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I agree wholeheartedly Mark. This person has popped up from time to time causing friction but sadly not of the critical geography ilk. On another topic, I hear that the Dictionary of Human Geography is going to have a fifth edition since the last one in 2000. There's been some debate in Geoforum vol. 39 after Setten's article. I didn't necessarily wish to continue that debate but wondered if there were thoughts about concepts that might gain an entry in a future edition. For me 'livelihoods', 'participatory development', 'land reform', 'household food security', 'agrarian change' and 'social reproduction' might be worthy candidates. Each of those concepts have tussled and shifted in analysis on rural development in developing areas. Nick -----Original Message----- From: Mark Jackson <[log in to unmask]> To: [log in to unmask] Sent: Thu, 19 Feb 2009 8:56 Subject: Re: Antipode accountability A heads up regarding "John Jackson."? There is every reason to suspect that the person writing e-mails from various gmail accounts using the name "John Jackson" is hiding behind a pseudonym.? Several people at the University of Bristol and the University of Exeter, and beyond, have received repeated e-mails from accounts bearing the name.? It appears as though this person sees themselves as something of an agent provocateur(-euse).? The e-mails engage in deliberate and often offensive provocation and derision-perhaps even deliberate prevarication-with no discernible aim other than self-gratification.? This person, to mine and colleagues' eyes, does not deal honestly, openly and fairly in their communications, and we have taken simply to deleting e-mails bearing any semblance of "John Jackson." I realise that this will no doubt just stir the pot, but please don't waste any effort in engaging "John Jackson's" disingenuousness. Mark Oliver Belcher wrote: I can give you a couple of reasons. First, I was put off by the accusatory tone of the Ilan's concerns. Since I do not know Ilan, it was hard to tell whether there was an ulterior motive at work. ?Obviously, he is passionate about Antipode having some sort of accountability mechanism, but I ask, why resort to polemics in order to raise such an issue? ?So, the approach is a problem. Second, I wondered, why Antipode? ?Has Ilan gone through every journal in geography and the social sciences in order to check whether they have accountability procedures? ?I doubted it, which led me to wonder whether Ilan was resorting to moralizing the issue - Antipode claims to be radical, but they don't put their money where there mouth is by not having a grievance procedure. ?If this is merely the point Ilan is trying to make, it sounds more like petty grade school banter than a serious conversation. ?So, this is another problem: Ilan's moralizing invites his readers to resort to conjecture - Antipode *must* be doing something wrong, and why won't it implement his right. ? ? I'm still at a loss as to why Antipode needs any formal grievance procedure. ?Should it just have one because its radical and... it... just... should have it? ?This is a tautology. ?Frankly, I don't really care. ?Let me explain. ?I once had to contact the journal due to my name being out of order in a particular article posted on the website. ?Usually, such trifles wouldn't bother me, but I had to bring it up because I had just applied for several fellowships, and I didn't want any of the fellowship committees too look up the article online and see my name third when it should have been first (it is in alphabetical order) - obviously it would have looked like I was misleading the committees by claiming a false first authorship. ?So, I contacted the editors, told them the problem, and it was promptly fixed within 48 hours. ?Should I have had to go through a proper grievance procedure? ?Why the extra paper work, when a one or two-lined email did the trick? ?Its not like Antipode has a huge staff with an HR department. ? Again, all this led me at the time (though I haven't lost sleep over it) to wonder, what are the motives? ?Again, this is what I think Ilan invites his readers to do: be suspicious of somebody or some journal. ?Frankly, I'm tired of this form of surveillance society. ?Is it not equally radical for me just to trust Noel and Wendy? Oliver Belcher ? ? -- Oliver Christian Belcher PhD Student Department of Geography University of British Columbia Blog: meanswithoutend.blogspot.com "The hope that earthly horror does not possess the last word is, to be sure, a non-scientific wish." ?Max Horkheimer "No one likes armed missionaries." Maximilien Robespierre ________________________________________________________________________ AOL Email goes Mobile! You can now read your AOL Emails whilst on the move. Sign up for a free AOL Email account with unlimited storage today.