Preface & Acknowledgments

 Vol. 1:1 Preface & Acknowledgments Alfred J. López MIRANDA: O wonder! How many goodly creatures are there here! How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world That has such people in’t! PROSPERO: ‘Tis new to thee. —Shakespeare, The Tempest Welcome to the global South, a place that is less a place (or even an alignment of/among places) than a condition, and perhaps an orientation. Of course the places and peoples that make up today’s global South are not exactly new; it is rather their commingling and alignment under the banner of globalization and its aftermath, among other things, that distinguishes today’s global South from yesterday’s Third World and other such terms. In a sense the announcement of a global South, unlike the “beauteous creatures” actually present before Miranda, is even premature, and therefore untimely, as it would unveil a referent that is even now unfolding in real time in response to ever-accelerating global and local events. Yet in announcing its launch, this new journal must also acknowledge its referent, if only as a horizon and a possibility. As its title implies, The Global South will focus on the literatures and cultures of those parts of the world that have experienced the most political, social, and economic upheaval, and which have suffered the brunt of the greatest challenges, facing the world under globalization. A short list of these challenge would include poverty, displacement and diaspora, environmental degradation, human and civil rights abuses, war, hunger, and disease. Thus “global South” can and does serve as a signifier of oppositional subaltern cultures ranging from Africa, Central and Latin America, much of Asia, and even those “Souths” within a larger perceived North, such as the U.S. South, the Caribbean, and Mediterranean Europe. Along with this geographical focus, the journal will emphasize those populations marginalized within the U.S. empire itself as it increasingly becomes the face and voice of globalization : immigrants, women of color, and other vulnerable minorities. The study of these otherwise disparate and discontinuous subjects, known collectively as “The Global South,” demonstrates that as globalization conquers the planet Vol. 1:1 vi the South, as a synonym for subalterity, also transcends geographical and ideological frontiers. The Global South will publish two issues per year through 2009. The Premiere Issue consists of position papers written by our Advisory Board members: responses by some of the globe’s leading scholars to the concept of “The Global South” and what globalization studies in the 21st century might gain from it. Subsequent numbers will be Special Issues, each of which will focus on a single specific geographical area or critical problem. As consistent with both the diversity of specializations among Advisory Board members and the very notion of the global, The Global South will boast contributions of the highest quality from the humanities and social sciences. Regardless of the specific topic, however, the journal will always address those parts of the world that both have suffered the most and have the most to lose from the march of globalization and global capitalism. This Premiere Issue represents the culmination of over two years’ work by many people. From the very initiation of the idea for a new journal in global Southern studies to the refinement of the concept, to the search for a scholarly press and preparation of the launch and future issues, this has been a group effort . I am grateful to more people than I will remember to name here, but some stand out as crucial to the new journal’s success and very existence. Among those here at The University of Mississippi I count my former chair of English, Joe Urgo, for both his encouragement and his patience from the beginning and throughout; Glenn Hopkins, Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, for crucial financial support without which the global South would sexist but The Global South would not; the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs for their continuing support, financial and otherwise; and my Associate Editor, Sharr ón Eve Sarthou, who has been an indispensable colleague and ally through the never-smooth process of preparing a volume for publication. To them, and everyone at The...