Bradley Garrett, whose work I’ve praised on this site before, was yesterday given a ‘conditional discharge’ in relation to charges of ‘conspiring to commit criminal damage’. I exchanged some emails with Brad yesterday so knew about it, but there were some limits on reporting. The story has just been released by The Guardian, so it’s now clearly okay to talk about this.
It’s not a complete victory, as he still has a fine to pay, and it does raise a lot of important questions about academic freedom, especially for ethnography. But it’s still good news – the worst possible outcome was imprisonment. One way to celebrate, and support Brad, is to read some of his work – perhaps beginning with picking up a copy of the excellent Explore Everything: Place-Hacking the City or visiting his stunning website.
[Update: a piece on the case and the wider implications at The Conversation.]
