Disambiguating the southern urban critique: Propositions, pathways and possibilities for a more global urban studies

Mary Lawhon and Yaffa Truelove
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Mary Lawhon: Geography and Environmental Sustainability, University of Oklahoma, USA
Yaffa Truelove: Department of Geography, University of Colorado Boulder, USA

Urban Studies, 2020, vol. 57, issue 1, 3-20

Abstract: Scholarship engaging with (northern) urban theory from the south has troubled the core of urban studies. At this critical juncture, we argue that it is important to clarify core propositions and call attention to points of convergence and dissonance amongst advocates of ‘the southern urban critique’. We briefly review foundational arguments for this scholarly community, then outline three distinct iterations of the source of this critique: the south is empirically different; EuroAmerican hegemony works to displace a diversity of intellectual traditions; and the postcolonial encounter requires the critical interrogation of research practices. We then consider whether the southern urban critique is an argument for the study of a distinct southern urbanism, an ontological position about the socio-spatial contingency of all theorisation or a tactical strategy for calling attention to marginalised places and ideas to be superseded by an urban studies of a world of cities. We hope our efforts contribute to further conversation and greater analytical clarity, enabling more rigorous and robust articulations of the precise objects and objectives of the southern urban critique in particular, and urban studies more generally.

Keywords: development; method; politics; provincialising theory; social justice; southern urbanism; theory; å ‘å±•; 方法; 政治; åœ°æ–¹åŒ–ç †è®º; 社会公正; å —æ–¹åŸŽå¸‚åŒ–; ç †è®º (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:57:y:2020:i:1:p:3-20

DOI: 10.1177/0042098019829412

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