The Southern Theory of Social Science: What, How and Why

Raewyn Connell is Professor Emerita at University of Sydney, a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, a recipient of the American Sociological Association's Award for Distinguished Contribution to the Study of Sex and Gender, and of the Australian Sociological Association's Award for Distinguished Service to Sociology in Australia. Among her many publications are: Gender and Power: Society the Person and Sexual Politics (1987), Masculinities (1995), Southern Theory (2007) and Gender: In World Perspective (2009). This conversation was conducted via emails between September 2017 and March 2018. In this conversation, Professor Connell explains the idea of Southern Theory, including the meanings of some key terms, her chief argument and the diversified responses that she receives from worldwide. She strives to map an alternative way of doing social science, especially based on the experiences of the former colonised countries and regions, thus challenging the current knowledge system established by the Euro-American metropole. She thus offers some concrete suggestions and resources to help the reader to understand the variety of the Southern perspectives of academic research. In recent years, Chinese intellectuals have been striving to construct critical discourses of Chinese academics, notably represented by the ethical literary criticism elucidated by Prof. Nie Zhenzhao. Both their efforts re-visit the Euro-American critical discourse, enrich the current theoretical frameworks, and open up new spaces for cognition and interpretation in humanities and social sciences.