Global South Perspectives: Towards decolonization, de-stratification and de-centralization of social knowledge production

International Workshop

18-19 April 2018

Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong

Keynote speakers:
Prof. Pei-Chia Lan, National Taiwan University
Dr. Tamari Kitossa, Brock University
Prof. Clarence Batan, University of Santo Tomas
Prof. Susanne Choi, Chinese University of Hong Kong

 

Plenary speakers:
Prof. Franz Waldenberger, German Institute for Japanese Studies, The Max Weber Foundation
Prof. Bandana Purkayastha, University of Connecticut

Call for papers

Social knowledge and knowledge production, on a global level, is heavily stratified. Most centers of social knowledge production, such as globally high-ranked universities,  ‘international’ academic journals, ‘competitive’ conferences and major funding bodies lie in Western countries. Producers  of social knowledge, especially those of greater influence and prestige, tend to be White, from Western societies, or had to undergo training at high-ranking Western universities and display in-depth familiarity with the academic and cultural grammars disseminated there.

Critics in the fields of Postcolonialism, Cultural Studies, Global South-driven Critical Theory, and Critical Race and Whiteness Studies have argued that this imbalance in global knowledge production, initiated by imperialism and colonialism and maintained and re-inscribed by vast contemporary global inequalities,is systematically distorting the knowledge that is produced. As Walter Mignolo and others have pointed out, knowledge production is carried out under Western master frames or ‘cosmologies,’ which center and mainstream Western theory and findings as the scholarly ‘core’ and the foundation that new knowledge must be built on, while provincializing and trivializing non-Western past and present knowledge production, and relegating non-Western territories to sites for data collection.

It has been argued that this stratification in knowledge production leads to Western and White lived experiences, perspectives, interests, and sensitivities being woven into social theory, which is subsequently not recognized as positioned, but mainstreamed and normalized as ‘general theory’. Conversely, theoretical and empirical work that is underpinned by, and focuses on, the lived experiences, perspectives and concerns of Non-White and Non-Western scholars, faces much stronger hurdles to recognition, and tends to be deselected, or assigned to the margins rather than the center of social knowledge: To a late session on the last day of a conference, to a roundtable, to a section on ‘regional’ issues in a journal, or to a job in ‘ethnic studies.’

Situated as we are in a globally interconnected system with highly unequal distribution of resources,  burdens, and life chances, this highly stratified knowledge production is problematic,  and can even be dangerous. It is problematic because the social sciences are not accumulating knowledge on ‘the global social,’ but instead they are producing an incomplete, distorted version of it. It is dangerous because policy decisions of strong local and global influence are in danger of being made following partial, one-sided or even biased knowledges. For example, free trade agreements or other international policies, implemented based on supposedly neutral knowledge, benefit Western societies but are associated with increased social stratification, labor exploitation, environmental destruction, toxin dumping and other problems in the Global South. Elsewhere, migration policies are designed that focus on keeping out, screening and disciplining migrants, ignoring groundbreaking work by racialized scholars on the causes of and countermeasures against racism and discrimination by receiving society members.

The aim of this workshop is to strengthen the dialogue, connections and collaboration of scholars pursuing ‘Southern’ or ‘Subaltern’ approaches. Scholars are invited to discuss research agendas, theories, methodological issues and empirical studies based on perspectives, experience, concerns and needs of people in the Global South and racialized or indigenous groups in the Global North. The workshop emphasizes thematic inclusiveness.

All interested individuals are invited to submit papers as well as session proposals!

About the Keynote speeches and Plenary talks:

Prof. Lan‘s talk will be titled ‘Raising Global Families: Transnational Relational Analysis of Class Inequality.’ Investigating how middle and working class ethnic Chinese parents in Taiwan and the US perceive insecurities and mobilize resources to secure their children’s future, it will examine the relational and interactive nature of social class on a transnational scale.

Dr. Kitossa‘s talk ‘Criminology as Necropolitics: The silencing of the genocidal imperative of determinism and ‘scientific’ morality’  will provide a critical perspective on criminology, showing how it aids empires feeding on death at home and abroad as a discipline of moral philosophy and a process for making ‘verifiable’ knowledge that refuses the recognition of the state as a criminal actor by its own definition. 

Prof. Batan‘s talk ‘Philippine Sociology and the Global South Discourse: Contexts, Contentions & Commitments’ will  interrogate the history and development of Philippine Sociology in the context of Global South discourse, including  the critical space of knowledge production and disputes between local and international sociologies, and the promise of Sociology in responding (and the lack of it) to better understand contemporary social problems impinging Philippine society in relation to the global world.

Prof. Choi‘s talk ‘Masculinity and Precarity: Male Migrant Taxi Drivers in the Global South’ will examine how these taxi drivers’ experience of a loss of control over their working conditions and increasing financial insecurity are driven by state regulation and market reorganization of the taxi industry, and their status as second-class citizens in urban areas.

Prof. Waldenberger‘s talk will center on ‘Ideologies and Progress,’ drawing on the work of Yuval Noah Harari and on his research on the Japanese economy.

Prof. Purkayastha‘s talk will provide a framework for studying migration, migrants and human security from a global lens, discussing how international migrants, internally-displaced persons, refugees, and trafficked persons form a part of a continuum of migrations influenced by political-economic processes occurring in glocal terrains of migration.

 

Download the PDF version of the 2018 Call for Papers here!

View the booklet of the 2017 Global South Perspectives workshop here!

Please note: This workshop is organized back-to-back with the 6th Global Social Sciences Graduate Student Conference held on the 20th of April at Hong Kong Baptist University. Participants are welcome to attend and present at both events.

Submission:

Please submit abstracts (max. 250 words)
to: globalsouthperspectives@gmail.com

Final Submission Deadline: March 20th 2018

FAQ:

1. Is there a registration fee?
No. The workshop is free of charge.

2. Do abstracts have to follow a certain format?
Please use the standard international format. You can consult the following sources on how to write an abstract.
How to write an abstract A How to write an abstract B How to write an abstract C

3. Can I apply for a travel grant by submitting an abstract only?
No, applicants for the travel grants have to submit a full paper.

4. Are there travel grants for graduate students?
Yes but the application deadline has already passed, and the applications are currently under review.

5. Can you provide a letter of invitation?
Yes, the workshop can provide letters of invitation upon request.

6. Do you provide a certificate of presentation or certificate of attendance?
We provide these documents upon request. Please tell us if you need one.

7. Will you issue workshop proceedings?
A conference proceedings pdf will be issued. Inclusion of a full paper will be on a voluntary basis.

8. Can I participate without presenting?
Yes, please register here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSevTQSAw_X87aN_7brwD4az9p5TwUE3QkfwsOg78rgrWDVe8g/viewform?usp=sf_link

Organized by: The Joint Research Group on Migration, China and the Global Context

Max Weber Foundation & Faculty of Social Sciences, Hong Kong Baptist University

New book of member

Katy N. Lam, Research Fellow of the research group and Assistant Professor in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, has recently published a book entitled, Chinese State Owned Enterprises in West Africa: A Triple-Embedded Globalization. with Routledge.

Abstract

This book investigates the globalization process of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in West Africa, primarily in Benin and Ghana, based on ethnographic research. It challenges the dominant vision of “a powerful China in Africa”, and argues that the so-called “Chinese business advantages” – monolithic Chinese state and Chinese low cost advantages, are non-viable for sustaining Chinese business development in the continent. Considering the Chinese SOEs globalization process in a relational approach, this book examines how the triple embeddedness (Chinese, African and managerial) shapes the Chinese SOEs globalization process over time and space, in diverse dimensions and among different entities – the Chinese state, Chinese SOEs, Chinese expatriates, the African government, African business partners, African staff, and the African society. It illustrates that the Chinese central state has “retreated” deliberately from its SOE globalization in Africa. The Chinese SOEs and Chinese expats are the major actors in initiating and inventing globalization strategies, facing limited Chinese state support and the African neopatrimonial governance and social contexts. Besides, the personal trajectories (from expatriation to social promotion) of Chinese SOE expats interweave with the globalization-turn-localization of their SOEs in Africa. Rejecting the linear, static and binary vision of “powerful China in powerless Africa”, the present study thus emphasizes power dynamics in Chinese SOEs’ globalization process are organic and pluralistic though in certain extent hierarchical –”second-class”. Time and local relations are key elements constituting the real Chinese advantages for Chinese SOEs vis-a-vis their ultimate competitors – not Western companies, but other Chinese companies.

Table of contents

  1. CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION
  2. CHAPTER 2 – “RETREAT” OF THE CHINESE STATE
  3. CHAPTER 3 – AFRICAN EMBEDDEDNESS AND VULNERABLE CHINESE
  4. CHAPTER 4 – AFRICAN MANAGERS AND WORKERS
  5. CHAPTER 5 – CHINESE EXPATS
  6. CHAPTER 6 – COMPETING FOR THE “CHINESE COMMUNITY
  7. CHAPTER 7 – CONCLUSION

For a detailed table of contents, please click TOC_Chinese SOEs in West Africa

Rich interdisciplinary exchange at the workshop ‘Global South Perspectives’

On April 20th, 2017, the workshop ‘Global South Perspectives’ was held, organized by the research group ‘Migration, China, and the Global Context,’ with generous support of the Max Weber Foundation and the Hong Kong Baptist University Faculty of Social Sciences. The workshop gathered local and overseas scholars to discuss theoretical and empirical perspectives gained in the Global South with the aim of de-centering and revising scholarship from the Global North. It united scholars from a wide variety of regions, including Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, India, the Phillipines, Pakistan, Turkey, Poland, France and Germany. This rich blend sparked a very fruitful exchange of perspectives and mutual enrichment, and a vibrant and innovative dialogue pervaded the meeting.

The meeting was started by an agenda-setting keynote speech introducing a world-premiering theoretical framework of the concept of ‘cultural inequality,’ by Matthew M. Chew from Hong Kong Baptist University’s Sociology department. The workshop also included six panel sessions on the topics of migration and race and ethnicity, general theory, gender and sexualities, historical approaches, and work and globalizing economies, all of which led to lively debates. The workshop received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the participants.

Some highlights of the workshop included:

  • A discussion of how mainstream ontological and epistemological approaches in the Social Sciences are influenced by notions stemming from Western Philosophy such as dialectics, and how concepts from non-Western Philosophical schools could serve to diversify these approaches.
  • A discussion how the Chinese concept xing could be made fruitful for broader understandings of sexuality.
  • A debate on the greater need to investigate privilege along with discrimination and marginalization.
  • A discussion on the power of social scientists to re-inscribe power relations which they are advocating against, e.g. by using terms with different connotations for different migrant groups.

The workshop booklet can be viewed here.

 

   

 

 

Workshop: Global South perspectives

20. April 2017
Room 1312, AAB, Hong Kong Baptist University

Keynote speaker: Matthew M. Chew

Europe’s expansion during the last five centuries has shaped the world economically, politically and culturally, and initiated a range of global inequalities that persist until today. This includes global inequalities in the academy: At its core are scholars,  perspectives, concerns, theories, methodological approaches, and objects of investigation from dominant groups in the Global North. Perspectives of scholars from the Global South and of minority scholars in the Global North continue to play a marginal role. We may be missing much in our understanding of the world if we investigate it mainly from the perspectives of dominant groups. The goal of this workshop is to provide an interdisciplinary platform that brings together scholars from the Global South, minority scholars from the Global North, and scholars working on North-South relations, with a focus on early-career scholars, in order to start filling gaps in knowledge and perspectives, and to work toward a better North-South balance in academia. This workshop wishes to facilitate a dialogue among research that advances our understanding on Global South, minorities in the Global North, perspectives on theory, methodology and methods, empirical work in the Global South, and Global South groups in the Global North. Examples of relevant topics include national and global inequality and stratification, globalization (including its economic, political, cultural and discursive elements), South-to-South and North-to-South migration, decolonization, indigenous-settler-relations, race and ethnicity and (anti-)racism.

All are free to join! No online registration is required to join the workshop!

This workshop is presented by:
The Joint Research Group on Migration, China and the Global Context
Max Weber Foundation
Faculty of Social Sciences, Hong Kong Baptist University

Please send inquiries to: caroline.schoepf@gmail.com

Caroline Schöpf co-authored article on student acculturation

Caroline Schoepf served as co-author of the following journal paper:

Pan, Jia-Yan, Petrus Ng, Daniel Kim-Wan Young, and Schoepf Caroline. “Effectiveness of cognitive behavioral group intervention on acculturation: A study of students in Hong Kong from mainland China.” Research on Social Work Practice 27, no. 1 (2017): 68-79.

Abstract:

Objective:
This study examined the effectiveness of group cognitive behavioral intervention (CBI) in improving mental health and promoting postmigration growth for Mainland university students in Hong Kong.

Methods:
Thirty-six Mainland students with mild-to-moderate levels of psychological distress have completed a 8-session CBI group. Various mental health measures have been administered at the pre-, post-, and 3-month follow-up tests.

Results:
The levels of psychological distress, acculturative stress, and negative emotions and negative thoughts of the participants were significantly reduced, while their positive emotions and postmigration growth were significantly increased upon completion of the CBI group. The positive effects were maintained at 3-month follow-up.

Conclusions:
CBI group appears to be an effective intervention approach for improving the mental health and promoting postmigration growth for Mainland university students in Hong Kong. Implications for social work practices when engaging with Chinese international students were provided.

Link to the full paper:

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1049731516646857

The first Migration Café

Language and Integration in Asia's World City.v3.3The Joint Research Group organized the first Migration Cafe on 16 Dec 2015. The Migration Cafe is an informal and open exchange platform for discussing migration-related topics around a cup of coffee/tea. The first get-together focused on whether the emphasis on the Cantonese Language as the key to successful “integration” of South Asians into Hong Kong society is actually justified, or if it serves to hide or normalize underlying racial and class hierarchies, by comparing experiences of Westerners in Hong Kong that are not pressured to learn the local language at all. The exchange was lively. Dr. Kara Fleming from the University of Hong Kong, an expert of the topic, led the discussion of that afternoon. Over 20 people from different universities in Hong Kong, and of diverse ethnic origins, participated actively in the discussion. Many expressed their experiences and opinions on the topic both on professional and personal levels.

“Voyages, Migration and the Maritime Silk Road” symposium, Hong Kong

China Global HistoryThe symposium on “Voyages, Migration and the Maritime Silk Road: An International Symposium on China’s Role in Global History”, was held in Hong Kong on 7-8 December 2015. Prof. Ricardo Mak, Project Leader of the Joint Research Group and Director of the Advanced Institute for Contemporary China Studies of HKBU, which was one of the symposium’s organizers, officiated at the opening ceremony. Both Prof. Ricardo Mak and Katy Lam were invited to discuss their research in this symposium. Prof. Ricardo Mak gave a presentation on “The Search for Spiritual Inwardness in Modern Society: Zong Baihua’s (1897-1986) Aesthetic Vision”. Katy Lam presented a paper on “Retreat of the Chinese State: Globalization History of Chinese State-owned Entreprises in Africa.”

Inaugural meeting of the joint research group

529 inaugural meetingThe Joint Research Group and its activities were officially initiated after an inaugural meeting held on May 29, 2015, in Hong Kong. Senior members of both institutions attended the meeting including Prof. Hans van Ess (President, Max Weber Stiftung), Dr. Harald Rosenbach (Chief Executive Director, Max Weber Stiftung), Prof. Franz Waldenberger (Director, German Institute for Japanese Studies Tokyo), Mr. Joachim Röhr (Administrative Director, German Institute for Japanese Studies Tokyo), as well as Prof. Rick Wong (Vice-President Research & Development of the HKBU) and Prof. Adrian J. Bailey (Dean of Faculty of Social Sciences, HKBU). They extended their appreciation and wish for enhancing exchange and development of academic knowledge across Europe and Asia, humanities and social sciences through this collaboration effort.