Theme: 11. ‘Pan-Africanism’, ‘Bandung Spirit’, ‘Global South’ Futures and the New World Order

Learning from the Other ‘Other’, a Collective Reflection Between / Across Asia, Africa, and Beyond

Roundtable Convenor(s)

• MT

  Min Tang

  Tongji University, China
• YC

  Ying Cheng

  Peking University, China

Roundtable Chair(s)

• MT

  Min Tang

  Tongji University, China
• YC

  Ying Cheng

  Peking University, China

Roundtable Participant(s)

• JC

  Jáfia Câmara

  Centre for Lebanese Studies and the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
• SB

  Sangeeta Banerji

  NYU Shanghai, China
• KJ

  Kawthar Jeewa

  Nelson Mandela University, Mauritius
• AX

  Allen Xiao

  National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore
• LZ

  Lifang Zhang

  Tsinghua University, South Africa

Roundtable Abstract:

This roundtable titled “Learning from the Other ‘Other’, a collective reflection between / across Asia, Africa, and Beyond” aims to (1) collectively explore Southern young scholar’s challenges, experiences, and methodological reflections in doing field-based research within other Southern urban contexts beyond their home country, and (2) how to bring those grounded knowledges as a way to collaborate with others.

The panel considers mobile research with youth and marginal communities as open-ended collaboration in / beyond the field—not only between the interlocutor(s) and the researcher(s) but also among Southern scholars. Learning from the “Other ‘Other’” indicates mutual references within the Souths, rather than solely relying on ‘the West’ as the source of references or theories. It also means collaborative research, teaching modalities, art exhibitions, and other forms of knowledge production and transmission. In coming together, they may strengthen networks amongst the different intellectual traditions of the Asian and African continents. 

The roundtable builds on an originally USF funded initiative, “Youth on the Move: performing urban space in the Global South”. YOTM includes a set of research and actions that investigate how young people’s moving and waiting practices indicate their space-making, time-making, and meaning-making performance across radically changing urban spaces in Africa and Asia. After its initial phase (2023-2024), and emerging in the 2nd phase (2024-2025), it has moved from Lagos (Nigeria)  to Shanghai (Asia) and Surabaya (Indonesia), and became a rising initiative to create an Asia-Africa network with the goal of producing grounded knowledge. The Dakar conference will offer a valuable opportunity for the YOTM to move back to Africa and think of the next phase of its evolution.

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