Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on language and Southern perspectives seeks to de-universalize Western concepts such as globalization as equally beneficial to all, and instead, replaces them with approaches to language which ideally would seek to be non-hegemonic views but may at best be alternative approaches to language and society. It explores how subjects in Brazilian favelas build on indexicality to articulate alternative temporalities conducive to hope. The book argues that notions about qualitative research emerged in the Medieval Islamic era prior to their emergence in the Western academy. It explores the changes that the concept of ‘civic participation’ undergoes as it travels back and forth between the Global North and Global South. The explores what a shift to seeing “non-humans” means for research with Indigenous languages, land, and identity.