5th ISA Forum of Sociology (6-11 July 2025)

Historical research into the transregional North–South circulation of knowledge within sociology has tended to have a unidirectional bias to date. The standard assumption is that as a result of unequal internationalization, theories are spread from the global North or “centers” to the global South or “peripheries”. Based on this premise, many of the studies of circulation focus on the transfer of knowledge from the North to the South. Thus far, little attention has been paid to the transregional circulation of sociological theories from the South to the North and their impact on the transformation of the social sciences. Analyzing the global circulation of social theories and categories from the South (called by R. Connell “Southern Theories”), the regular session includes contributions that address precisely this gap. We focus on the historical role of the institutional consolidation of western area studies as channels for this circulation, the role of sociologists from the “Third World”/Global South in ISA and in international organizations (such as CEPAL; UNESCO; ILO; World Bank), South-North mobility and exile; mediation and reception of Southern Theories in “centers” (processes of translation, modification, application in empirical research and rejection, inclusion in teaching and curriculum development). Focusing on this little-explored direction in the circulation of knowledge, the aim is to provide empirical studies regarding the conditions and forms of South-North exchanges within the unequal process of the internalization of the social sciences. We propose to redirect the research agenda within the history of sociology and the sociology of knowledge.