Call For Papers: RDS Special Issue on Disability and the Global South: Conversations with/across the Global South: Towards Decolonial Disability Futurities*
“We need to revisit the stories we tell ourselves – about how we got here – and see something different, see something that allows us to become relatives again.” – (Prawec, 2022, p. 17)
(*Global South is a disputed term generally referring to parts of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia (excluding Israel, Japan and South Korea) and Oceania (without Australia and New Zealand), particularly regions frequently classified as developing.
Decolonial is another disputed term generally referring to being aware of and criticizing the ways that places, ideas and people have been colonized in the past. Futurities here refers to ways of thinking of anti-ableist futures that reflect these histories).
We are pleased to announce a Special Issue: Conversations with/across the Global South: Towards Decolonial Disability Futurities, Guest Editors Drs. Xuan Thuy Nguyen, Carleton University; Katie Aubrecht, St. Francis Xavier University; and Shilpaa Anand, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani. We are soliciting papers of approximately 6000 words at https://rdsjournal.org/ by August 31, 2023.
Stories about the Global South have historically been told from views of scholars & activists in the Global North (broadly, Northern America & Europe, Israel, Japan & South Korea, Australia & New Zealand). The same can be said for disability stories and histories. In recent years, some conversations about disability in the Global South have been acknowledged by disability studies scholars but often not given the attention or importance deserved. Moreover, often little attention is paid in these to views of people from the Global South and their unique contexts of life. Even more importantly, such work often reproduces past power imbalances, even when scholars say they wish to criticize them.
In addition to being aware of ways such power imbalances have shaped past conversations, we must frame future stories of disability to better reflect actual lived experiences of people in the Global South. In academic and activist writings as well as creative work that explore these ideas, this themed issue hopes to create a space for this to happen.
Contributions to this themed issue may include but are not limited to:
- The limits of “post-colonial” and “decolonial” as concepts in thinking about disability;
- The power of the language we use in this process;
- Ways of building alliances across areas of study in disability studies;
- Transnational approaches to disability justice across the Global North and Global South;
- Considering these questions in times of ecological crises and transitions;
- Contestations, tensions, and implications of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;
- Ways arts-based and other creative and participatory methods may be used;
- Efforts of resistance by disabled children & youth, families, & communities in the Global South;
- The building & anchoring of disabled women & girls’ local knowledges & decolonial leadership;
- The role of intergenerational justice in these conversations; and
- Other topics engaging disability and the Global South.
DATE FOR SUBMISSIONS OF FULL MANUSCRIPTS: August 31st, 2023.
Extended version of this CFP may be found at: https://rdsjournal.org/index.php/journal/announcement/view/51
Inquiries may be sent to the Guest Editors:
Xuan Thuy Nguyen, Carleton University, xuanthuy.nguyen@carleton.ca
Katie Aubrecht, St. Francis Xavier University, caubrech@stfx.ca
Shilpaa Anand, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, shilpaa.anand@hyderabad.bits-pilani.ac.in or rdsj@hawaii.edu
Review of Disability Studies (RDS) rdsjournal.org is a peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary, international journal published by the Center on Disability Studies at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. The open access journal contains research articles, essays, creative works and multimedia relating to the culture of disability and people with disabilities.
A summary of the Call for Papers can also be found:
PDF version: Summary_CFP_Conversations_with_across_the_Global_South
Word version: Summary_CFP_Conversations_with_across_the_Global_South