Date: Friday 10th January 2020
Venue: Manduar Development Hub, The Gambia
Rationale
Research on, and perspectives from, the Global South are increasingly captured in mainstream literature. But such representations often tend to be skewed towards mainstream narratives. Often, where research methodologies and findings depart from the mainstream, probabilities of publication – or even passing mention in bibliographic references – are significantly reduced. Of course what this has done is to subdue and marginalise voices and perspectives from the South. But there are more disempowering aspects to the suppression of Southern voices. The dominance of a particular thinking, specially the kind that validates perspectives from mainstream scholarship, implies that voices from the Global South stand little chance of being heard. The downside to this – one that has been lamented over many years – seems that what is reflected in mainstream publications is sometimes seen as representing the universal. The distortion of this mental image is due in large part to the silence of academic voices from the Global South. In Africa and elsewhere, Northern ideological dominance continues to consolidate marginalisation and disenfranchisement. Although there have been attempts to rectify this with the emergence of Third World-specific journals and research agenda, the impact has been largely minimal. There is, therefore, need for alternative spaces whose particular focus could help in the generation of counter-narratives.
Description
This one day conference is a partnership comprised of De Montfort University’s CAI, Towson University (USA), and The Gambia Writers’ Association. It is scheduled for Friday the 10th of January 2020. The conference will encourage participants to question the “logic of the system” and generate disruptive, counter orthodoxy perspectives, to mainstream narratives. This is from across all disciplines including history, literature, economics, and the sciences. The conference will bring together 40 scholars, academics, policy makers, practitioners and students, to critically examine narratives and counter-narratives to all aspects of human development, with the following objectives:
Objectives
- Amplify missing Southern voices in dominant mainstream narratives.
- Provide a space to deconstruct and decolonise configurations, dissemination and normalisation of ways of knowing and being, especially in relation to the notion of development.
- Explore Southern perspectives through a range of disciplinary lenses towards a greater understanding of the natural and social sciences, associated with de-colonial, post-colonial, counter narratives.
How to submit an abstract ‐ Authors wishing to present at the conference should send abstracts of not more than 250 words to msallah@dmu.ac.k on or before the 13th December, 2019. All abstracts must be accompanied by a brief biographical note with contact details of the author.
