. Neither the journal nor the publisher has yet responded to the petition or the resignations. (I provide several relevant sources with further information at the bottom of this email for those interested in the case)
Thank you to everyone who signed and circulated the petition. This is about upholding academic publishing standards, maintaining integrity of the publication processes, and ensuring scholarly rigor in academic journals. It has never been about censorship or curtailing free speech, as the author is entirely free to publish his opinions in a blog, website, etc. Academic journals should not publish such material completely lacking in scholarly merit with distortions of facts and truths (for which the piece was rejected three times in peer-review) nor should they promote click-bait pieces to drive up their metrics. Colonial nostalgia is akin to Holocaust denialism in my mind, and has no place in academia, and especially so in a respected journal focusing on the post-colonial world. Special thank you to everyone who has shown support and solidarity both publicly and privately (via emails, direct messages, Facebook posts & comments, and Twitter activity). It has been an exhausting amount of emotional and intellectual labor in dealing with the hundreds of emails, comments, queries, media requests, etc. over the last week, made much harder with the trolling, hate mail, and doxing. Thank you to all well-wishers. Best, Farhana Additional Sources: There are many blogs, posts, and news articles deconstructing the piece and carrying out rebuttals. Here I provide some online sources first, then some from the perspective of students at the university where the author teaches, and lastly an article from Inside Higher Education: Media and blogs: Current Affairs: https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/09/a-quick-reminder-of-why-colonialism-was-bad <https://www.currentaffairs.org/2017/09/a-quick-reminder-of-why-colonialism-was-bad> Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/09/19/colonialism-left-behind-a-long-legacy-most-of-it-bad/?utm_term=.e687df641f93 <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/09/19/colonialism-left-behind-a-long-legacy-most-of-it-bad/?utm_term=.e687df641f93> LSE Impact Blog: http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2017/09/19/clickbait-and-impact-how-academia-has-been-hacked/ <http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2017/09/19/clickbait-and-impact-how-academia-has-been-hacked/> Open Democracy: https://www.opendemocracy.net/simon-dawes-co-signatories/open-letter-to-third-world-quarterly-on-publication-of-case-for-coloniali <https://www.opendemocracy.net/simon-dawes-co-signatories/open-letter-to-third-world-quarterly-on-publication-of-case-for-coloniali> Cato Institute: https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/case-against-case-colonialism <https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/case-against-case-colonialism> http://www.herald.co.zw/reply-to-the-case-for-colonialism/ <http://www.herald.co.zw/reply-to-the-case-for-colonialism/> Student perspectives on the situation: http://remezcla.com/culture/bruce-gilley-colonization/ <http://remezcla.com/culture/bruce-gilley-colonization/> http://dailycaller.com/2017/09/18/portland-state-university-slammed-for-defending-professor-who-made-a-case-for-colonialism/ <http://dailycaller.com/2017/09/18/portland-state-university-slammed-for-defending-professor-who-made-a-case-for-colonialism/> Inside Higher Education piece today on the resignations and the petition: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/09/20/much-third-world-quarterlys-editorial-board-resigns-saying-controversial-article?utm_content=buffer22cdd&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=IHEbuffer <https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/09/20/much-third-world-quarterlys-editorial-board-resigns-saying-controversial-article?utm_content=buffer22cdd&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=IHEbuffer> *~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~*~~~~* Farhana Sultana, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Geography & Research Director for Environmental Conflicts and Collaborations, Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration (PARCC) Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs Syracuse University 144 Eggers Hall, Syracuse, NY, 13244, USA Email: sulta...@syr.edu Web: www.farhanasultana.com Web: http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/faculty/sultana.aspx ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Farhana_Sultana Twitter: @Farhana_H2O Books: Eating, Drinking: Surviving http://www.springer.com/us/book/9783319424675 The Right to Water: Politics, Governance and Social Struggles https://www.routledge.com/products/9781849713597
