VolkswagenStiftungSymposiumHerrenhausenSchloss|HannoverJune,29–July1st,2020

CallforPapers–YoungResearchers

InternationalSymposiumNorthandSouthFormsofInequalitywithinInternationalPoliticsofScientificProductionThedebatearoundtheNorth-Southdivideaccumulatesasignificantamountofliteraturesincethelate 1960s. As a concept addressing spatial representations of inequality, the South is assumedlyrelevant for analyzing issues affecting peripheral societies (taken as a derivative effect of theexpansionofcolonialismandcapitalism),butnothavingmuchtosayonissuesconsideredrelevantinsocietieslabeledas‘Northern’.Can the concept of the South speak to other aspects of social life outside the framework ofdevelopment disparities - as those concerning the constitution of the self, for instance? As forknowledge production, the South has been suitable to stress the importance of diversity inHumanities, but with presumably less resonance in Natural/Pure Sciences. Can the term helpchallengethebasicNaturalSciencesversusHumanitiesslit,referringtoscienceandsocietiesatlarge?ThesymposiumfocusesontheheuristicpotentialoftheSouthtocriticallyobservehowhegemonicagendasinscienceandfundingprioritiesimpactthelackofdiversityinknowledgeasawhole-takenfrom the importance of theoretical diversity, intellectual creativity, gender balance, the role oflanguage,thevarietyofontologicalbeingsandformsofconviviality,andothers,impactingthepresentworld.HowtoapplyWeinviteapplicantstosendasinglepdffilecontaining

a) anabstractof350words(max)and5keywords;b) ashortbio-noteof150words(max);c) indicatingthepanelnumberforwhichyouapply;

Deadline:July15,2019Tonorth-and-south@uni-koeln.deandtocontact@sephis.orgTravelexpensesandaccommodationwillbeprovidedfortheselectedparticipantsWeencourageapplicantsfromaroundtheworldandfromallBranchesofScienceProf.Dr.BarbaraPotthast(UniversituofCologne),Prof.Dr.ClaudioPinheiro(RiodeJaneiroUniversity,Sephis,GSSC,NMU)Dr.SinahKloß(UniversityofCologne)

PANEL1|North-SouthDivideandtheDilemmasofKnowledgeProduction

ThecurrentmodelforglobalsciencesreiteratesaNorth-Southunequaldivide,wherethe"universal"is constructed through translation and adaptation of Northern/hegemonic agendas toSouthern/peripheral scientific environments. This movement produces and reproduces academicdependencyincloseassociationwiththeconsolidationofdurableinequalities,hinderinghorizonsofscientific imagination and affecting intellectual creativity, consolidating a regime of inequalities(Costa,2011)intheproductionandcirculationofscientificknowledge.Thispanelplanstodebatekeyaspectsthatinfluenceinternationalknowledgeproductionsustainingdurableglobalinequalities,withimplicationsultimatelyaffectingscienceproductionatlarge.

PANEL2|Language,TranslationandCirculationofScience

ThedominanceofEnglishandAnglophoneculturalandliteraryproductsreproducesinequalitiesandasymmetries in global networks of power and knowledge production. Anglophone academicdiscourses are often regarded as ‘the latest’ and most ‘up-to-date’, hence ‘leading’ in globalknowledgeproduction,withotherscholarssupposedly‘followingbehind’.Languageplaysasignificantroleinthemaintenanceofthisepistemological inequality,withStandardEnglishcurrentlyclaimingthe dominant position. This panel engages with aspects of language and writing such asmultilingualism,translationstrategies,andinclusivescholarship.Participantsanalyzethemincontexttoacademicdependencyandimperialism,gate-keepingpractices,anddiscussmeanstocreatemorebalancedstructuresofacademicknowledgeproduction.

PANEL3|ReligionStudiesandtheDe-secularizationofSocialSciences

Societiesassumedlysecularized(i.e.wealthysocieties)andthetheoriesgeneratedthere,understoodreligionasanautonomoussphereorpersonaldimension.Conversely,intheGlobalSouth,religioniseithermistakenlyunderstoodasbeingeverywhere(“everythingisreligion”,asDavidMartinstated)and/or is consideredas a symptomofpre-modernity, a failureofmodern institutions (the churchincluded)or,atbest,asafeatureof“different/alternative”modernity.Thissessionaimstoconnectand compare empirical and theoretical discussions focused on the epistemological constraints ofdebatingreligionandsecularizationasaresourcetoreinforcetheNorth-Southdivide.ThispanelmayhighlighttheadvantagesofcomparativeresearchbetweencontextsthatpresentsimilaritybringingresearchesfromGlobalSouthexperiences;simultaneouslytheconnectionandconfrontationoftheiridiosyncraticexperiencesmayofferinterestingpathwaystorethinkingmainstreamtheoriesofreligionandthescientificassumptionsofHumanities.

PANEL4|OntologicalDiversityandPoliticsofConviviality

South,asusedintheWestfrom1970son,reflectsthislongstandingtraditionofimaginingandmakinggeographiesofprosperityandlackthereof,operativeinthedevelopmentaldebatefromtheendofWorldWarIIonwards-addressedthroughapproacheslikeareastudies(vanSchendel,2002;Thomas&Slocum,2003;Miyoshi&Harootuniam,2002),“culture-areas”(Wissler,1927;Newman,1971)or“socio-culturalarea”(Mintz,1971).Differentfromareaofstudies,thegeographyofSouth includesmoralqualities.Thisunderstandinghelpsaddressinganotheraspect,equallyunderstoodasheirsofcolonialisminthepostcolonialcondition:theontologicaldimension.Itreferredtotheassociationof

backwardnesstoanontologicalconditionof“primitivesocieties”-bythenhelpingnotonlytojustifycolonialismasawaytopromotesocialdevelopmentthroughtrusteeship(tutelage)ofnativegroups-butalsotheorganizingasymmetriesofsocietiesandbeings.Theideaofontologicalgeographies,canalsoberevealedbyrevisitingintellectualsofdecolonization,likeFrantzFanon,whoemphasizedthattheexperienceofcolonialismhelpedtosubsumeother formsof selfand,at thesametime, forgeotherontologicalconditions,throughviolenceandmimesistothemetropolisandtotheconqueror.Under thesecircumstances,Southrelates tomoralgeographiesandtoontologicalconditions.ThispaneldiscussesifSouthcanbeausefultoolforreviewingcomprehensionsofontologicalgeographies,bothaffectedornotbycolonialismandcapitalism,butdisassociatedtoinequalityasamoralvalue.

PANEL5|Gender,PoliticsofEthnicityandIntersectionality

Sincethe1990s,postcolonialtheoryhasstressedtheimportanceofgenderrelationsincolonialpowerstructures.Conquestsandwarfare,especiallyinculturallyandethnicallydiversesettings,alwayscarrywith them an important gender dimension. In colonial settings, norms of gender and family areimportantmarkers of “civilization” and “barbarism” or “backwardness” and “modernity”. GenderrelationsintheGlobalSouthwereandaregenerallyconsideredtraditionalandunequal,and,hence,mustbechangedinordertomodernizesocietiesandeconomies(Dhawan,2009).WithinthesocietiesoftheGlobalSouth,nationalistprojectsandanti-westernpoliticsheavilydrawongenderrelations(Chatterjee,1999).Methodologically, thecritiqueofWesterndominance inknowledgeproductionandtheconceptofintersectionalityofseveralcategories,mainlyethnicity,religion,classandgender,are one of the main contributions of Southern feminist theory to social sciences, althoughasymmetriespersist.Mainquestions in this panelwill be the relevanceof gender relations in theformation of the concept of South (and North), but also in the processes of overcoming thedichotomiesand inequalities inherent to the concept (Lachenmann,2001;MarchandundRunyan,2000).

PANEL6|PoliticsofGeographicalImaginationandResearchFunding

The definition of areas of studies, consolidated after WW II, led to the study of purportedlyhomogeneous, self-contained units. This process of developing new forms of compartmentalizingknowledgeaboutsocietiesotherthanNorth-Atlanticoneshadconsequencesnotonlyforhowthispigeonholedworldwasapproachedbutalsoforwhostudiedandwhofinancedtheresearchonthisnew map of global subdivisions (Parmar 2012). Area studies helped consolidate specialized andspatializedacademiccommunitiesthatexistedasself-containeddominions(vanSchendel2002).InthecaseofU.S.academia,areastudiesbroughtcompetitionforrenownandresearchfunding,andraised intellectual borders based on a geographical regionalization of the world. This processcontributed to a lack of communication between different specialists in area studies and to thecreationofborders,ritualsandnativecategoriesusedtodefinethesesubdivisions,whichcametoformacademicfiefdoms.Thispanelseekstoexaminetheconsequencesofplace-imaginingtosciencefunding and to discuss the relevance of the South to produce linkages of intelligibility between(peripheral)areasofstudy-i.e.Asia,AfricaandLatinAmerica-normallyaffectedbystructurallackofdialogue,whatredeemstheirimpacttoSocialTheoryatlarge.