The burgeoning discourse surrounding the Global South has been attracting scholarly attention worldwide recently. To delve into this emerging domain of research, one needs to understand the inherent paradox the region exhibits. While the region has many rapidly growing economies, the concerns pertaining to inequality, social and economic development, environmental vulnerabilities, and sustainability in the Global South pose a serious challenge in ensuring the basic standard of living and sustenance. These issues are particularly pressing in regions such as Latin America, Africa, and Asia. While such nations display a substantially increasing GDP and a booming technological sector, they also contend with severe poverty, gender disparities, and rural-urban divides. Concerning social disparity and intersectionality especially in South-Asian countries such as India, where caste, community, and religion take precedence in discourses rendered to counter inequality, this conference in its critical endeavour raises questions on the prevalent established norms. Furthermore, environmental sustainability poses a significant challenge with issues such as air pollution, water scarcity, and the harrowing impacts of climate change, consequential in the overall development of the region.
This conference aims to explore these intersections through critical and scholarly deliberations, offering a platform for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners to discuss and develop actionable strategies and praxis. Addressing these issues requires a nuanced understanding of this complex interplay of domains merging times and spaces, both geographical and beyond. Social and economic development must be inclusive and sustainable to ensure long-term benefits. This conference will also focus on how countries from the Global South can navigate these complex challenges, promoting an equitable and sustainable development model thereby ensuring a much habitable ecosystem of balanced development and resources for all.
Organised by The School of Social Sciences and Humanities (VISH) at VIT-AP University, in collaboration with Ryukoku University (Japan), American University of Phnom Penh (Cambodia), Asian Studies Center–University of Valladolid (Spain), University of Alicante (Spain), and Casa De la India (Spain).
International Conference on Navigating Inequality, Development, and Sustainability in the Global South