Southern Attitudes in the Social Sciences

This book grows out of a collective engagement with a Southern Attitude: a commitment to recognizing and interrogating different regimes of privilege including whiteness, androcentrism, Christian-centrism and heteronormativity that categorize hegemonic Northern scientific structures. It critically explores intersecting forms of discrimination such as racism, sexism, casteism, xenophobia, or social class discriminations in the social sciences and science in general. The South is portrayed as a moral geography affected by multidimensional and entangled inequalities rather than a mere spatial realm mapped by Cartesian coordinates. A Southern Attitude, therefore, is not just another sociological theory; it is an invitation to develop a renewed ethics and praxis for individuals and institutions. Nor is it the sole scope of Southern scholars. All who believe that scholarship should help create a more equitable society, no matter where they live, are welcome. You will encounter 15 chapters written by 19 scholars, from different races, faiths and gender orientations, working from the South and the North. They discuss how a Southern Attitude has reshaped their research, writing and teaching, their intellectual trajectories and praxis.