Southern Perspectives website

clip_image002

In many ways, it is shaping to be a grim year. But as the Indian saying goes, ‘The season of failure is the best time for sowing the seeds of success.’ For once, we have a US President whose southern roots go beyond the Mississippi and extend to Hawaii, Indonesia and Kenya. It seems a good time for fresh look at the world.

Australia is often the odd country out in the South. Though located at the bottom of the world, its culture is still largely beholden to Northern interests. However, there is a growing number attempting to develop more independent ways of thinking. There are many conversations yet to be had with countries that have shared paths of colonisation and face similar challenges of distance.

A platform has been developed by a group of scholars to reflect the growing interest in south-south dialogue of ideas. It profiles individuals and organisations that explore a southern perspective on a broad range of disciplines, including creative arts, humanities, professions, social and physical sciences.

It is designed particularly to reflect on the position of Australia and New Zealand in the emerging south-south vectors of knowledge. At the same time, the site should be useful to those coming from all directions— north, south, east and west—who are interested in forms of knowledge that question hegemonic modes of understanding.

This year, the site will feature an ‘amnesty of ideas’—concepts that emerge outside Western centres yet have bearing on mainstream disciplines, including sociology, law, history, architecture and physical sciences. This is an exploratory phase that will help critically examine what appear to be outlying concepts and practices. This will help ground future activities, including a conference.

southernperspectives.net also contains information about related south-south activities:

  • Conferences
  • Publications
  • Online texts
  • Journals
  • Academic Centres
  • Organisations

To stay in touch with these developments, you can:

To contribute to the site, you can:

  • Leave a comment to posts (or a general comment about the overall direction here)
  • Submit posts about relevant ideas, projects, publications or events

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *