On October 7, 2026, SCRC with the Institute of International Studies hosted a workshop titled “Global East – Global South. Relations. Memory. Knowledge.” The event took place at the Jinonice campus of Faculty of Social Sciences and it brought together scholars interested in the ways in which historical knowledge, geopolitical categories, and relations between different regions of the world are constructed and understood.
The workshop opened with remarks by the Director of SCRC, David Emler, who welcomed the participants and highlighted the importance of creating spaces for dialogue across regions, disciplines, and established geographical frameworks. He also intorduced the center’s mission and research activities to the visiting scholars and students.
The main lecture was delivered by Prof. Jie-Hyun Lim of Sogang University, who presented his paper “Uncanny Juxtaposition, Not Comparison: Displacing East & West, and North & South from the Global Easts.” In his lecture, Prof. Lim introduced the concept of “uncanny juxtaposition” as a post-comparative method for historical research. The approach builds on his methodological reflections on the limitations of comparative history, particularly its tendency to reproduce Eurocentric understandings of global historical development.
Rather than placing different regions into a predefined comparative framework, the concept of uncanny juxtaposition seeks to unsettle established binaries such as East and West or North and South. It encourages researchers to reconsider how such categories are produced, whose perspectives they privilege, and how alternative connections and historical relationships can be brought to the foreground.
The workshop also resonated with broader questions central to the work of the SCRC. Understanding contemporary global relations requires moving beyond fixed geographical divisions and recognizing the complex networks through which knowledge, people, technologies, institutions, and economic relationships circulate. Such perspectives are particularly relevant when examining resilience in an increasingly interconnected global environment, where developments in one region can have significant consequences across others.
