An autoethnography of hybrid IR scholars: De-territorialising the Global IR debate

Who can speak from the perspective of the Global South? In answering this question, Global IR finds itself in a cul de sac: rather than globalise IR, Global IR essentialises non-Western categories by associating difference and knowledge to place (countries, regions, civilisations) which occludes de-territorialised forms of knowledge production. To reach out for these forms of knowledge, we develop the concept of ‘hybrid subjectivity’, and propose a shift from the macro to the micro. We propose autoethnography as a method to proceed with this move and present two case studies based on our experiences as hybrid IR scholars to illustrate it. In doing so, we demonstrate the relevance of our self-reflexive exercise in deconstructing reified categories and rendering visible new forms of knowledge in the Global IR debate. This article’s conceptualisation of hybrid subjectivity enables the recasting of Global IR in a relational, hybrid and truly global framework for analysis. The argument goes beyond the confines of Global IR and adds essential analytical value to critical, decolonial and pluriversal critiques of Wester-centrism in IR; in the sense of opening new theoretical and empirical possibilities, as an alternative to current intellectual efforts to recover non-colonial or pre-colonial forms of non-western authenticity.