Geopolitics Of Knowledge Research Articles

Agentes da tradução e circulação dos clássicos na periferia da ciência: o caso da revista brasileira GEOgraphia (1999-2019)

Ever since its first edition in 1999, the Brazilian journal GEOgraphia has been publishing a section called Nossos Clássicos [Our Classics]. Made up of foreign-language texts translated into Portuguese, and associated commentaries done by the translators themselves, this material has not yet been studied because translation is still overlooked by both Brazilian geographers and geographical scholars in general as a subject of research. Linking translation studies and decolonial thought as methodological resources, we suggest that in a peripheral country such as Brazil, where translation and science are intimately interwoven by the geopolitics of knowledge, translators have had a crucial role as agents both of the circulation of knowledge and the interrogation of canonical geographies at both international and national levels. We name those responsible for the Our Classics rubric geotranslators, and, analysing the period 1999-2019, our aim is to study who they are, who they translated and what their reasons were for doing this. In doing so, we will shed some light on the circulation of classics in a peripheral country such as Brazil.

If You Want to Say Something—Speak in the Language of the Language: Ewa Partum's Model of Conceptual Art

Abstract The artistic practice of the Polish-born Ewa Partum can be divided chronologically into Polish (1965–1982), West Berlin (1982–89) and transnational / global (from 1989) periods. This essay focuses on the specificity of the conceptual art developed by Partum and her self-historicization as a conceptual artist. At the same time, it regards the local and global historicization of conceptual art as fragmentary and contradicting processes. The study examines local genealogy of Partum's conceptual strategies as part of a localized reflection on the geopolitics of knowledge; it considers a specific position of cultural production that is characteristic of Central and Eastern European neo-avant-gardes. It examines Partum's model of conceptual art in relation to Polish and Western practices. It is argued that Western conceptualism was only a point of reference for Partum's art. Works such as Presence / Absence or Luncheon on the Grass realized by Partum in years 1965–1972 formed a basis from which the artist responded to knowledge of the transnational conceptual movement that was disseminated through Mail Art and Fluxus networks. Analysis reveals Partum's model of conceptual art to be contrapuntal, as it is not subordinate to either its western inflection or local (Polish) cannons and protocols.

GEOECONOMICS AS A TOOL FOR UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD AT THE BEGINNING OF THE XXI CENTURY

The article presents the author's view of the place of geoeconomics in the structure of geopolitical knowledge and its role in modern geopolitical changes. Based on the analysis of a number of concepts (J. Attali, C. Zuboff, Mondialism, Atlantism), the conclusion is formulated that geoeconomics is not just a new, but, above all, a leading area of geopolitics, which will determine the nature of the development of the entire world civilization in the near future. The paper describes some of the features of new economic systems and types of relations that are formed in a global, homogeneous unified world, the total spread of digital technologies, the establishment of the dominance of Internet giants.   Резюме: имя существительное: резюме, сводка, краткое изложение, конспектимя прилагательное: краткий, суммарный, скорый

Postcolonial/Decolonial Critique and the Theory of International Relations

The article is devoted to the discussion of the role of postcolonial/decolonial critique and its contribution to the theory of international relations. Intersecting with multiple disciplines and area studies, the postcolonial/decolonial critique offers a broad view not only on the cultural heritage of colonialism/imperialism as such, but also on the more complex and multifaceted challenges facing international relations – the coloniality of power and geopolitics of knowledge – and conditions of their emergence. Postcolonial/decolonial approaches foster critical engagement with Eurocentric narratives in social sciences, countering teleological or linear representations of modernity. Despite its importance, postcolonial/decolonial thought penetrated the theory of international relations rather late. The two fields of intellectual quest have developed not only separately, but they have often diverged in their very epistemological constitution. Based on a review of an extensive literature, the author explores the links between the production of postcolonial knowledge and the theory of international relations. Thus, the author illuminates the problems of modern political science and international studies, on the one hand, and on the other hand, emphasizes the need to make the theory of IR accessible to a variety of new global perspectives. The formation of integrative approaches in the study of world politics should provide a new consolidation of both political science and international studies and a productive interaction of these areas of knowledge.

Intercultural universities in Mexico: decolonizing the intercultural philosophy of education

ABSTRACT This article develops a qualitative, descriptive, and analytical methodological approach, to critically rethink the problems of cultural and linguistic inclusion that indigenous peoples fase. The modern/colonial world-system and the geopolitics of knowledge that hegemonic countries impose upon others are introduced. Then, this study describes the historical and political context that led to the creation of inclusive initiatives in universities. Later, it explains the educational philosophy that intercultural communication adopts in two educational centers. As a result, this work discusses the intercultural communication between indigenous and hegemonic populations.

“Emotionscapes of geopolitics”: Interpreting in the United Nations Security Council

AbstractThe agency of interpreters has been kept out of view in human geography. This paper corrects this by focusing on embodied interpretation: bodies, freighted with their own relations, expectations, and experiences in the context of “emotionscapes,” settings for emotional communication. Conceptually, “emotionscapes” enable the exploration of the potentiality of an emotion in its spatial setting. Emotionally expressive behaviour is a process of the emotion; a potentiality to be realised. Emotions are distinctively connected to specific sites and spaces. This potentiality shifts the analytical focus away from what emotion is to what emotion can do to the alteration or reproduction of relations. I argue that this is vitally important to understanding geopolitical exchange, that is, how global politics is made and remade. However, the potentiality of emotions is made more complicated when interpretive bodies are involved in geopolitical exchange. They are intrinsic to the relational fluxes, currents, and flows of emotion – its potentialities – they identify and relay emotionally laden language of others for others in geopolitical communication. They observe, relay, and mutate emotional potentiality in “emotionscapes.” In doing so, they wrestle with more than just words. They seek to capture emotions and geopolitics between real‐life people in real places. Understanding their endeavour should challenge us therefore to [re]consider geopolitical exchange in “emotionscapes” and the mediatory and performative roles played by interpretive bodies in these spaces of geopolitical knowledge production. This is my key purpose in this paper. Underpinning the paper’s conceptual ideas are qualitative data on the role of interpretive bodies in realising emotional potentialities in the “emotionscape” of the UN Security Council in New York, arguably the most high‐profile geopolitical institution.

Decolonial feminist theory: Embracing the gendered colonial difference in management and organisation studies

AbstractFeminist theories in management and organization studies, each with their own ontological and epistemological assumptions, offer critical perspectives of the status quo to challenge our idea of progress in the discipline, yet there is limited engagement with ideas, theories, or practices from the lived experiences of Global South women. Decolonial feminism engages with debates pertaining to coloniality/modernity and indigenous identity and gender in Latin America, while providing a space for the voices and lived experiences of marginalized, non‐Western(ised) women. Positioned in the context of Guatemalan Maya women and deploying critical insights from decolonial feminists, I unpack how the discourse about Global South women silences their voices and agency. Integrating decolonial feminist theory allows us to rethink management and organizationorganization studies as a Western gendered system. Interrupting mainstream narratives to bring a new geopolitics of knowledge and knowing from the perspective of the gendered colonial difference.

Global Theory Does Not Believe in Tears

This text is Martin Müller’s response to the comments on his article “In Search of the Global East” by Adam Leszczyński, Jan Sowa, Magda Szcześniak, and Tomasz Zarycki. The author defends in it the perspective of the Global East, advocating for three ways to further intervene in the geopoli-tics of knowledge: revising existing concepts and theories (instead of emulating them), conducting comparative rese-arch beyond the Global East, and extending the theory to geographic areas other than Eastern.

Colonial power and decolonial peace

ABSTRACT Peace from coloniality has been a device of power within the invention of Latin America which has engaged in different ways of circulation and domination. For example, we see the function of the geopolitical knowledge matrix for the epistemic and practical reproduction of knowledge-power and the appropriation and imposition of a scientific community, derived from modernity, that seeks the classification and codification of a single valid kind of peace. However, it is necessary to denaturalise the structures of how the dominant peace works so that it is questioned and deconstructed, but at the same time allows the possibility of recognising other kinds of peace in Latin America.

Han Suyin and error: Decolonization, knowledge, and literary subjectivity

ABSTRACT This article examines Han Suyin’s fictionalized autobiographies from the 1950s as meditations on the relationship between cognitive error and the global politics of decolonization. Drawing on anti-colonial theories of knowledge, especially those proposed by Mao Zedong, this article develops an account of error as a rhetorical and theoretical problematic in the context of global decolonization. The author argues that error is a recurrent theme in Han Suyin’s work as she navigated the tensions between her subject position and her political commitments during the period when she moved from Hong Kong to Southeast Asia. In A Many-Splendoured Thing, Han reveals the tension between her political commitments and the fragmented nature of geopolitical knowledge. In And the Rain My Drink, she depicts the operations and consequences of error by adopting a more experimental narrative form that registers the psychological damage inflicted by colonial rule during the Malayan Emergency (1948–60).

EL VATICANO II AL SERVICIO DE LA INTERCULTURALIDAD Y DE UN GIRO DECOLONIAL? UN PROYECTO INTERCONTINENTAL EN DESARROLLO

Se encuentra en desarrollo un proyecto internacional conformado por grupos de investigación en los cinco continentes en torno al Vaticano II y sus procesos de recepción que culminará con la publicación de doce volúmenes. En debates recientes emergen cuestiones caracterizadas por las categorías de subalternidad, colonialidad, decolonialidad, geopolítica del conocimiento que suscita la pregunta acerca del significado de poner en el centro de un proyecto intercontinental al Vaticano II. En esta contribución se presta atención a la objeción que proviene de estas perspectivas y a las interpretaciones del Concilio que favorecen su lectura en clave de interculturalidad. Se ofrecen, también, consideraciones sobre el significado del Vaticano II en el marco del proceso continental de estas décadas que manifiestan una gran sintonía con varias de las demandas explicitadas en los planteos provenientes del llamado giro decolonial. El Concilio pertenece al discurso liberador y emancipador en América Latina y el Caribe.

Geopolitics of Power and Knowledge in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Decolonial Reflections on a Global Crisis

This article offers a provisional decolonial reading of the crisis created by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The article performs five interrelated tasks. The first task addresses the question of knowledge and theorizing during exceptional moments. A decolonial case is made for seeking mitigations and solutions to COVID-19 based on the African knowledge and epistemologies from the Global South. Africa in particular and the Global South in general have the richest histories and experiences of epidemics and pandemics. This moment of the COVID-19 pandemic raises questions about the geopolitics of knowledge (which historical archive do we run to, who should learn from whom, and which epistemology is privileged?). The second task is to outline how the triple concepts of paradox, crisis, and crossroads (PCC) can help us to gain a better understanding of the issues cascading in this moment of the COVID-19 pandemic. The third task is a critique of lockdowns as knee-jerk reactions in Africa, since they are not sustainable, and they impinge on life, security, freedom, and economy in fragile African environments. The fourth task is to introduce 10 Ds of the decolonial turn —Deimperialization, De-Westernization, Depatriachization, Deracialization, Debourgeoisement, Decorporatization, Democratization, Deborderization, Decanonization, and Desecularization—which help in envisioning a post-COVID-19 decolonial world order. The final task is to propose decolonial love as the soul of the post-COVID-19 world order based on a new ethics for living together, economies of care, a politics of conviviality, and hospitality as opposed to enmity. Africa in particular and the Global South in general constitute the author’s locus of enunciation.

“The Interpretation Zone”: European Geopolitics and the Interpretive Body

The interpretive body has been overlooked in geopolitical scholarship despite its central role as a linguistic and cultural intermediary in geopolitical knowledge production and transmission. Interpreting comprises multiple acts designed to capture, represent, and reproduce geopolitical knowledge in all of its uncertain complexities. Drawing on assemblage thinking and embodiment, this article exposes the emergent and uncertain ways in which interpretation and geopolitics collide and reveals the struggles by political and interpretive bodies as they try to not only fix the intent behind geopolitical knowledge transmission but also simultaneously limit its uncertainty. It argues for an embodied geopolitics. Using empirical materials on the lived experience of interpreters in the European Union, the article discloses the experiences that result from the interpretive body’s engagement with geopolitics, episodes that create a consciousness of feelings and trigger emotional responses. I show particularly how the interplay between interpretive and political bodies in the coproduction of geopolitical knowledge can be profoundly unsettling in emotional terms. By uniquely connecting embodied interpretation with geopolitical knowledge production and transmission, the article therefore makes a key contribution to recent scholarship on embodiment in geopolitics.

Constructing the Pluriverse: The Geopolitics of Knowledge. Edited by Bernd Reiter. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2018. 352p. $104.95 cloth, $27.95 paper.

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Recontextualising race, politics and inequality in transnational knowledge circulation: Biographical resignifications

This article examines shifts in the meaning and relevance of institutionalised knowledge about social inequalities as it circulates globally. In so doing, it contributes to research critiquing an unequal geopolitics of knowledge that grants greatest authority to theories produced in the global north (Connell, 2007; Mignolo, 2003). I discuss the resignification of globally circulating texts in terms of their entextualisation and reflect on my own role in this process through an auto-ethnographic narrative. I focus on two widely circulating texts that explicitly deal with questions of social power and globalisation: ‘On the cunning of imperialist reason’ (Bourdieu and Wacquant, 1999) and ‘A pedagogy of multiliteracies’ (The New London Group, 1996). Examination of their re-entextualisation in Brazil points to the need to bring to bear additional epistemological resources attuned to social and political struggles in order to address the racial inequalities that have come to be at the forefront of my own scholarly concerns. The article concludes by suggesting ways of engaging with globally circulating knowledge through the incorporation of knowledge produced by local struggles and emerging from everyday categories, giving the example of possible uses of the Brazilian concept of gambiarra.

On origins: the mythistory of translation studies and the geopolitics of knowledge

ABSTRACT This article critically examines the oft-cited historical narrative of Translation Studies that situates its birth in the post-war West. This narrative is referred to as the mythistory of Translation Studies, as its validity derives more from its circulation than from a knowledge of other traditions. The narrative in its various iterations is first analysed as an imperial myth, positing a unitary point of origin, following a developmental trajectory, and presenting its local history as world history. The article then demonstrates the ways in which this Western mythistory contributes to the consolidation of a neocolonial geo-politics of the field, as reflected in the leading Anglophone anthologies, which present Western theory as universal while erasing or delegitimizing knowledge from the global South. The Western mythistory of the field is then provincialised by comparing it to the systematic and sustained interest in translation that arose in the Soviet Union in the nineteen twenties and thirties. This critical treatment of the mythistory is meant to open a space for heterogeneity in the field and to ensure that attempts to enlarge the field are not merely expansions.

A part of the world or apart from the world? The postsocialist Global East in the geopolitics of knowledge

ABSTRACT This paper shows how academics from the postsocialist countries of the Global East are increasingly claiming a voice in the publishing space of international geography journals. Based on a longitudinal database of editors, board members and authors of 22 leading English-language geography journals since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, it demonstrates how the number of authors from postsocialist countries, notably from the new EU member states, has risen almost seven-fold since the 1990 s, exhibiting the strongest growth rate among all world regions. Yet, their roles as gatekeepers of academic knowledge (editors, board members) are much weaker. With its analysis, the paper intervenes in epistemological debates about the marginal role of the postsocialist Global East in the geopolitics of knowledge. It suggests that despite constant challenges, academics from the postsocialist Global East are becoming more and more visible internationally. It is, therefore, an opportune time to articulate a collective epistemological project, pushing for a greater role in redefining its conditions and modalities – all the while being mindful that no amount of conceptual innovation expected from scholars of the region can make up for a critical reflection of inherently difficult political issues in increasingly neoliberalized academic knowledge production.

The strange geographies of the ‘new’ state capitalism

The recent polymorphism of state intervention and attendant political geographies have been interpreted as a return of state capitalism. While commentators across the social sciences have offered competing characterizations of the new state capitalism, little attention has been dedicated to how narratives and geographical imaginaries of the new state capitalism operate as a form of geopolitical knowledge and practice. Drawing upon critical geopolitics, we make three main arguments. First, we examine the context of wider geopolitical and geo-economic shifts in which the social construction of the geo-category has happened. We contend that the emerging new spatiality of the global economy has prompted the need for new discursive frames and geopolitical lines of reasoning. Second, we argue that this need is fulfilled by the geo-category state capitalism, which acts as a powerful tool in categorizing and hierarchizing the spaces of world politics. It does so by reinstituting a simple narrative of competition between two easily identifiable protagonists – (Western) democratic free-market capitalism and its deviant ‘other’, (Eastern) authoritarian state capitalism – and by reactivating older geopolitical grand narratives. Third, the geo-category state capitalism discursively enables Western business and state actors to justify tougher policy stances in three areas: foreign policy; trade, technology, and investment regulation; and international development.

In Search of the Global East: Thinking between North and South

Carving up the world into Global North and Global South has become an established way of thinking about global difference since the end of the Cold War. This binary, however, erases what this paper calls the Global East — those countries and societies that occupy an interstitial position between North and South. This paper problematizes the geopolitics of knowledge that has resulted in the exclusion of the Global East, not just from the Global North and South, but from notions of globality in general. It argues that we need to adopt a strategic essentialism to recover the Global East for scholarship. To that end, it traces the global relations of IKEA’s bevelled drinking glass to demonstrate the urgency of rethinking the Global East at the heart of global connections, rather than separate from them. Thinking of such a Global East as a liminal space complicates the notions of North and South towards more inclusive but also more uncertain theorizing.

Feminist geopolitics: A contested and rebellious offspring of geopolitical knowledge

The paper discusses the general features of the theoretical, epistemological, and methodological framework of a feminist approach in the early 21st-century Geopolitics with the aim to discover how its proponents challenge the established ?truths? of (neo)classical geopolitics and make innovative interventions to ?repair? and improve the knowledge produced in critical geopolitics. Being the most recent offspring of geopolitical knowledge that emerged only three decades ago, feminist geopolitics provoked an immediate backlash from the colleagues from the mainstream political geography in terms of recognising its disciplinary position. The author gives an overview of the body of a significant feminist geopolitical work drawn up based on a selected batch of most important international journals and edited volumes published since 2001. The author argues that the contribution of theoretical, epistemological and methodological insights of feminist geopolitics should be located in counterbalancing of the rigidity of the discipline mainstream, and in insisting on the analysis of the intersections of the public (state, global) and the private/intimate (body, home), interrelatedness of embodied life practices and abstract/bureaucratic geopolitical projects, as well as on the introduction of post-positivist methodological approaches and techniques. The paper systemises the most important feminist research questions, and particularly legitimate topics of the day, which were ignored or missed by the mainstream geopolitical research. The author concludes that the feminist approach still remains a dissident body of knowledge within the geopolitical thought, but with an emancipatory potential in creating theoretical and political space in which to articulate a more responsive notion of geopolitics - taken both as knowledge and practice - that might address victimisation of marginalised population entangled in imperial projects.