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Question 1
1.1. Explain what is meant by the expression “Global North and Global South”?
The expression "Global North and Global South" refers to a conceptual division of the world that
extends beyond mere geographical location to encompass historical, economic, political, and
epistemological power relations. As Johannes Seroto et al. (2020) explain, the term Global South
refers to "an entire history of colonialism, neo-imperialism, and differential economic and social
change through which large inequalities in living standards, life expectancy, and access to resources
are maintained."
Geographically, the Global North broadly comprises Western Europe, North America, Oceania, and
the developed countries of Asia (such as Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong).
The Global South includes Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and the developing countries of
Asia (including India, Malaysia, and China). However, Johannes Seroto et al. (2020) caution that the
inclusion of countries under these categories is debatable—for example, Turkey is sometimes
included in the Global North, but in their publication, they consider it part of the Global South
because it lies on the peripheral side of the global binary divide in power relations.
More fundamentally, the Global North–Global South distinction is not primarily about latitude or
economic indicators alone. Johannes Seroto et al. (2020) emphasise that "the term Global South does
not only refer to a geographical location; it also refers to the pain caused by capitalism and
colonialism at different levels." In the Global South, the majority of people were silenced,
marginalised, and unemployed, and were victims of sexism and racism because of colonialism. The
expression therefore captures the asymmetrical power relations in which the Global North exercises
global hegemony over the countries of the Global South.
From an epistemological perspective, the Global South has experienced the dominance of Northern
knowledge systems. Johannes Seroto et al. (2020) note that "the Global South had a tendency of
theorising about indigenous people from a Western perspective, using Western ideas, culture, politics,
historical experiences." The need to recentre the Global South involves retrieving new processes of
producing and valorising legitimate epistemologies born of struggle against systematic injustices
caused by capitalism, colonialism, and patriarchy.
The extract further reveals a stark imbalance in scholarly production: of the 18,523 articles published
in Thomson-Reuters indexed education journals in 2012, only 2.13% were authored by scholars in
Africa (Johannes Seroto et al., 2020). This demonstrates how the Global North dominates not only
economic and political power but also knowledge production, thereby perpetuating its worldview as
universal while marginalising Southern epistemologies.
Question 1
1.1. Explain what is meant by the expression “Global North and Global South”?
The expression "Global North and Global South" refers to a conceptual division of the world that
extends beyond mere geographical location to encompass historical, economic, political, and
epistemological power relations. As Johannes Seroto et al. (2020) explain, the term Global South
refers to "an entire history of colonialism, neo-imperialism, and differential economic and social
change through which large inequalities in living standards, life expectancy, and access to resources
are maintained."
Geographically, the Global North broadly comprises Western Europe, North America, Oceania, and
the developed countries of Asia (such as Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong).
The Global South includes Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and the developing countries of
Asia (including India, Malaysia, and China). However, Johannes Seroto et al. (2020) caution that the
inclusion of countries under these categories is debatable—for example, Turkey is sometimes
included in the Global North, but in their publication, they consider it part of the Global South
because it lies on the peripheral side of the global binary divide in power relations.
More fundamentally, the Global North–Global South distinction is not primarily about latitude or
economic indicators alone. Johannes Seroto et al. (2020) emphasise that "the term Global South does
not only refer to a geographical location; it also refers to the pain caused by capitalism and
colonialism at different levels." In the Global South, the majority of people were silenced,
marginalised, and unemployed, and were victims of sexism and racism because of colonialism. The
expression therefore captures the asymmetrical power relations in which the Global North exercises
global hegemony over the countries of the Global South.
From an epistemological perspective, the Global South has experienced the dominance of Northern
knowledge systems. Johannes Seroto et al. (2020) note that "the Global South had a tendency of
theorising about indigenous people from a Western perspective, using Western ideas, culture, politics,
historical experiences." The need to recentre the Global South involves retrieving new processes of
producing and valorising legitimate epistemologies born of struggle against systematic injustices
caused by capitalism, colonialism, and patriarchy.
The extract further reveals a stark imbalance in scholarly production: of the 18,523 articles published
in Thomson-Reuters indexed education journals in 2012, only 2.13% were authored by scholars in
Africa (Johannes Seroto et al., 2020). This demonstrates how the Global North dominates not only
economic and political power but also knowledge production, thereby perpetuating its worldview as
universal while marginalising Southern epistemologies.
