Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs
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Global Capitalism in the Global South: Enduring Legacies and Recent Transformations

Tuesday, April 5 –
Wednesday, April 6, 2022

Joukowsky Forum, 111 Thayer Street

“Global capitalism” stands for the understanding that capitalism is by its nature global – that capitalism is founded on the incorporation of humans and resources into its logic of production and consumption on a global scale, including through colossal exploitation in the Global South, initially by way of slave trade and colonialism and, later on, by way of other forms of dependence and exploitation. For too long, however, the scholarship on “global capitalism” focused on transformations in the global north alone. In turn, “development” – which could be defined as the successful integration and catching up with global capitalist practices – has been analyzed independently of the broader discussion on global capitalism and its transformation.

In this symposium we bring the discussions on global capitalism and development together, in a way that incorporates analyses of colonial and/or racialized capitalist legacies with analyses of how recent global capitalist transformations emerge in and/or impact the Global South in particular. In addition to a general investigation on global capitalism in the Global South we will investigate how global capitalism in the Global South manifests itself in four realms in particular: politics (right wing populism), policies (welfare), the environment, and technology.

Development Seminar

SCHEDULE

DAY 1: 9:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

9-9:15 Opening words: Nitsan Chorev, Director, Graduate Program in Development, and Harmon Family Professor of Sociology and International & Public Affairs, Brown University.

9:15-10:45: Panel 1 - Global Capitalism in the Global South

Moderator: Anindita Adhikari, Phd candidate in sociology, Brown University

  • Rina Agarwala, Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Johns Hopkins University
  • Mark Blyth, Director of the William R. Rhodes Center for International Economics and Finance, The William R. Rhodes ’57 Professor of International Economics, and Professor of International and Public Affairs, Brown University.
  • Vanessa Ogle, Associate Professor of History, UC Berkeley

10:45-11:15: Break

11:15 - 12:45: Panel 2 - Welfare in the Global South

Moderator: Ieva Zumbyte, Phd candidate in sociology, Brown University

  • Rawan Arar, Postdoctoral Fellow in International and Public Affairs, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University, 2018-2019, 2021-2022, and Assistant Professor in the Department of Law, Societies, and Justice, University of Washington
  • Melani Cammett, Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs in the Department of Government and Director of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
  • Emmerich Davies, Assistant Professor of Education, Harvard University

12:45 - 2:00: A break for lunch 

2:00 - 3:30: Panel 3 - Technology and the Transformation of Global Capitalism

Moderator: Clare Wan, Phd candidate in sociology, Brown University

  • Zehra Hashmi, Postdoctoral Fellow in International and Public Affairs, Center for Contemporary South Asia, Brown University
  • Jason Jackson, Ford Career Development Assistant Professor in Political Economy and Urban Planning, MIT
  • Ya-Wen Lei, Associate Professor of Sociology, Harvard University

DAY 2: 9:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

9:30-9:45 Regrouping: Nitsan Chorev

9:45-10:45: Panel 4 - Environmental Degradation and Adaptation in the Global South

Moderator: Danielle Falzon, Phd candidate in sociology, Brown University

  • Iza Ding, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Pittsburgh
  • Alice Lépissier, Postdoctoral Fellow, Climate Solutions Lab and Rhodes Center for International Economics and Finance, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, Brown University
  • J. Timmons Roberts, Ittleson Professor of Environmental Studies, Professor of Environment and Society and Sociology, Brown University

10:45-11:15: Break

11:15 - 12:45: Panel 5 - Populist Reactions in the Global South

Moderator: Amanda Ball, Phd candidate in sociology, Brown University

  • Marco Garrido, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Chicago
  • Ali Kadivar, Assistant Professor of Sociology and International Studies, Boston College
  • Ashu Varshney, Director of the Center for Contemporary South Asia, and Sol Goldman Professor of International Studies and the Social Sciences, Brown University.

12:45 - 2:00: A break for lunch

2:00 - 3:00: Concluding discussion: Nitsan Chorev and Patrick Heller, Professor of Sociology and International and Public Affairs, Brown University