Session 1 of Exploring the Dark Side of the Moon: The History of Economics in the Global South

Call for Presentation for an Online Webinar Series and book chapters

With the support of the Institute of New Economic Thinking’s Young Scholars Initiative and Globalisation and Economy in a long-term perspective, we are hosting a series of webinars that bring together historians of economic thought from around the world who work on the History of economics of the Global South.

The History of economic thought is predominantly centered on Europe and the United States. Now that technology and economic interdependence have made the planet a single venue for struggles of interests and ideas, such bias has become untenable. The exchange of ideas and cultures has always been strong, irrespective of administrative boundaries and country-specific institutional frameworks, that have led to national reconstructions of economic thought in those countries.

A modern approach to the History of economics needs to include more ideas, theories, and practices debated beyond national or specific regional traditions. This is particularly relevant for a detailed study of the economic thought of the Global South. India, Latin America, China, and Africa – just to provide a few examples – have long-established traditions concerning a different understanding and management of economic categories and systems. Many such ideas once controlled vast geographic areas, populations, and economies of the Global South, sometimes even spilling over the North. These traditions need to be recognized and better studied.

The History of economic thought is a history of societies; with their rich and plural ideas and practices. If it is true that some have emerged as dominant in particular historical ages, we should not forget other approaches to economics that have meanwhile been forgotten, neglected, and sometimes even completely ignored.

Ideas that traveled from East to West and from South to North without political, geographical, or ideological barriers. Ideas have also traveled from South to South. These movements equally included categories that are unknown to most economic literature, like food, culture, language, vocabulary, music, science, mathematics, home organization, domestic economy, etc. Recent contemporary economic literature has started acknowledging and recognizing their importance and presenting economic thought as the wealth of the human species rather than a singular product of the European Renaissance (without reducing its significance to the world of ideas and economics). 

The proposed webinar and book project aim to encourage scholars (particularly from the Global South, but not only) to present ideas discussed in the other half of the world, concerning persons, events, institutions, and/or theories, possibly focusing on transnational contaminations and cross-fertilization. When we interpret historical ideas, we must acknowledge that cultural, linguistic, and informational barriers may limit our understanding. As a result, the existing documentation of economic thought from the Global South is often incomplete or even stereotypical. This webinar workshop and book aim to fill the gap and encourage the history of economics literature to be more pluralist. 

Our ambition, coherent with recent activities also pursued by other scholars in the attempt to go beyond localized and countries-specific histories of economic thought (Cambodia INET’s Young Scholars Initiative workshop, Association for Latin American Economic Thought ALAHPE, Indian Society for the History of Economic thought ISHET, etc.), is: to raise a methodological issue, provide a venue for academic discussions, and encourage further studies along this line. We would include some contributions in a collective publication. We also hope the webinars will support the development of materials that could be used for teaching the history of economics courses and seminars around the world.

Organization: The seminars will be held online at a variety of different times to give the greatest opportunity for public attendance. Seminars will be moderated by Sattwick Dey Biswas (one of the coordinators of INET’s Young Scholars Initiative) and Rebeca Gomez-Betancourt (University of Lyon 2 – ALAHPE).

Upcoming sessions:

October 17, 2 pm Berlin time

Leonardo de Vio (University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne), Alexandre Reichart (Renmin University of China) and Wenjie Zhang (Renmin University of China)

‘From the Legalist School to Kautilya’s Arthashâstra: the Birth of the Traditions promoting State Intervention into the Economies of China and India’

Bryan Kauma (Southwestern University, Georgetown, US)
“Critical but stable”: Agricultural propaganda, Politics and Hunger in Zimbabwe

November 14, 2 pm Berlin time

Ajay Kumar Mishra (L.N. Mithila University, Darbhanga, India)
Historicism of the Social Sciences: Implications for Economic Study

Matilde Ciolli (University of Milan, Italy)
The War for the Free Market. Neoliberalism and Authoritarian Violence in Guatemala (1954-83)

Jérôme Lange (Wits University, Johannesburg)
Searching for the History of African Economic Thought

November 28, 2 pm Berlin time

Juan Odisio (CONICET, Mexico), Florencia Sember (University of Milan, Italy)
Keynes Travels South

Celeste Viedma (University of Buenos Aires, Argentina)
The Rebel Scientist: An Introduction to Oscar Varsavsky’s Economic Thought

Vittorio Caligiuri (Tuscia University, Italy)
From Liberation to Development: Economic Thought in the Post-Colonial Maghreb

Important dates and process:

1. Submission of proposals for workshop presentations: please send an abstract of a maximum of 500 words by May 30th, 2024 to Sattwick Dey Biswas at sattwick@gmail.com, and/or Rebeca Gomez-Betancourt Rebeca.GomezBetancourt@univ-Lyon2.fr, Fabio Masini fabio.masini@uniroma3.it, Alexandre Reichart alexandre.reichart@ruc.edu.cn.
2. Acceptance of proposals for workshop presentation: acceptances will be communicated to their authors on June 15, 2024.
3. Submission of drafts for discussion in the workshop: drafts must be shared by September 15th, 2024. Participants will be invited to deposit drafts into an online folder. Details to be provided.
4. The virtual workshop will take place from October 2024.

Organisers: Rebeca Gomez Betancourt, Sattwick Dey Biswas, Fabio Masini, Alexandre Reichart