Globalising Worlds
HC1 Introduction – Lothar Smith & Cristina Aoki Inoue – 7 september 2023
Gevolg globalisering: oude dingen gaan naar derde wereld landen.
+: spullen krijgen tweede leven
- : waar gaat het heen als het kapot is of echt oud? Wordt daar niet meer gerecycled en de
oorspronkelijke landen van afkomst zullen het niet terugnemen.
Beoordeling:
Blok 1: Tentamen over hoorcolleges: open en meerkeuzevragen. Zowel info uit lectures als
het boek. Focus op slides.
Blok 2: Opdracht: MMP + ondersteunend script + presentatie op festival
HC2 Everyday globalization in the Global South – Lothar Smith – 7 september 2023
Contradictie: een wereld met onvermoeibare krachten van globalisering vs. een wereld waarin het
lokale belangrijker wordt en waar verschillen en complexiteit steeds meer benoemd worden en
krachtig is. Hoe kun je dit combineren?
Je kan op verschillende manieren naar de wereld kijken:
Landgrootte
Populatiegrootte
Welzijn
Absoluut armoedeaandeel (hoeveel mensen leven van minder dan $2 per dag)
Maar: mensen die aan zelfvoorziening doen, vallen hierbuiten + koopkracht verschilt.
SDG Goals (bijvoorbeeld):
↗Hoe kun je universele doelen hebben in zulke verschillende landen?
↘Maar het kan goed zijn om een minimumrichtlijn in te stellen.
Defining the poor
Wat defines poverty?
Are the poor singular? Is there any ‘the rural community’? No, there are differences f. e.
meeting, but underrepresentation of women and youth.
Unequal ‘power play’ in the same space. Yet, and thereby: not only international, also
commercial actors are involved locals work for the international power, but this may
conflict with the desires of other locals.
You can better talk about
livelihoods, not about poverty
(zie figuur 2.1 DFID sustainable
livelihoods framework).
Different kinds of capital (social,
human, physical, financial,
natural) can be important.
Depends on occasion if your
capital is relevant.
Your capital influences your
livelihood.
1
,Relative poverty
Poverty relative phenomena
- Practical norm: what is the value of the 1,9 US$ per day norm? (extreme poor: <1,9US$)
- Fundamental norm: what are basic conditions for a decent life? (UN Habitat agenda)
Linked to livelihoods as practises that are immersed in a certain habitus (Bourdieu)
- Habitus: a set of dispositions, embodied in individuals, which generate certain practises
and perceptions.
Gini coefficient: measures equality. How more curved the Lorenz curve, how more inequality.
USA: land van kansen, maar grote ongelijkheid.
Maar meer gelijkheid, betekent niet dat iedereen welvaart heeft, standaard kan juist ook voor
iedereen lager liggen.
Dus relatief, hangt af van specifieke contexten.
↓
“the spatiality of globalization is an outcome of social construction of space that are mediated
through historically specific political, economic and technological forces”
Implications: scalar switchability and discursive spatial practices.
Geographic scales (=hierarchical ordering of space) mediate how globalization is linked to empirical
outcomes.
The political, economic and social processes through which geographic scales are produced and made
“switchable,” and not globalization per se, directly shape how these empirical outcomes may be
explained.
Globalization is a implication of interaction.
We are part of the globalization.
Second, the discursive dimension of globalization is legitimized through the mobilization of spatial
metaphors and geographic imaginations that, in turn, shape social practices and empirical outcomes.
In this discursive realm, globalization becomes a discursive representation that has little capacity to
produce empirical outcomes. It is the politics of discursive mobilization that effectively shape
empirical events.
Being globally relevant
Places and people can be relevant or irrelevant
- Bijvoorbeeld Mali: afhankelijkheid katoen. World Bank vermeerderde plekken waar
katoen werd verbouwd prijs verlaagde minder inkomen.
- Eerst kwetsbaar voor overstromingen en droogte (in zekere mate lokaal). Nu kwetsbaar
door globale economie (externe factor).
Not only an issue of the global south: the 4 th world of Manuel Castells is creeping on to us in
ways that matter much.
Geography <> globalization
Geography simply an outcome of globalization? Of is it inverse?
Debate of globalisation is not ‘nearly’ as global as it should be.
Scientific collaborations are mostly between Europe, the USA and Japan.
80% of scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals is about the Global North.
But more collaborations between scientists from the North and South. But name of North-scientist is
often first, because then that university pays for the open-access. Gives a bias.
Global trade agenda
2
, GATT = General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
- Set up in 1995. Now around 150 members.
- Decides which countries opens their borders for what.
- But: how more a country pays, how more their influence = inequal
WTO: World Trade Organization
- Member-driven, decisions by consensus among all member governments.
- Around 164 members (2/3 ontwikkelingslanden). Ontwikkelingslanden hebben een
steeds belangrijkere rol in de globale economie, zien handel als een vitaal onderdeel van
hun ontwikkeling.
Doha Agenda (2001): verschillende belangen tussen ontwikkelde en ontwikkelingslanden op
gebieden als voedselveiligheid, anti-dumping praktijken, voldoende technologietransfer, etc.
Notes from the book:
We have to move from the bias of only problems in the Global South
The global south is not a single thing, contains many superpowers, countries with conflicts,
with long histories etc.
Global South op dit moment de beste term
Four arguments to the book:
1. Representation matters
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.
4. There is an urgent need to shift to thinking in academia and governance fields beyond the
obvious ‘development’ overtone (the SDGs included).
3
, HC3 Epistemologies of the Global South: livelihood approaches, social security and
aspirations, linked to notions of development.
Case study: rural development in post-Apartheid South Africa – Lothar Smith – 14 september
2023
Livelihood is niet alleen iets lokaals, maar ook iets translokaals, iets transnationaals.
Begrijpen hoe mensen leven.
There is always a spatial dimension in regional differences.
Informal economy is very important, should not be forgotten.
City: maybe 60% informal. Agriculture: can be up to 90% informal economy.
We moeten niet alleen naar livelihoods kijken als iets economisch. We moeten verder kijken naar de
kwaliteit van het leven, om eventuele verbeteringen toe te passen.
Livelihoods: a theoretical point of departure
Chambers & Conway (1992): think about (rural) livelihoods approach
1. Production thinking: important to think beyond the production: from who is the land?
2. Employment thinking: not always one fulltime job. More often multiple activities. If one
source declines, you have other sources of income. Maybe not efficient, but more secure.
3. Poverty-line thinking: minimal line for income or consumption. Getting everyone above the
line works not always sustainable. Is also relative.
Livelihood (Chambers & Conway, 1992) = the capabilities, assets and activities required for a means
of living, is sustainable which can cope with and recover from stress and shock, maintain or
enhance its capabilities and assets. And provide sustainable livelihood opportunities for the next
generation; and which contributes net benefits to other livelihoods at the local and global levels
and in the short and long term.
Williams et al. adds social/cultural dimension.
Associated concepts:
Overall:
- Capability = the agency of individuals and larger 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
4
