ABSTRACT
I anchor my exploration of the concept (or idea) of the global South around three main postulates. The first constitutes the point of departure of my discussion. It arises from a relatively consensual rejection of the idea of a singular modernity emanating from an alleged geopolitical core (the North), and seeks instead to understand modernity as a global and contextually determined phenomenon that assumes protean and multiple forms, often concurrently, in different parts of the planet. Similarly grounded on a reversal of the conventional temporal order of modernity, the second hypothesis structuring my essay posits that, in the era of catastrophic climate change (the so-called Anthropocene), it is those dwelling on the margins who first experience an impending future of climate catastrophe. I shall close my discussion with a sustained inquiry into Amitav Ghosh's provocative suggestion (my third postulate) that imperialism may actually have deferred the eruption of the climate crisis by holding back the development of Asian and African economies. I propose to consider in detail the conceptual and ethical consequences, for our understanding and critical deployment of the term global South, that this unsettling and potentially disruptive hypothesis entails.
