Dear crit-geoggers,
I have been off this list for a year and a half. In the meantime I have
moved to Newcastle. Looking forward to renewing old acquaintances...
A group human geography lecturers at Newcastle have agreed on the
following position in response to the call by Paul Chatterton and David
Featherstone in the journal 'Political Geography' (26/1) to boycott
Elsevier journals and their International Encyclopaedia of Human
Geography over links between the parent company and the arms trade. We
are sending this response to the editors of the encyclopaedia and to
Elsevier itself. We expect one or two other people will join us at
Newcastle geography in taking this action. We thought that you the list
might be interested to see what we agreed upon. Of
Peace - Nick Megoran
--
Dear ...
We, as human geography academics at Newcastle University, are informing
you of our collective decision to suspend co-operation with Elsevier's
forthcoming International Encyclopaedia of Human Geography, in protest
at Reed Elsevier's ongoing role as organiser of weapons fairs such as
the Defence Systems & Equipment International (DSEI) exhibitions in
London.
We are concerned that our labour should be contributing to the profits
of an industry that is not regulated and policed sufficiently to prevent
sales of weapons to known abusers of human rights. Reports on the 2005
DSEI fair by investigative journalists highlighted serious shortcomings
of this nature. More generally, echoing calls in Elsevier journals such
as The Lancet, The British Medical Journal, and Political Geography, as
critical scholars committed to a culture of life we have profound
concerns about the incorporation of our labour into an enterprise that
profits from the production of the means of killing.
Until such a time as our concerns are properly addressed (by the
disengagement of Reed Elsevier from the organisation of arms fairs), we
will not submit entries to the IEHG that we had agreed to, withdraw
entries that we have already submitted, and refuse to accept commissions
to write new ones. If the IEHG reaches completion, this boycott will
extend to a refusal to use it in teaching. We call on our colleagues in
other institutions to do the same, and urge those working in an
editorial capacity on the IEHG to reconsider their involvement.
Acknowledging the complexity of the multiple, and often murky,
intersections between academia and the military under neoliberalism,
this symbolic action initially only targets the high-profile IEHG.
Whilst sympathetic to the call for a blanket boycott of all Elsevier
journals, we recognise that it would have differential impacts both on
academics at different career stages, and those working in different
(sub)disciplines. Therefore we will not, at this stage, boycott
publishing in and refereeing for other Elsevier publications. However,
we reserve the right to revisit this decision in light of Reed
Elsevier's response.
Yours Sincerely,
Professor Alastair Bonnett*
Professor Andrew Gillespie
Dr Alex Jeffrey
Professor Nina Laurie*
Dr Nick Megoran*
Dr Anoop Nayak*
(The starred names are those who have already been contracted to write
one or more entries for the encyclopaedia; the remaining names are
colleagues who will refuse to accept invitations if approached).
-
Dr Nick Megoran,
Lecturer in Human Geography,
School of Geography, Politics and Sociology,
GPS Office,
5th Floor, Claremont Tower.
Newcastle University,
Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, England.
Tel: +44 191 222 6450
Email: [log in to unmask] Website: www.megoran.org
"In our time of wars, of national self-conceit, of national jealousies
and hatreds ably nourished by people who pursue their own egotistic,
personal or class interests, geography must be - in so far as the school
may do anything to counterbalance hostile influences - a means of
dissipating these prejudices and of creating other feelings more worthy
of humanity." Peter Kropotkin, 'What geography ought to be', 1885.
|