Eric Cezne

This article brings to fore long-standing intricacies and dilemmas in Brazil’s and China’s international positioning. It reveals the complex discursive repertoires shaping the Brazilian and Chinese sense of Self in the world, in the Global South, and, more particularly, in relation to Africa. It engages with the concept of “liminality” to highlight how constructing South–South relationships and invoking Southern identities have been ambiguous, indeterminate—thus liminal—endeavors in these countries’ international affairs. By dissecting their diplomatic and corporate narratives towards Africa, our analysis demonstrates, notwithstanding tensions and contradictions, how Brazilian and Chinese actors have creatively acted upon this liminality to pursue foreign policy goals and economic projects. In doing so, the article stresses the floating, ambiguous nature of powerful constructs such as “South” (and “West”), and binary oppositions between them. It concludes by discussing how a liminality perspective allows us to understand the unfixed and multifaceted nature of roles and identities in international relations.

Our second monthly pick for February is "Liminally Positioned in the South: Reinterpreting Brazilian and Chinese Relations with Africa" by @janahoenke.bsky.social, @eric-cezne.bsky.social, and Yifan Mia Yang. Do give it a read!

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

🎉 Congratulations to INCLUDE and postdoctoral researcher
@eric-cezne.bsky.social, who have won a grant from the IDRC for the project 'Making green hydrogen work in Africa: Addressing the skills gap and employment prospects for youth and women'. Read all about it 👇 ascleiden.nl/news/include...

Economy and Society (Post-)Growth Infrastructures. Guest Editors: Malcolm Campbell-Verduyn and Matthias Kranke. Volume 54, Issue 4 of Economy and Society

📣 Publication alert
Just before the break, a special issue co-edited with Malcolm Campbell-Verduyn on ‘(Post-)Growth Infrastructures’ was published in @econsocjournal.bsky.social. /1
👉 www.tandfonline.com/toc/reso20/5...

📕Funda Baydar Yazan appraises @janahoenke.bsky.social @eric-cezne.bsky.social & Yifan Yang's Africa’s Global Infrastructures: South–South Transformations in Practice, recommending it to scholars interested in the politics of infrastructure beyond its technical dimension.

🔗 doi.org/10.1177/0002...

Thanks for the endorsement, @drxdunlap.bsky.social !

A social science researcher at the World Hydrogen Summit: Critical reflections - Eric Cezne, 2025 Hydrogen is trending globally but is also contentious. Touted as the ‘fuel of the future’, it can help to decarbonise large swaths of the economy. Yet, hydrogen...

🔋📚What do major events and fairs tell us about energy transitions? In this recently published #OpenAccess article with Human Geography, I offer some insights by critically reflecting upon the #WorldHydrogenSummit, the world's largest event for H2 energy: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/....

Check out out latest paper! We conceptualize hydrogen transitions as space-making processes shaped by (uneven)) power relations.

🌍For more complete, plural, and nuanced knowledge of Africa, follow the @ascleiden.bsky.social.

📝Excited to share this new publication w/ @politicalgeography.bsky.social. Kei Otsuki and I propose the concept of H2-scape to theorize and explore the rollout of #CleanHydrogen in the Global South as space-making processes entangled w/ power relations and orders. sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Good luck with the project! And keep us posted :)

Thanks, @janahoenke.bsky.social ! :)

Congrats, Sarah! Sounds like a fascinating project. Utrecht is great: make sure to connect with the IDS folks, too. I was also among the lucky ones this year for the MSCA, w/ a project on green hydrogen hosted at UGent. But since I just started a postdoc in Leiden, not sure if I will be taking it.

The e-book of "Africa's Global Infrastructures: South-South Transformations in Practice" is now available #OpenAccess. Check it out for a collection of brilliant chapters on how infrastructures shape and are shaped by Africa's South-South relations: academic.oup.com/book/57491