Course Description:

This introductory course examines historical and theoretical debates on and from the Global South. Especially important are socio-economic, political, ecological, as well as cultural processes, as they are key factors to understanding the Global South across the globe. Where is the Global South? What are the shared, collective experiences and specific differences when it comes to comparative settler colonialism, climate change, environmental justice, the Covid-19 pandemic and its consequences, strong men politics and misogyny, authoritarianism, dictatorship, imperialism, capitalism, neo-liberalism, genocide, and patriarchy? What role does history play in understanding the modern Global South? How do we decolonize catastrophe? How do we decolonize ourselves and academia? What are the methods, paradigms, and sources for studying socio-economic, ecological, political, and cultural processes? What is ocean as method? What can we learn from indigenous peoples’ movements and social justice campaigns globally? What are the examples of creative imagination and ecologies of flourishing in social-ecological movements? How can we be more innovative and strategic when it comes to social change, social justice, environmental justice? How do we bridge the dis-connect between academia and various types of communities -- locally and globally? Are there models that we can learn from (e.g. Asia-Africa Bandung Conference in 1955)? What's the theory of change if we don't have a theory of power? How can we study power and capital in new ways to help us with a better theory of change? These themes will be introduced through works of fiction, literature, music, performing arts, films, theoretical analysis, and primary source materials in translation. The course has a community based participatory research component – methods for conducting original research and use of library collections, oral history interviews, connecting with local and global communities in San Diego and beyond.