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
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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.
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