Southern theory, knowledge production and Russia’s war in Ukraine: An interview with Raewyn Connell

Abstract

This is an interview with Raewyn Connell held through email in April 2023 and has been later updated in October 2023. It consists of the following three sections: ‘Southern Theory and Its Enemies’; ‘Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Global Field of Knowledge Production’; ‘The position of Russia in the North-South dichotomy’. It includes a variety of ideas, that is, southern theory, subaltern empire, Global East, post-socialist coloniality, sanctions, appropriation of anticolonial narratives by Putin, North and South in sociology, and so on. The main aim of the interview is to demonstrate how the ideas of Raewyn Connell relate to a current configuration of knowledge production in sociology, especially in the state of war and its possible influence on international sociology.