Dominated by companies and university presses in the global North, the academic publishing market validates certain kinds of knowledge for profit, enhancing its authors’ careers and marginalising those who publish elsewhere. Authors from Global South institutions are underrepresented in such internationally ‘esteemed’ outlets, perpetuating hierarchies of knowledge, language, research topics and methodologies. The role of academic publishing in this two-tier system of global scholarship often goes unacknowledged in decolonial debates, affecting careers, conference attendance and North-South collaborations.
While transforming editorial board make-ups has been considered the ‘low hanging fruit’ of change, the diversification agenda might serve to reinforce existing models without challenging the centuries-old ownership of the publishing terrain. This event will address the potential for new models where non- Western languages and reputable Global South journals are internationally valued, and the types of work considered publishable is overturned. To achieve these decolonial ambitions, we ask whether the academic publishing sector only responds to the whims of university practices or can it be a force for change in itself?
Speakers:
Chair: Dr Ram Bhat, LSE Fellow, Department of Media and Communications.
Dr Godwin Siundu, University of Nairobi, Editor of the Journal of Eastern African Literary and Cultural Studies.
Dr Simidele Dosekun, Assistant Professor, LSE, editorial board member of Feminist Africa.
Professor Florence Piron is Full Professor in the Communication and Information Department at Université Laval and founder of a decolonised open-access publishing house.
Elizabeth Walker is Global Head of Portfolio for the Area Studies programme of journals published by Routledge, Taylor & Francis.
Source: https://www.lse.ac.uk/africa/Events/Public-Events/Publishing-decolonisation