This project has one very simple goal (and a number of much more complex ones) - to help social theorists from around the globe engage in dialogue and collaborative ventures regarding their work and our broader efforts to theorise the state of the world today.
The promise of globalisation and the creation of the Internet was that a flattening of the world would occur, allowing everyone around the world instantaneous access to ideas and exchanges across geographic borders and oceans, and an equality of those ideas. This, however, is not the case; while those in the global North have this kind of access, many in the South are left without the ability to access the ideas of others, either in the South or the North, or to disseminate their ideas, leaving a kind of "epistemic hegemony" of the North/West in place. As well, those of us in the North who want to understand the ideas of scholars in the South are unable to do so, by virtue of language or the lack of material resources available to scholars in the South to get their work published or for publishers to distribute works more than regionally.
We believe that the works of scholars in the global South need a larger audience, have much to teach theorists in the North, and that their broader distribution can serve to break down the epistemic hegemony of the North.
We are in the process of building a web portal that we hope will give theorists trained in or working outside of North America and Western Europe (the Global South) a space to have their works web-published, read, and engaged with by other theorists from around the globe, as well as a space to engage in broader discussions and pursue collaborative projects.
As well, we are also in the process of building what we call "neighbourhood theory networks" - regional forums in which scholars who may not know one another's work well can come together and engage in dialogue and intellectual exchange on an annual basis. In February 2011, we will be having our second meeting of the Asian Social Theory Forum in Bangalore, India, following on the heels of our successful first meeting in Bangkok in December 2009. We are also looking to work with local coordinators in Central America, South America, North Africa and the Middle East, and East, West, and Southern Africa to establish neighbourhood theory networks in those areas. (If you are interested in participating in this project as a regional coordinator, please contact me at globalsocialthought [at] gmail [dot] com.
The co-coordinators of this project are:
-- Prof Scott Schaffer (PhD, York U, Canada), Associate Professor of Sociology at The University of Western Ontario
-- Prof Ananta Kumar Giri (PhD, Johns Hopkins), Associate Professor, Madras Institute of Development Studies, India
-- Prof Andrew Smith (PhD, Glasgow), Senior Lecture, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Applied Social Sciences, The University of Glasgow
-- Prof John Clammer, Professor of Sociology and Asian Studies, United Nations University, Tokyo.
Regional coordinators in Central America, South America, North Africa and the Middle East, and East, West, and Southern Africa are also sought.
In future posts, we will lay out the theoretical foundations of the project, as well as the particulars of what the project will be doing. If you are interested in participating in it, whether as a regional coordinator, a contributor to our larger discussions, or a supportive well-wisher, please contact us. We would be happy to hear from you.
