Queering South-South Cooperation and Humanitarianism

In this podcast, Dr Emma Mawdsley discusses how to move away from an imperialist politics of international development by questioning western-derived approaches to theory and practice. In her ground-breaking talk, Mawdsley proposes the metaphoric idea of ‘queering’ South-South cooperation and humanitarianism, which are generally thought of and designed as frameworks that are penetrated by the Global North. Mawdsley, providing several examples including those of China and its cinema production, here reviews the femininization and infantilization of the Global South. By also advancing a critical reflection of contemporary academic work, she illustrates the conceptual shifts that have been affecting the contemporary politics of development and humanitarianism, increasingly opening up to ‘non-traditional donors’.

Dr Mawdsley is Reader in Human Geography and Fellow of Newnham College, and she is particularly interested in researching the ‘rising powers’ and the changing politics of development. Dr Mawdsley has also recently contributed to the Routledge Handbook of South-South Relations co-edited by Southern Responses’ PI Prof Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, with her chapter, ‘Southern leaders, Northern followers? Who has ‘Socialised’ Whom in International Development.’

The podcast was posted in January, 2019.

If you view this post on an Apple iPhone you may have trouble opening the podcast.  You can listen via another devise.

Listen to the podcast here: 

If you find this podcast of interest, please also see the suggested readings below, or visit our Thinking through the Global South series, or our Introductory Mini Blog series.

Suggested readings:  

Carpi. E. (2018)  “‘Southern’ and ‘Northern’ assistance provision beyond the grand narratives: Views from Lebanese and Syrian providers in Lebanon”

Carpi. E. (2018)  (2018) “Empires of Inclusion?”

Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, E. & Daley, P. (2018) “Conceptualising the global South and South–South encounters”

Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, E. (2018) “Histories and Spaces of Southern-led responses to displacement.”

Jayawickrama, J. & Rehman, B. “Before Defining What is Local, Let’s Build the Capacities of Humanitarian Agencies”

Featured image: Viewing archival photographs of Hamra, Creative Writing Workshop, Beirut.  (c) E. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, 2018.