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The news out of Mississippi this week was bad. I have worked with Garrett for years, through editing his first book and working on books to prison initiatives more broadly—I support him unreservedly. But there’s more to say— https://www.mississippifreepress.org/7518/um-fires-history-professor-who-criticizes-powerful-racist-donors-and-carceral-state/
I wrote a brief statement on the UNC Press blog signaling my support for Garrett personally, but more importantly, UNC Press made Garrett’s ebook freely available, so that people who knew nothing about him before this event can engage his work. https://uncpressblog.com/2020/12/17/in-support-of-garrett-felber-and-scholar-activists-everywhere/
Garrett is not the only person confronting academia’s dark side. (His is not even the only dubious departure at Mississippi *this week*) Scholars and activists continue their work in uncertainty, at risk of political retaliation. https://twitter.com/KieseLaymon/status/1339268266850717697
Publishers are generally behind-the-scenes partners in these endeavors. But a year ago, when Dr. Lorgia García Peña was denied tenure at Harvard, Duke University Press opened up access to her work. https://twitter.com/DukePress/status/1206581018536431616?s=20
This seems simple enough as a tactic for bringing the work to a wider audience – but there's an important structural shift at work. It realigns the expectations, so that it is a publisher's responsibility to bring their tools to bear when an author faces retaliation.
Support Garrett Felber. But keep reading, too. Take a cue from the way that the study of prison history is inseparable from the work of prison education and activism in the here and now. Study and struggle, bound up together. https://uncpressblog.com/2020/12/17/in-support-of-garrett-felber-and-scholar-activists-everywhere/
