How (and Why) to Organize a Conference in the Global South (guest post)

Conferences provide valuable opportunities to academics and can influence disciplinary agendas. But scholars have unequal access to conferences, often owing to where such conferences are held and the availability of funding. As Kritika Maheshwari (Delft University of Technology), Thierry Ngosso (University of St. Gallen), and Brian Berkey (University of Pennsylvania) explain in the this guest post, this is not bad just for those scholars, but “for philosophy as a discipline.” They have each been involved in organizing conferences around the world, and in what follows they discuss why it is worthwhile to do so, and share some advice based on their experiences. How (and Why) to Organize a Conference in the Global South by Kritika Maheshwari, Thierry Ngosso, and Brian Berkey Conferences are an important part of professional life in academic philosophy. They provide opportunities to get helpful feedback on our work, to learn about what others are working on, and to develop professionally valuable relationships. One of the most significant features of conferences is that they allow us to engage in intellectually rewarding ways with a wide range of colleagues, many of whom we might not otherwise have significant professional interactions with. This engagement contributes to the quality of our research and teaching by exposing us to perspectives and approaches that we might not otherwise have encountered, and also simply makes professional life in academia more enjoyable and rewarding. Conferences also serve important institutional functions. They shape disciplinary agendas, determine which questions and approaches gain visibility, and influence whose work is taken up, cited, and taught. Importantly, the opportunities to participate in conferences, and therefore to access their benefits, are distributed very unequally. Some of us are fortunate enough to be able to attend multiple conferences each year in a variety of locations, while others have few if any institutional resources available for conference participation. Philosophers based in well-resourced institutions—predominantly in North America, Europe, and Australia—tend to attend conferences held in those same regions, while those based in institutions across the Global South face significant barriers to participation. The result is limited cross-regional engagement within the discipline. In addition, this separation makes it the case that conferences organized and hosted by institutions in the Global North—often with the interests, constraints,.. The post How (and Why) to Organize a Conference in the Global South (guest post) first appeared on Daily Nous.