The debate around the North-South divide accumulates a significant amount of literature since the late 1960s. South is a concept addressing spatial representations of inequality, relevant for analyzing issues affecting peripheral societies, but not having much to say on issues relevant to societies labeled as ‘Northern’.
Can the concept of the South speak to other aspects of social life outside the framework of development disparities - as those concerning the constitution of the self, for instance? As for knowledge production, the South has been suitable to stress the importance of diversity in Humanities, but with presumably less resonance in Natural/Pure Sciences. Can the term help challenge the basic Natural Sciences versus Humanities slit, referring to science and societies at large?
The symposium focuses on the heuristic potential of the South to critically observe how hegemonic agendas in science and funding priorities impact the lack of diversity in knowledge as a whole - taken from the importance of theoretical diversity, intellectual creativity, gender balance, the role of language, the variety of ontological beings and forms of conviviality, and others, impacting the present world.
How to apply
We invite applicants to send a single pdf file containing a) an abstract of 350 words (max) and 5 keywords; b) a short bio-note of 150 words (max); c) indicating the panel number for which you apply;
Deadline: July 15, 2019
To north-and-south@uni-koeln.de and to contact@sephis.org
Travel expenses and accommodation will be provided for the selected participants
We encourage applicants from around the world and from all Branches of Science The symposium is organized by Barbara Potthast (Cologne), Claudio Pinheiro (Rio de Janeiro) and Sinah Kloß (Cologne) and funded by the Volkswagen Stiftung.
(See full call for papers in attachment)