The global South and global development: histories, conceptions, methodologies, representations.

29 Setembro 2025, 16:30 • Thomas Gerhard Erich Muhr

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Interrogation of the notions of the global South (contrasted with, inter alia, ‘the South’ and ‘Third World’) and global Development (contrasted with ‘international development’), through theoretical, methodological, empirical and political lenses. On this basis, North/West colonialist representations of the South/East in word and image over time were examined – from colonial map-making and art to contemporary media and academia.

What is ‘Development’, and what’s wrong with it? A brief history of ideas

23 Setembro 2025, 16:30 • Thomas Gerhard Erich Muhr

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This session established the ‘bottom line’ for the discussions to follow: it introduced fundamental theoretical ideas, concepts and approaches to Development as a cross-disciplinary field of study, as a basis for understanding the decolonial critiques and the need for a historical approach that goes back further in time than 1949, when USA President Truman defined the majority world as under-developed (which is commonly taken as the inception of Development Studies). Beyond such substantive knowledge, we talked about challenges and contradictions involved in decolonising the self while embedded within colonial structures in our everyday lives.

Introduction to the course

22 Setembro 2025, 16:30 • Thomas Gerhard Erich Muhr

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A general welcome and introduction to the course, followed by an overview of its structure and organisation, evaluation criteria, and students' expected contributions. Allocation of student presentation texts.