The Southern Voice in Linking

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The Southern Voice in Linking
Thinking about North-South Linking
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North-South Dialogue four alternative scenarios
reflecting different practice in linking
N
S
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Scenario 1

• I want to link with you because I think it is
  important that my students
• learn about other countries
• learn how fortunate they are
• learn that they can make a difference to your
  community

• I want to link with you because I think it is
  important that my students
• learn from you
• learn how good life can be if they work hard like
  you
• learn to accept that we need your help to get to
  where you are

4

• I dont want to link with you because
• you assume you have the answers for us and that
  we need your help
• you impose your values and decide what needs to
  be done and how it should be done
• you think your way is the best way and you think
  you are better than us

• I dont want to link with you because
• you just want us to give you resources - you are
  not interested in changing
• you are unreliable and ungrateful
• I cant learn anything useful from you

Scenario 2
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• I want to link with you but you have to
  understand that
• we are not going to just accept the crumbs from
  the table
• you are privileged and you just cant understand
  where we are coming from
• you have colonised us in the past and you owe us
  a lot

• I want to link with you because I want to make up
  for the mistakes of the past
• I want you to tell me what I can do
• I believe your people have the answers for a
  better world
• I feel guilty that I benefit from the fruits of
  colonisation

Scenario 3
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Scenario 4
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AN IDEAL SCENARIO
BUT
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THERE ARE BARRIERS TO ENGAGEMENT IF WE DONT
LOOK AT WHERE WE ARE COMING FROM
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THERE ARE THINGS WE NEED TO ADDRESS
FIXED IDEAS ABOUT THE SELF, THE OTHER AND THE
WORLD INCLUDING IDEAS OF DEVELOPMENT AND
DEVELOPMENT ISSUES.
PRESENT DAY INEQUALITIES IN DECISION MAKING,
VOICE, FUNDING, RESOURCES, TIME, ACCESS, SUPPORT
AND TRAINING.
HISTORICAL INEQUALITIES IN THE WORTH ATTRIBUTED
TO INDIVIDUALS, COMMUNITIES, SOCIETIES AND THEIR
CONTRIBUTIONS
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AND WE NEED TO DEVELOP SKILLS TO ADDRESS THEM BY

Learning to unlearn learning to perceive that
what we consider good and ideal is only one
perspective. Our perspective is related to where
we come from socially, historically and
culturally. Learning to listen learning to
recognise the effects and limits of our
perspective, and to be receptive to new
understandings of the world. Learning to learn
learning to receive new perspectives, to
re-arrange and expand our own and to deepen our
understanding - thinking beyond our
limits. Learning to reach out learning to apply
this learning to our own contexts and in our
relationships with others continuing to reflect
and explore new ways of being, thinking, doing,
knowing and relating.
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BUT HOW?
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HERE IS A WAY
LETS START WITH ONE KEY ISSUE WHICH NEEDS
EXPLORING COLONIALISM
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Many people both in the North and the South argue
that colonialism has created a timeline of
progress and placed cultures and societies at
different points on it. The societies that have
been placed at the top tend to see themselves as
developed, civilised and successful and to view
other societies as primitive and backwards. Some
of these societies have taken upon themselves the
mission to civilise, enlighten and educate the
backward ones.
TIME DEVELOPMENT - PROGRESS
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• In defining others as inferior, ignorant,
  traditional and barbaric, the colonisers have
  learned to think of themselves as superior,
  enlightened, modern and civilised.
• Societies that were colonised have responded in
  different ways
• some have accepted and adopted a view of
  themselves
• and their culture as inferior.
• some have appropriated and transformed the
  perspective
• of the colonisers.
• others have rejected this view completely.

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• Other aspects of our colonial heritage may
  include
• the notion that our beliefs and ideas have
  universal value
• the belief that we have the solutions to
  their problems, the desire to help them and
  to control agendas, processes and outcomes
• the desire to study, to analyse, to categorise,
  to record, to inscribe and to judge the other.

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This still shapes and limits the way we view
ourselves, perceive the other and engage with the
world. In order to address these limitations,
we need to look into our cultural baggage and
open up to different understandings.
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We need to remember that, because we are coming
from different contexts, we will see and
understand things differently. This difference
is the greatest source of learning in the link as
it can open up different possibilities of
understanding on both sides.
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A link is an opportunity to explore and unpack
our cultural baggage and to transform our
understandings of the world in order to create
new ways of being, seeing, knowing, thinking and
doing together.
A good link is a link where perceptions are
challenged on both sides.
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BUT GETTING THERE REQUIRES A LOT OF WORK TO
OVERCOME THE BARRIERS
FIXED IDEAS ABOUT THE SELF, THE OTHER AND THE
WORLD INCLUDING IDEAS OF DEVELOPMENT AND
DEVELOPMENT ISSUES.
PRESENT DAY INEQUALITIES IN DECISION MAKING,
VOICE, FUNDING, RESOURCES, TIME, ACCESS, SUPPORT
AND TRAINING.
HISTORICAL INEQUALITIES IN THE WORTH ATTRIBUTED
TO INDIVIDUALS, COMMUNITIES, SOCIETIES AND THEIR
CONTRIBUTIONS
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IF YOU ARE PREPARED FOR THE CHALLENGE
There are many resources which can help you to
deepen your understanding of the complexities,
challenges and opportunities in linking. These
are some starting points
Toolkit for Linking opportunities and
challenges www.build-online.org.uk
PRESENT DAY INEQUALITIES IN DECISION MAKING,
VOICE, FUNDING, RESOURCES, TIME, ACCESS, SUPPORT
AND TRAINING.
FIXED IDEAS ABOUT THE SELF, THE OTHER AND THE
WORLD INCLUDING IDEAS OF DEVELOPMENT AND
DEVELOPMENT ISSUES.
OSDE initiative www.osdemethodology.org.uk
HISTORICAL INEQUALITIES IN THE WORTH ATTRIBUTED
TO INDIVIDUALS, COMMUNITIES, SOCIETIES AND THEIR
CONTRIBUTIONS
Through Other Eyes www.throughothereyes.org.uk
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THANK YOU
For more information, please contact Humanities
Education Centre English Street, London E3
4TA Tel [phone] Fax [phone] E-mail
heclinking_at_gn.apc.org This resource was designed
by Margaret Burr, Vanessa Andreotti and Lynn
Mario de Souza.