Dear All,

Details of a workshop below. The timetable is quite tight to decide 
(sorry!). Do drop me a line if you have any questions, and feel free to 
circulate this on to potentially interested colleagues.

Emma Mawdsley



Researching South-South Development Cooperation: Critical reflections on 
epistemological and methodological challenges


We invite expressions of interest in attending the following conference, 
which will be held at the University of Cambridge, 3-4 April 2017.


Summary


The 'rise of the South' over the last 10-15 years has led to tectonic 
shifts in global development ideas, practices and actors. As growing 
providers of development assistance, states like Brazil, China, India, 
Indonesia, Korea, Mexico, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, and a 
variety of non-state development organisations and movements, are 
becoming increasingly active and influential in bilateral, regional and 
international cooperation. This successful projection of material, 
ideational and ontological power has enabled Southern and Arab 
development partners to at least partially challenge long-standing 
'North-South' development hegemonies.

While research is accelerating around many aspects of this rapidly 
growing and complex field, there has been limited space for reflection 
on the epistemological and methodological challenges posed by research 
in and with Southern development partners. Yet our own experiences, and 
discussions with differently positioned researchers in different sites, 
reveal new and emerging questions of identity, power and positionality 
for researchers and their partners and respondents; as well as 
unfamiliar and challenging conceptual frameworks for 'development'. 
Existing critical reflection on 'mainstream' international development 
ideas, practices and research from feminist, postcolonial and critical 
race theory has powerfully challenged the hierarchies and assumptions 
associated with the historically dominant North-South axis, while also 
providing paradigm-shifting innovations in methodologies and ethics in 
research praxis. To what extent are such critical reflections relevant 
to explore these new actors, hierarchies and identities emerging and 
deepening in and around South-South Cooperation?

This conference is the first of its kind in its specific focus on the 
epistemological and related methodological challenges associated with 
researching South-South development cooperation. The conference will 
invite researchers on SSDC - from graduates and early career scholars to 
leading figures in the field - to reflect critically on the changing 
politics of knowledge and knowledge production that these actors and 
trends present. We are particularly keen to include Southern-based 
researchers, funding permitting. The conference will be 
multidisciplinary in character, with researchers invited from 
Anthropology, Cultural Studies, Development Studies, Feminist Studies, 
International Relations, Media Studies and Political Studies

Convenors

Dr Elsje Fourie, Department of Technology and Society Studies, 
University of Maastricht, The Netherlands
Dr Emma Mawdsley, Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, UK
Dr Wiebe Nauta, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of 
Maastricht, The Netherlands

Logistics 

Places are limited, and we encourage you to apply immediately if you 
would like to attend. We are not seeking formal papers/abstracts, but 
1-200 lines on your experiences in researching and conceptualising 
South-South Cooperation, and any ideas and issues for discussion are 
requested.

The deadline for applications is MONDAY 16TH JANUARY 2017. Confirmation 
of attendance will be posted shortly afterwards.

The conference fee will be £50 (waged) and £25 (unwaged/student).

If you have any questions, please do feel free to email Emma Mawdsley on 
[log in to unmask]

Online info at: http://www.crassh.cam.ac.uk/events/26939

Sponsors

Supported by the Centre for Research in the Arts, Humanities and Social 
Sciences (CRASSH); Newnham College, Cambridge; The Faculty of Arts & 
Social Sciences, Maastricht; The Department of Philosophy, Maastricht; 
The Globalisation, Transnationalism and Development (GTD) Research 
Programme, Maastricht; The Limburg University Fund, Maastricht.