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Challenge of Globalisation:
Perspectives from the Global South
Globalisation confronts humanity as a range of processes, as competing discourses and as a contested project. As such, it challenges researchers both to distinguish between its different forms and to comprehend the interplay between them. Whilst containing a universal dynamic, the impact of globalisation has been uneven and responses to it varied, and this has exacerbated the complexity of its conceptual challenge.
Early enthusiasm for globalization as an overwhelmingly beneficial set of processes has yielded to an understanding that the phenomenon is equally associated with increasing social inequality within and between countries and changing forms of political and economic relations as well as instability and conflict. Just as it has generated a new international system of economic regulation and super-imposed institutional and policy reforms, simultaneously it has given rise to new social movements and local responses, all of which have begun to affect the character of globalisation itself.
The focus area is concerned with furthering our understanding of the social, economic and political consequences of globalisation. It is also interested in developing an understanding of the implications contemporary economic processes, new technologies, and social and political relations have for the future course of globalisation. Further, it seeks to better theorise the global and thereby the contemporary world in order to bring the insights of this knowledge to bear on the old and new challenges that confront people and societies, as well as the knowledge systems they are part of.
While South Africa is the primary focus for research on the impact and shaping of globalisation, local problems and possibilities cannot be understood in isolation. Comparative research will be supported.
By linking the macro to the micro, enquiry into globalisation should have relevance for policy makers and activists, as well as for theorists and researchers working across and beyond the social sciences.
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Aims
- To expand our understanding of globalisation through interdisciplinary social scientific enquiry;
- To critically engage the idea of globalisation by drawing on experiences from the global periphery; in other words, to 'de-centre' the perspective from which the concept is generally understood and articulated;
- To locate and understand South Africa, Southern Africa and the Global South within both the reality of globalisation and discourses that have driven the idea of globalisation;
- To assess the impact of globalisation, particularly on South Africa, identifying and analysing the possibilities for change that it creates.
Research sub-Themes
The following research themes indicate the scope of this focus area . Given that globalisation operates at different levels, and that understanding the phenomenon involves theoretical and empirical research, these are not intended as watertight units. Indeed, as interdisciplinary boundaries are crossed, specific projects will often engage with more than one sub-theme.
Research Theme 1: Theorising the Global
The idea of globalisation poses multiple theoretical challenges for contemporary knowledge. As a result, a key task is that of theorising the processes and practices that have variously been drawn together under the rubric of globalisation. Theoretical and methodological heterogeneity is encouraged. Methodological innovation, particularly if related to indigenous knowledge systems, will be considered if this is situated within recognised and rigorous theoretically-informed perspectives. Although some empirical concerns could be used to support these pre-occupations, the chief thrust of this research field is with the rich tapestry of social theory.
Research might include:
- Critically engaging the projects, processes, discourses and theories of globalisation;
- Understanding and deconstructing the language of globalisation and the globalisation of language;
- Explaining historical eras and societal change in the light of contemporary globalisation;
- Assessing the future of disciplinary based study and enquiry in the context of an increasingly globalised world;
- Understanding why globalisation leads to unevenness, critically relating this to existing theories of globalisation and to social theory in general.
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Research Theme 2: Identities, Movements and Social Change
The impact of globalisation on the way we see ourselves in relation to others has been complex and sometimes contradictory. Some people have benefited from new opportunities provided by globalisation and have embraced aspects of the cultural patterns with which it is most closely associated. Others, however, have responded to the economic and cultural threats it has evinced by reinforcing attachments to old identities or inventing new ones. Discerning and analysing overall patterns is a matter of considerable debate, the significance of which is underlined and complicated by multiple links, including the one between social identity and political mobilisation.
Research might include:
- The reshaping and changing significance of nation, race and religion;
- Class, community and processes of inclusion and exclusion;
- Gender, generation and the family;
- Global and local social movements and new identities;
- Globalisation and urban transformation;
- Globalisation and demography;
- Globalisation and population movement - migration, dislocation
- Communication, knowledge and identity.
Research Theme 3: State, Society and Conflict Resolution
Globalisation has recast the nation state as the primary means of political organisation. While its role in managing conflict, both internally and internationally, remains robust its sway over the economy has been substantially eroded. Given this, new challenges to social and political organisation have arisen. How these are to be understood and managed in contemporary times offers a rich seam of enquiry.
Research might include:
- Globalisation, hegemony and discontent;
- Regional and supra-national organisations: problems and possibilities;
- City and sub-national responses to globalisation;
- The changing nature of political community;
- Globalisation and crime
- War/conflict/terror and peace: changing bases and faces
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Research Theme 4: Political Economy and Technology
This sub-theme focuses on some of the key politico-economic processes of globalisation. It is concerned with the material impacts of those processes on the lives of individuals, communities and even whole societies. The theme also opens up the space to engage one of the core, self-evident features of globalization - technology and innovation.
Research might include:
- Supranational institutions and globalisation;
- New technology, innovation systems and societal change;
- Production, investment, finance and trade and globalisation;
- Labour, skills and the work processes in a globalising world;
- Globalisation and the challenge of the environment;
- Globalisation and AIDS: interfaces and contradictions
- Globalisation and Food: Production, Distribution, Quality and Cultures
Contact
Lebusa Monyooe
Manager: Focus Areas
email: lebusa@nrf.ac.za
Tel:+27 12 4814230
Fax:+27 12 4814005
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