Southern Discomfort: Interrogating the Category of the Global South

Abstract

Researchers in development studies have expressed discomfort at the hierarchy inherent in the use of ‘North’ and ‘South’, and cognate concepts like ‘First’ and ‘Third World’, or ‘emerging economies’. Instead of setting aside the terminology, this article delves into the layered meaning-making around the notion of the South. Drawing on multi- and inter-disciplinary perspectives, it maps out the South as (1) territory constructed through history, geography and time, and characterized by (2) relations of domination and othering, which are starkly visible in racial divisions wrought on the world through slavery, colonialism and recent struggles around migration. The article then explores Southern ‘talk back’ through analysis initiated in Southern institutions which highlights (3) structures that continue to divide the world through a political economy of underdevelopment. Finally, it turns to (4) politics which challenges these structures of domination through direct action and solidarities. The conclusion revisits the ‘stickiness’ of ‘the South’. It is argued that the South as a territorial, relational, structural and political construct is fundamentally about the distribution of power in the global system. While some uses of the concept enhance power asymmetries, others contribute to reducing them. This article concludes that a critical understanding of the contradictory meanings and uses of the concept within development studies is more important than discursive attempts to replace it.