Polyphonic Global South:The Spaces of Technological Communication | The 9th Annual Conference of Network Society (2024)
About the conference:
The dependence on a North/Center narrative shaped by technological power has reduced the Global South to a singular story, consolidating a predetermined phenomenon while conveniently overlooking evident tensions, subtle complexities, and inconsistent simultaneities. The result is a form of chronic poverty. The concept of digital inequality fails to capture the stark reality of adverse digital incorporation. After eight years of theoretical and practical inquiry at the Network Society Annual Conference, we now seek to break free from past theoretical and ideological habits. This year’s conference, themed “Polyphonic Global South: Spaces of Technological Communication,” will explore the intricate trajectories of how technological communication evolves in the Global South under the dual pressures of globalization and localization.
Polyphony illustrates the dynamic diversity of technological processes arising from various cultural, economic, and social contexts. Technological communication refers to the transmission, transfer, and mutual influence of technology from its point of origin to other regions, a cross-regional flow marked by stories of domination and resistance. Space is not merely a geographical location but involves the embedding and reproduction of technology within social structures. The Global South, a term initially political and later economic, generally refers to regions and nations disadvantaged within the global economic system. These areas are recipients of high-tech products while providing cheap labor and raw materials. In other words, the Global South acts as both the primary labor force and the consumer base, sustaining the booming global digital economy while being shaped into the material and ideological space necessary for global capitalist production. This year’s conference will focus on Southeast Asia, exploring how technology is reciprocally tamed and reshaped, creating the digital world we live in today.
The conference will explore the multidimensionality of technological communication through four thematic discussions. First panel, the Global South functions as both the manufacturing hub and the product of the “world factory.” Second penal, the connectivity provided by mobile communication and portable devices fosters diverse identities and community possibilities. Third panel, social media is transforming social relationships and economic models. The fourth panel, Web3, blockchain technologies, and AI are unveiling a new terrain where the people’s aspirations for control over their own wealth clash with state desires to exert control over their citizens. Cryptocurrency holders are drawn to networked cities that escape governmental oversight, while nation-states vigorously pursue sovereign AI initiatives, creating a dynamic counterbalance.
In this undulating terrain, those equipped with technological prowess will ascend to the peaks, while the disconnected will plunge into the depths. In an even more unsettling vision, humanity may ultimately become mere sustenance for AI, with the essence of what it means to be human cast aside in the relentless pursuit of future dreams. Nonetheless, the Global South stands as the region with the greatest potential to chart this new terrain of hope.