PUBLICATIONS
OCEANIC
HUMANITIES
FOR THE
GLOBAL SOUTH
2019
Literary Ecologies of the Indian Ocean
-Isabel Hofmeyr
This article explores themes of literary ecologies and oceanic studies as a framework for a selection of articles. The article begins by outlining older approaches to oceanic studies which treat the ocean as surface and backdrop to human activity at sea. Rising sea levels and climate change, however, demand new approaches that can engage the materiality of the ocean, its surface and depth. This shift from surface to depth has prompted a set of new immersive methods that seek to go below the waterline. Drawing on these methods, the article proposes the rubric of hydrocolonialism which is defined and discussed. The article provides a discussion of the articles that foregrounds the oceanic, ecological and hydrocolonial themes in each.
2016
Styling multilateralism: Indian Ocean cultural futures
-Isabel Hofmeyr
The Indian Ocean has long been held to be an important arena for bringing lateral, south-south links into view and hence for theorising the Global South. Yet, how is this vast and abstract idea being given substance in the Indian Ocean world? This article approaches this question from a cultural direction, looking at various cultural formations that address themselves to the Global South. The article makes sense of this material by sorting it into three traditions, high, low and in-between. The first is dominated by themes of mourning and nostalgia for the lost utopias of the third world. By contrast, the low tradition works with idioms of popular culture: slapstick, comedy, consumer excess. If the ‘high’ tradition deals in epic, and the ‘low’ tradition in comedy, then the ‘in-between’ tradition takes account of both, relativising romantic accounts of south-south solidarity as it traces the faultlines within the south.
2015
Styling multilateralism: Indian Ocean cultural futures
-Isabel Hofmeyr
The Indian Ocean has long been held to be an important arena for bringing lateral, south-south links into view and hence for theorising the Global South. Yet, how is this vast and abstract idea being given substance in the Indian Ocean world? This article approaches this question from a cultural direction, looking at various cultural formations that address themselves to the Global South. The article makes sense of this material by sorting it into three traditions, high, low and in-between. The first is dominated by themes of mourning and nostalgia for the lost utopias of the third world. By contrast, the low tradition works with idioms of popular culture: slapstick, comedy, consumer excess. If the ‘high’ tradition deals in epic, and the ‘low’ tradition in comedy, then the ‘in-between’ tradition takes account of both, relativising romantic accounts of south-south solidarity as it traces the faultlines within the south.
Styling multilateralism: Indian Ocean cultural futures
-Isabel Hofmeyr
The Indian Ocean has long been held to be an important arena for bringing lateral, south-south links into view and hence for theorising the Global South. Yet, how is this vast and abstract idea being given substance in the Indian Ocean world? This article approaches this question from a cultural direction, looking at various cultural formations that address themselves to the Global South. The article makes sense of this material by sorting it into three traditions, high, low and in-between. The first is dominated by themes of mourning and nostalgia for the lost utopias of the third world. By contrast, the low tradition works with idioms of popular culture: slapstick, comedy, consumer excess. If the ‘high’ tradition deals in epic, and the ‘low’ tradition in comedy, then the ‘in-between’ tradition takes account of both, relativising romantic accounts of south-south solidarity as it traces the faultlines within the south.
2014
Styling multilateralism: Indian Ocean cultural futures
-Isabel Hofmeyr
The Indian Ocean has long been held to be an important arena for bringing lateral, south-south links into view and hence for theorising the Global South. Yet, how is this vast and abstract idea being given substance in the Indian Ocean world? This article approaches this question from a cultural direction, looking at various cultural formations that address themselves to the Global South. The article makes sense of this material by sorting it into three traditions, high, low and in-between. The first is dominated by themes of mourning and nostalgia for the lost utopias of the third world. By contrast, the low tradition works with idioms of popular culture: slapstick, comedy, consumer excess. If the ‘high’ tradition deals in epic, and the ‘low’ tradition in comedy, then the ‘in-between’ tradition takes account of both, relativising romantic accounts of south-south solidarity as it traces the faultlines within the south.