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Pro-colonialism paper: how did it get published?
We are writing to complain about the recent publication of the article "The case for colonialism" by Bruce Gilley in the journal Third World Quarterly ("Pro-colonialism paper outcry prompts author to 'request withdrawal'", www.timeshighereducation.com, 22 September). While we do not believe that the article should have been published in any academic journal, our complaint is in terms of the venue of publication and the editorial process behind its publication, and thus questions of academic rigour, accountability and transparency, as well as the content of the article itself.
While we find the argument and many of the claims made in the article unconvincing and offensive, we are particularly surprised to see such content published in this particular journal, without any real engagement on the part of the author with the critique of colonialism he rejects, or on the part of the journal with some form of introductory framing.
Although the journal's aims and scope state that it is "not averse to publishing provocative and exploratory articles", the article's argument in favour of colonialism contradicts the origins of the journal "as an intellectual venue for anti-colonial thought, to build ideas against colonialism", and its reputation as the "home of the Third World Prize, the Edward Said Prize; the home, in other words, of values against this essay" (as editorial board member Vijay Prashad has stated). Arguments against publishing this particular article in this particular journal are therefore not arguments for censorship or against academic freedom, as...