Lecture notes of Globalising worlds 2022/2023. Inclusive guest lecture "Epistemologies of the global south, activism social movements, conflict"
Every lecture is linked to the chapter of the book Geographies of developing areas - Williams.
Lecture 1 & 2: general introduction and everyday globalisation in the south
(Chapter 1)
Locating a globalising worlds - Statement 1:
There are large numbers of individuals and households who are labelled poor on the basis
of their income or disposition, however there is not one poor but many ‘poors’
Argument 1: defining the poor
• What defines poverty?
• Are the poor singular? Is there any ‘the rural community?’
• Unequal power play in the same space. Yet, and thereby: not only international,
commercial actors are involved
Argument 2: relative poverty
• The notion of poverty as a relative phenomena.
• Practical norm: What is the value of the 1,9$ per day norm? (extreme poor: < 1,9$)
• Fundamental norm: What are basic conditions for a decent life?
• Linked to livelihoods as practices that are immersed in a certain habitus (bourdieu)
• Habitus = A set of dispositions, embodied in individuals, which generate certain
practices and perceptions.
So it’s relative, yet also grounded in specific contexts
Locating a globalising worlds - Statement 2:
The spatiality of globalisation is an outcome of social constructions of space that are
mediated through historically specific political, economic and technological forces
Sub argument 1: the GINI coefficient
Sub Argument 2: Being globally relevant
• Relevant and irrelevant places and people
Locating a globalising worlds - Statement 3:
One of the ironies of the academic debate on globalisation is its western bias. The
globalisation debate is not nearly as global as it probably should be.
Argument 1: An academic argument
• Top 200 universities in the west
Globalising words… According to Williams (het boek)
• The global south is not only poverty, inequality, violence etc.
• Its also a place with superpowers, nature, people etc
Four arguments to the book:
1. Representation matters (upending dominant discourses, e.g. in the media);
2. The global S and N are not distinct but often interwoven;
3. Local contexts require profound study, as they are constantly changing, and may be
infinitely more complex than thought, e.g. agency; and
4. There is an urgent need to shift to thinking in academia and governance fields beyond
the obvious ‘development overtone (the SDGs included)
, Lecture 3 Epistemologies of the global South; Of livelihood approaches, social security
and aspirations, linked to notions of development (Lothar, Chapter 7, 9)
Lecture outline:
• Theoretical point of departure: Livelihoods and development (Chapter 7)
• Livelihoods: Social security, aspirations and more
Case study: Applying the concept of trans locality to understand local livelihoods: beyond
rural-urban dichotomies
Defining livelihoods:
Comprises the capabilities, assets and activities required for a means of living: a
livelihood is sustainable which can cope with and recover from stress and shocks,
maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets and provide sustainable livelihood
opportunities for the next generation; and which contributes net benefits to other
livelihoods ah the local and global levels and in the short and long term (Chambers &
Conway, 1992)
Associated concepts
• Overall
• capability - the agency of individuals and larger social constellations; their ability to
access various modes of capital
• Equity - uplifting poverty of all, giving attention to all
• Sustainability - considering future needs in addressing current ones
• Related concepts:
• Diversity, gender, generations, empowerment, social & human security, cultural norms
DFID Support sheet:
• The concept of
‘Sustainable
Livelihoods’
constitutes the basis
of different
‘Sustainable
Livelihood
Approaches’ (SLA) and
has been adapted by
different development
agencies such as the
British Department for
International
Development (DFID).
• The DFID has developed a ‘Sustainable Livelihood Framework’ (SLF) which is one of the
most widely used livelihoods frameworks in development practice. The SLF was
integrated in its program for development cooperation in 1997.
Beyond economics
• Critique: Polanyi gave the concept of livelihood more theoretical weight by considering
the economy as socially, culturally and historically embedded (geïntegreerd), as
opposed to mainstream economics that is merely concerned with individual maximising
behaviour.
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