References of the South

Abstract

The etymology of the word Reference, composed of the Latin words re-, which indicates a return to something that precedes us, and ferre – to take, to carry –, means to load something back to someone or somewhere, a traceback. To this fundamental meaning we will add two other contemporary ones: the sense of reference as a mention, that is, of referring to something by mentioning its name, and the sense of reference as a paradigm, which indicates something or someone that constitutes a parameter.

The twenty-third issue of V!RUS journal aims to bring together works that explore, discuss, revise and propose references pertaining to the geopolitical and cultural space-time of the so-called Global South, in the various fields and areas of knowledge related to the production of cities, to urban dynamics, culture, and interregional and international dimensions. To paraphrase Boaventura de Sousa Santos, this call aims, in short, at works that contribute to substantiating the need to learn that we are in the South, to learn about the South and from the South.

Stimulating a critical attitude towards colonialist and Eurocentric understandings of the world, we want to deepen the debate on ways to investigate the issues of the South, aided by its own references, and to support the criticism of current references, aiming at its renewal and expansion. Therefore, papers that explicitly relate their content to issues from the Global South will be accepted for evaluation, discussing their references or their potential contribution to the review or construction of regional references.

We are interested in works that approach the subject in a critical and grounded way, from different areas of knowledge, in particular architecture, urbanism, arts, cinema, communications, design, law, social, environmental, and political sciences, anthropology, cultural studies, history, geography, among others, dealing especially – but not only – with the following topics:

+ The problematization of the notion of the Global South, the center/periphery binarism, concepts, references;

+ History(ies) of the South according to the South, narrative reconstructions, references to regional historiography, common references, intertwined histories;

+ Identity references, cultural diversity and southern minorities: gender and ethnic identity, multiculturality, the first nations, cultural policies, transnational cultures;

+ Struggle references: decolonial insurgencies, social movements, cyberactivism, cyberspace, and the public scene;

+ Inhabiting the South: housing modalities, design and production, occupations and the struggle for housing, urban financialization, national social housing programs, urban informal settlements;

+ International dialogues references: common borders, southern countries and the (new) world order, the South and the notions of globalization, internationalization, imperialism, and globalization;

+ Sovereignty references: external interference, political resistance and collaborations, historical processes of wealth extraction;

+ Technopolitics: big data, personal data from the South and the Northern Artificial Intelligence databases, security and control computer applications, the design of Internet backbones;

+ South bubbles in the North, North bubbles in the South, disputes and frictions, international migrations South-South and South-North, regional and global inequalities;

+ Southern democracies: Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the South, new development paradigms, BRICS and emerging powers;

+ South-South cooperation, building common references, interstate relations, multilateralism;

+ References to understand the South, categories of the North canceling crucial dimensions of the South, capitalist domination and the invisibility of knowledge and ancestral know-how from the South;

+ The prioritization of Northern topics in academic research in Southern institutions, valuations in Northern rankings according to Northern criteria, research funding, research cooperation, South-South and North-South partnerships, research networks;

+ References in Humanities research in or about the Global South: a review of concepts and analytical categories, rethinking field boundaries, methods, and procedures, the role of the researcher;

+ Theoretical frames of references, meta-theories, systemic thinking, complexity, cybernetics, communication ecology, transdisciplinarity;

+ Scientific journals and their contribution to the construction of references;

+ The consolidation of national postgraduate and research systems and the construction of regional academic references;

+ Artistic production, North and South dimensions: history, projects, critical examination, interpolations;

+ Aesthetic and behavioral patterns from the North as references to the South and vice versa, the body as a reference, social networks, images, and sharing;

+ Audiovisual, cinema, documentation, and urban readings: views from the South, over the South, with the South;

+ Theoretical thought and Southern cities: history and criticism of their architecture, history and criticism of their urbanism;

+ References to public management, transparency, and governance, urban public policies and the cities of the South;

+ References from Southern architectures, urbanisms, and designs: good urban practices, non-urban practices;

+ Southern memory and cultural heritage: documentation, dissemination, special projects, preservation, technical and constructive explorations, vernacular knowledge;

+ Architectures with complex shapes and local references, parametric modeling, digital design and fabrication;

+ National, regional, Southern design: research, production, innovation references;

+ University-community projects and the construction of the commons: community participatory actions, digital social technologies, bottom-up citizen actions.

In addition to text and graphic images, we welcome photo essays, videos, short films, animations and gifs, sound and musical pieces, and testimonials in audio files, art installation projects, architectural, urban studies, and building projects and criticism, slide shows and further digital languages considering Nomads.usp's interest in exploring the potential of digital media use on the Internet for academic communication.

Contributions will be received in ENGLISH, PORTUGUESE, OR SPANISH on the journal website no later than August 15th, 2021, according to the guidelines for authors available at www.nomads.usp.br/virus/submissions.

IMPORTANT DATES

June 2021: Call for papers

August 15th, 2021: Deadline for submissions

From September 20th: Notification to authors on the editorial decision

October 31st: Deadline to receive the authors' adjustments

November 14th: Deadline to receive the article's translated version (to English, Spanish or Portuguese)

December 2021: Release of V!RUS 23