scholarly journals Unequal Ideas: Reflections on Designing Politics, an Urban Ideas Competition in Rio de Janeiro

Design Issues ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 52-60
Author(s):  
Adam Kaasa
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Rio De Janeiro ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Global South ◽  
Public Scholarship ◽  
The Social ◽  
Global North ◽  
Continuous Presence

This article initiates a discussion about the unequal geography of the labor that challenges institutions and processes of public scholarship in design. The comparison between the urban competitions in New York, London, and Rio de Janeiro demonstrates that it was only in the Global South that challenges to the technology of the competition were raised. These challenges were based on issues of power imbalances between institutions both within and between the Global North and Global South, and around questions of the social inequalities embedded in the structures of the competition itself (the submissions, the jury, the exhibition). Through this analysis, the article suggests that the burden of labor for decolonizing rests on those already oppressed by systems embedded in the continuous presence of colonialism.

Playful mobilities in the Global South: A study of Pokémon Go play in Rio de Janeiro and Nairobi

2021 ◽  
pp. 146144482110164
Author(s):  
Adriana de Souza e Silva ◽  
Ragan Glover-Rijkse ◽  
Anne Njathi ◽  
Daniela de Cunto Bueno
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Rio De Janeiro ◽  
Global South ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
Urban Mobility ◽  
Ordinary Life ◽  
Perceptions Of Risk ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Pokémon Go

Pokémon Go is the most popular location-based game worldwide. As a location-based game, Pokémon Go’s gameplay is connected to networked urban mobility. However, urban mobility differs significantly around the world. Large metropoles in South America and Africa, for example, experience ingrained social, cultural, and economic inequalities. With this in mind, we interviewed Pokémon Go players in two Global South cities, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and Nairobi (Kenya), to understand how players navigate urban spaces not only based on gameplay but with broader concerns for safety. Our findings reveal that players negotiate their urban mobilities based on perceptions of risk and safety, choosing how to move around and avoiding areas known for violence and theft. These findings are relevant for understanding the social and political aspects of networked urban spaces as well as for investigating games as venues through which we can understand ordinary life, racial, gender, and socioeconomic inequalities.

Transnarodowa kwestia społeczna. Migracje i nierówności społeczne

2021 ◽  
pp. 21-40
Author(s):  
Thomas Faist
Keyword(s):  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Social Question ◽  
The Public ◽  
Ecological Aspects ◽  
The Social ◽  
Global North ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Political Economic

The social question is back. Yet today’s social question is not primarily between labour and capital, as it was in the nineteenth century and throughout much of the twentieth. The contemporary social question is located at the interstices between the global South and the global North. It finds its expression in movements of people, seeking a better life or fleeing unsustainable social, political, economic, and ecological conditions. It is transnationalized because migrants and their significant others entertain ties across the borders of national states in transnational social spaces; because of the cross-border diffusion of norms; and because there are implications of migration for social inequalities within national states. The first section discusses the structure of social inequalities in migration and the politics around it. It starts, first, by elaborating upon the commonalities and differences of the social question in the 19th and 21st centuries and then, second, asks whether the increasing relevance of location compared to class for income and life chances has replaced voice as a main response by exit. This is followed, third, by an elaboration of the nexus between social inequalities and migration, i.e. migration being both an antecedent and a consequence of social inequalities. Fourth, the focus moves to the main changes in migration control, its externalization from border control to remote control. This is followed, fifth, by a consideration of the other side of the coin, internalization processes in countries of destination and origin, driven by processes such as marketization and securitization of migration. The second section then moves on to sketch one of the main challenges, the need to include ecological aspects into the discussion of the social question. The analysis concludes with reflections on the shifting form of the transnationalized social question. Finally, the outlook discusses the role of social scientists in discussing the transnationalized social question in the public sphere.

scholarly journals Housing systems in the Global South: The relevance of the ‘social housing’ approach in meeting housing needs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alireza Vaziri Zadeh ◽  
Frank Moulaert ◽  
Stuart Cameron
Keyword(s):  
Affordable Housing ◽  
Social Housing ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
Global South ◽  
Housing Systems ◽  
The Social ◽  
Housing Rights ◽  
Global North ◽  
Housing Needs

This paper addresses the problem of accessing decent and affordable housing in the Global South, where the housing need is, in general, more problematic than in the Global North. The paper first identifies five distinctive characteristics of housing systems in the Global South as compared to those in the Global North. These include: (a) the diverse facets of global financialization; (b) the role of the developmentalist state; (c) the importance of informality; (d) the decisive role of the family; and (e) the rudimentary welfare systems. Given these features, the paper reflects on the concept and practices of social housing, particularly their appropriateness to deal with the housing problem in the Global South. The paper then addresses the question of whether the social housing approach is relevant for solving the contemporary housing needs in the Global South. It argues that social housing, redefined to better encompass the distinctive characteristics of housing systems in the Global South, is indeed a useful policy approach and can play a decisive role in satisfying unmet housing needs. Such an approach needs to take into account the great role of informality and family support systems and develop appropriate funding instruments and modes of institutionalization protecting housing rights and the quality of life.

Career Development Theories from the Global South

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo Afonso Ribeiro
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Career Development ◽  
Global South ◽  
Intercultural Dialogue ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
The North ◽  
The Social ◽  
Global North

The career development field has produced theories from the Global North that have been imported and applied in the Global South countries. These theories were developed in different socioeconomic and cultural contexts than those of the Global South, which can generally be characterized by vulnerability and instability. Theories and practices must be contextualized if they are to be of assistance to the users of career development services. This chapter has two aims. First, by means of an intercultural dialogue proposal, it discusses the need to contextualize theories to assist people with their career issues and foster social justice. Second, it presents career theories and practices produced in the Global South (Latin America, Africa, and developing countries of Asia) and discusses their potential as an alternative to expand the mainstream career development theories from the North. Such theories can be understood as a Southern contribution to the social justice agenda.

Political consumerism: A comparative analysis of established and developing democracies

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birte Gundelach
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Global South ◽  
Political Consumerism ◽  
Developing Democracies ◽  
Political Transformations ◽  
Frequent Form ◽  
The Social ◽  
Industrialized Democracies ◽  
Political Distrust ◽  
Global North

Research on political consumerism has focused predominantly on highly developed democracies. This focus has led to theoretical explanations closely connected to the social and political transformations of advanced industrialized democracies. In times of globalization and individualization, political consumerism is assumed to originate in political distrust stemming from perceived governance gaps. Recently, political consumerism has become a more frequent form of political participation in the Global South and a research topic attracting increased attention. The inclusion of the Global South requires a re-evaluation of political distrust as a general stimulus for political consumerism because of its conceptual links to socio-economic contexts in the Global North. This article provides such a re-evaluation and thereby advances the comparative analysis of political distrust as an important impetus of political consumerism in established as well as developing democracies.

scholarly journals The BRICS Countries Grouping: Promise of a New Thematic and Methodological Research Focus in the Social Sciences and the Humanities

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 3-13
Author(s):  
Charl Wolhuter ◽  
Oxana Chigisheva
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Global South ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
Brics Countries ◽  
The Social ◽  
Global North ◽  
Science Community

The aim of this research, as part of this Special Issue on the thematic and epistemological foci of social science and humanities research emanating in the BRICS countries, is to investigate and to assess the value of such research— firstly, for the BRICS countries mutually, then for the rest of the Global South as well as for the global humanities and social science community at large. The rationale of this research is that the BRICS countries have come to assume a growing gravitas in the world, not only on strength of geography, demography and economy; but also because of the diversity contained in each of these BRICS countries. These diversities offer opportunities to learn a lot from each other, in addition the rest of the gamut of countries in the Global South as well as the nations of the Global North can benefit much from learning from the experience of the BRICS countries. The research commences with a survey of the most compelling societal trends shaping the 21st Century world, which will form the parameters of the context in which scholarship in the social sciences and humanities are destined to be conducted. The state of scholarship in the humanities and the social sciences and the imperatives of context will be the next topic under discussion. Within this landscape, the potential role of research on BRICS soil is then turned to. The BRICS countries are surveyed, then a conclusion is ventured as to their potential as a fountainhead for social sciences and humanities research.

scholarly journals Policing and Preventing Gender Violence in the Global South

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. i-ii
Author(s):  
Camilla Magalhães Gomes ◽  
Carmen Hein Campos ◽  
Melissa Bull ◽  
Kerry Carrington
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Global South ◽  
Gender Violence ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
University Of Technology ◽  
The Social ◽  
International Collaborations ◽  
Island Communities ◽  
Global North ◽  
Cross Fertilization

This special issue is the product of a workshop on innovations in policing and preventing gender violence in the Global South, hosted by Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Centre for Justice 3-4 December 2019. The event was attended by scholars from Brazil, Pacific Island communities, Bangladesh, Argentina, and several Australian jurisdictions. Hence the articles in this special issue reflect the diverse nationalities present at the event. A central aim of the workshop realised in this special issue is the stimulation of innovation in understanding the policing and prevention of gender violence through novel international collaborations and cross-fertilization. It reverses the assumptions that underpin the epistemic injustice of the social sciences, that innovations generally flow only from the Global North to the Global South. This special issue shows that it can be the other way round.

Introduction

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Thomas Faist
Keyword(s):  
Social Protection ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
General Question ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Social Question ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Social ◽  
Political Struggles ◽  
Global North

The introduction outlines the key questions, the core of the argument, and the outline of the book. The contemporary social question is not only between labour and capital within national states. It is located at the interstices between the global South and the global North and also revolves around cultural heterogeneities. The core question is: how is cross-border migration constituted as the social question of our times? This general question comprises several specific areas of enquiry: how has migration changed since the nineteenth century? What kinds of social inequalities are created in the migratory process and how? How does social protection across borders ameliorate and reproduce inequalities? What are the consequences for political struggles over access to (social) rights and membership? How is the transnationalized social question to be seen in light of environmental destruction? What is the public role of social scientists in understanding the transnationalized social question? The analysis seeks to uncover the social mechanisms driving the (re)production of social inequalities.

Cultural Sociology and Civil Society in a World of Flows: Recapturing Ambiguity, Hybridity, and the Political

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianpaolo Baiocchi
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Cultural Sociology ◽  
Global South ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Location ◽  
The Social ◽  
Liberal Societies ◽  
Global North

This article “provincializes” cultural sociology and more specifically, the cultural sociology of politics and civil society. It first traces the origins of what is distinctive about the cultural sociology of civil society before discussing its three unspoken assumptions: the assumption of minimal stateness in the lives and worlds of social movements and civil society, the relation between civil and civilized, and the notion that the social location of the political in nonliberal societies might be different than in established liberal societies. It then explains how loosening these assumptions might make cultural sociology travel “better” and cites examples referring to civil society in places in the Global South. Finally, it examines some of the implications of these arguments for the Global North.

scholarly journals Hvem vil vi være? ”Africa for Norway” og den humanitære relation

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (119) ◽  
pp. 35-54
Author(s):  
Devika Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Dynamics ◽  
Global South ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
The Social ◽  
Common Notion ◽  
Global North ◽  
The Common ◽  
Clean Break ◽  
Point Of Departure

In this article I examine a recurrent critique of humanitarianism and humanitarian phenomena, a critique centering on the presumably anti-political and emotionally complacent nature of such phenomena. But from which position, I ask, does it make sense to critique the humanitarian culture in which we live. In discussing these issues, I take as my point of departure the satirical campaign video Radi-Aid by the fictitious humanitarian NGO, Africa for Norway. This spoof campaign parodies humanitarian aesthetics, humanitarian emotions, as well as the stereotyping typically involved in humanitarian campaigns. Yet, for all its satirizing it does not make a clean break with the very humanitarian culture whose negative aspects it aims to expose. The criticality of the Africa for Norway initiative is thus clearly constrained, but does this imply that the satire is doomed to sheer complicity with the social dynamics it questions? My interest is these issues stems from dissatisfaction with the common notion that a relevant critique of humanitarian relations between the global North and the global South must be a critique of macro level political economy.

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