Routledge Companion to Literature and the Global South

The Routledge Companion Literature and the Global South offers a comprehensive overview of the field at a key moment in its development—a snapshot of where Global South literary studies stands in its second decade. As the aftermath of a string of global cataclysms since the rise of neoliberal globalization has demonstrated, it is the poor, the disenfranchised, and the marginalized who consistently bear the brunt of the suffering. What defines the Global South is the recognition across the world that globalization’s promised bounties have not materialized. It has failed as a global master narrative. Global South studies centers on three general areas: Globalization, its aftermath/failure, and how those on the economic bottom survive it.

Organized into three parts, this volume consists of original essays by 25 contributors from around the world. Part I focuses on the origins and objects of Global South studies, and how this field has come to define and historicize its organizing concept. Part II considers subsequent critical developments in Global South studies, particularly those that embrace interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches. Part III features case studies which highlight a range of applications and interventions. The contributors critique the boundaries and definitions explored in the earlier parts and push "settled" literatures or methods into new analytical spaces.

This innovative collection is an invaluable resource for anyone studying and researching Global South studies and literature, but also those interested in world literature, contemporary literature, postcolonialism, decolonizing the curriculum, critical race studies, gender studies, and politics.

Alfred J. López is Professor and Head of the School of Interdisciplinary Studies, Director of Global Studies, and Director of Latin American and Latino Studies at Purdue University, Indiana. His publications include José Martí: A Revolutionary Life (University of Texas Press, 2014) and A Posthumous History of José Martí: The Apostle and his Afterlife (Routledge, 2023). López was also the founding editor of The Global South (Indiana University Press, 2007- ), the leading journal of globalization and Global South studies.

Ricardo Quintana-Vallejo is Assistant Professor of English at Rhode Island College. He is the author of Children of Globalization: Diasporic Coming-of-age Novels in Germany, England, and the United States (Routledge, 2021). His essays have appeared in Literary Geographies, Norteamérica, The North Meridian Review, and Chasqui, and in several edited volumes.