Special Lecture “Coeval Souths: India and Ethiopia in Shared Time”, June 29, 2026

School of International Relations and Politics (SIRP)

Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam

“Coeval Souths: India and Ethiopia in Shared Time”

29 June 2026 | 11:00 AM | Seminar Hall, Old Building, SIRP

The School of International Relations and Politics (SIRP), Mahatma Gandhi University, organised a Special Lecture titled “Coeval Souths: India and Ethiopia in Shared Time” on 29 June 2026 at 11:00 AM in the Seminar Hall, Old Building, SIRP. The lecture was delivered by Dr. Manjusha Nair, Associate Professor of Sociology at George Mason University, USA, and Director of the Global South Research Hub.

Dr. Nair’s lecture examined the shared histories, contemporary experiences, and interconnected trajectories of India and Ethiopia, situating the two countries within a common analytical frame of the Global South. Drawing on the notion of “coevalness”, she argued for reading India and Ethiopia as societies inhabiting a shared time rather than as cases placed on separate ladders of development, thereby challenging conventional hierarchies embedded in comparative and area studies scholarship.

The session was attended by faculty members, research scholars, and postgraduate students of the School. The lecture was followed by an engaging interactive session in which participants raised questions on South–South cooperation, comparative methodology, India–Africa relations, and the politics of knowledge production in and about the Global South.

The programme was coordinated and chaired by Dr. Jojin V. John, Assistant Professor, SIRP. The lecture formed part of the School’s continuing efforts to foster critical engagement with Global South perspectives in the study of international relations and to bring leading international scholars into conversation with the University’s academic community.