the global south

Author(s): nour dados and raewyn connell

Source: Contexts, Vol. 11, No. 1, taking on the issues (WINTER 2012), pp. 12-13
Published by: Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of the American Sociological Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41960738
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 the global south
by nour dados and raewyn connell

The phrase "Global South" refers
broadly to the regions of Latin America,
Asia, Africa, and Oceania. It is one of a
family of terms, including "Third World"
and "Periphery," that denote regions
outside Europe and North America,
mostly (though not all) low-income
and often politically or culturally mar-
ginalized. The use of the phrase Global
South marks a shift from a central focus
on development or cultural difference
toward an emphasis on geopolitical rela-
tions of power.
From its earliest days, sociology had
concepts for describing global differ-
ence. From Auguste Comte and Herbert
Spencer to Emile Durkheim and Lester
Frank Ward, sociologists discussed social
progress by drawing broad distinctions
indigenous people of Tierra del Fuego, the world trade system. This struggle
and the Aboriginal people of Australia. moved the terms "North" and "South"
It is no accident that these were three of into the international political lexicon.
the southernmost populations known Developing countries (mainly former col-
to European colonizers; they were lit- onies), began to articulate the idea of a
erally the most distant. Thus European Global South whose interests conflicted
colonial expansion provided the histori- with those of the industrialized powers,
cal context that underpins the way we both capitalist and communist- cutting
use these terms now. across Cold War divisions.
The idea of the South was placed In northern sociology, Immanuel
firmly on the table by the famous Ital- Wallerstein forged a "world-system
ian Marxist Antonio Gramsci whose approach" that made the concepts
essay "The Southern Question" began
"core" and "periphery" alternatives to
with the idea that southern Italy had, inthe "modern/traditional" binary. Simi-
lar ideas circulated in Marxist econom-
effect, been colonized by capitalists from
ics, while "post-colonial" perspectives
northern Italy. Gramsci explored the dif-
ficulties southern peasants and northern
were emerging in literary and cultural
workers faced in forging an alliance with
studies, from Edward Said, Gayatri Spi-
one another. In Italian social thought, vak and others.

By the 1990s these concepts were

reinforced by "intersectional" per-
The use of the phrase "Global South" marksspectives
a in northern sociology, espe-
cially those of African American and
shift from a focus on development or cultural
Chicana/o scholars. Traces of colonial-

difference toward an emphasis on geopolitical

ism were made visible within the society
power relations.
between "advanced" and "primitive"
institutions and societies.
They located the primitive both in
the past, and in the colonized world
of their own day. From the fifteenth
to the nineteenth century, empire and
colonization had brought a flood of
information about other societies to the
intellectuals of Europe and North Amer-
ica. The societies identified in early soci-
ological texts as the most primitive were
the San people of Southern Africa, the
of the North. Gloria Anzaldúa's Border-
lands/La Frontera was particularly influ-
ential in the U.S.
most later treatments of the "North- With the Cold War winding down,
South differential" addressed only varia- the terms "Global North" and "Global
tions in economic development. But South" spread in academic fields like
the connection with colonialism was international relations, political science,
revived in another forum: development and development studies. The North-
economics. In the 1950s and 1960s, South language provided an alternative
the Argentine economist Raúl Prebisch to the concept of "globalization," con-
popularized the distinction between testing the belief in a growing homog-
"core" and "periphery" of the world enization of cultures and societies.
economy. With other critics of orthodox The idea of a powerful Global
economics, Prebisch analyzed underde- North and a resistant Global South
velopment and struggled for reform of was promoted by the Zapatista revolt

12 contexts.org

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The world perspective from the Global South.

in Mexico, the "African Renaissance," of the South as a region of distinctive large inequalities in living standards, life
and the World Social Forum launched intellectual production is articulated in expectancy, and access to resources are
in Brazil. Industrial growth in Asia, and Boaventura de Sousa Santos' Conocer maintained.

the emerging BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, desde el Sur and Raewyn Connell's
China) group in world politics, compli-
cated the North-South picture. But The term Global South functions as more than a
other changes in the global economy,
especially the huge growth of finance metaphor for underdevelopment.
capital centered in New York, London,
Frankfurt and Tokyo, reinforced the Southern Theory; offering new agendas Nour Dados and Raewyn Connell are in the fac-

economic advantage of the old imper- for sociology. ulty of education and social work at the University
ial centers. North-South terminology, then, like of Sydney, Australia. Dados studies space and power

Recently, the North-South concept core-periphery, arose from an allegorical in post-colonial Beirut, and Connell is the author of

has acquired increased sophistication. application of categories to name pat- Confronting Equality.

Intellectual movements, such as subal- terns of wealth, privilege, and develop-

tern studies from India have emphasized ment across broad regions. The term
the history of resistance to empire. Peru- Global South functions as more than a
vian sociologist Aníbal Quijano's notion metaphor for underdevelopment. It ref-
of the "coloniality of power" emphas- erences an entire history of colonialism,
izes the legacy of colonialism in con- neo-imperialism, and differential eco-
temporary culture and politics. The idea nomic and social change through which

Contexts, Vol. 1 1, No. 1, pp. 12-13. ISSN 1536-5042, electronic ISSN 1537-6052. © 2012 American
Sociological Association, http://contexts.sagepub.com. DO1 10.1 177/1536504212436479 WINTER 2012 Contexts 13

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