Global South Studies Center Erfurt

Global South Studies are a rather recent, vibrant and interdisciplinary research field. Global South is understood here in its relation to the Global North and Global East, as a relational concept. The term first appeared officially in world politics in 1980 with the report of Willy Brandt’s North-South Commission (1977-79), entitled North-South: A Programme for Survival, but "Global South" was used since the 1960s.
The concept of the Global East has recently been introduced into the discussion in order to include the post-Soviet and postsocialist spaces, the former “Second World”, liminally positioned between Global South and Global North. Global South, North and East are not to be understood as geographical descriptions, but rather as deterritorialized concepts used to describe and analyze transregional, transnational and translocal relationships, spaces and movements within the global economic and political order. Thus, there is “South” to be found in the “North” and "East" (and vice-versa). Through related experiences of subaltern positions of marginalization (and often alienation), the concepts Global South and East are also used to both express and analyze powerful social and political Imaginaries that have been able to transcend the contradictions and disjunctions of the societies and politics involved.

Events

When: Thursday December 18th 18:00
 

Where: LG1 HS 3
Running Time: 110 minutes
 

Global South Movie Night presents:
My Brothers and Sisters in the North:

In the summer of 1945, shortly before the end of WWII in Asia, two American Diplomats drew a line across a map. This new “border”, which was oriented along the 38th parallel , served as the basis for the division of Korea into north and south. A division that was deeply unpopular in the country that had just emerged from decades of Japanese colonialism, yearning for self-determination . The Korean people however had little say in the matter and the 38th parallel remained, witnessing the birth of both the Republic of Korea in the south, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the north and eventually the immensely destructive Korean War from 1950 to 1953. From then on Korea proceeded on two completely different paths of development in the north and the south. As opposed to South Korea, reliable information on North Korea is very hard to come by. As a result the country remains a mystery to many.

Here “My Brothers and Sisters in the North” can help us expand our knowledge. The German documentary , produced by German-Korean film-maker Sung-Hyung Cho is the end result of her multiyear engagement with North Korea. The film is especially valuable, as Cho, a native speaker of Korean who has given up her South Korean citizenship in order to make this movie, is able to speak to the North Koreans without an interpreter . She interviews people of all swaths of life, from residents of the mega city of Pyongyang to agricultural workers on a collective farm, from teachers to members of the military, from the elder generation who witnessed the Korean War to young students. All this combined with her respectful and welcoming approach at conversation makes Cho’s movie a valuable glimpse into the daily life of the people of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

This movie night is a cooperation between the Committee to Rebuild the FSR Geschichte, the Global South Studies Center Erfurt and HSG Plurals.