Futurism is usually considered to be a series of explorations and practices across genres and media centered in Italy and Russia in the first half of the 20th century. But with the hindsight of the 21st century, Futurism has a greater temporal and spatial depth. If we experimentally define Futurism as a long-term trend of thought that focuses on the future, explores and imagines the changes caused by technological development, especially changes in production relations, social structure and world order, then we will start from the first wave of Futurism centered on the European continent, go through the second wave of Futurism (Futurology) centered on the United Kingdom and the United States, and arrive at the third wave of Futurism that emerged after the Cold War, that is, the Global South Futurism as the theme of the panel.

Starting with Afrofuturism proposed by Mark Dery in 1993, the non-Western futurism movement, which mainly emerged in the Global South, has become a grand spectacle today, including but not limited to Arab/Gulf Futurism, Latinx Futurism, Chicana Futurism, Sinofuturism, and Indigenous Futurism. Writers and artists in the Global South use a variety of forms such as science fiction, folk music, documentaries, digital images, and installation art to express the true feelings of ethnic groups and individuals who are caught up in the deepening globalization, reject ideological imagination of the future, and develop a local and world vision that reflects the cultural self-awareness of the Global South. The significance of this imagination is to strive for the right to define the future (as part of cultural hegemony), that is, the power/right to portray, write and predict the future world picture, life pattern and invention.

Our panel is dedicated to the discussion of Global South Futurism of various regions and forms. We especially welcome the following topics: How does Global South Futurism understand the past, present and future? How to view the relationship between locality (particularity) and globality (universality)? How to transcend the Western/North-centered imagination of the future? What role does Afrofuturism (African Futurism) play in the rise of Global South Futurism? How does Global South Futurism move from literary and artistic creation to social practice? How do the imaginations of the future of the South and the North communicate?

A global narrative refers to the overarching stories and interpretations that connect diverse historical events, cultures, and societies on a transnational scale. It provides a cohesive lens through which global interrelations, exchanges, and continuities are examined, shaping collective understandings of world history and culture. While works such as Cloud Atlas and Sense 8 are frequently discussed as exemplars of global narratives, they predominantly emerge from Northern perspectives. This paper examines how two Argentine science fiction works, Héctor Germán Oesterheld's seminal comic El Eternauta (1957-1959) and Samantha Schweblin's novel Kentukis (2018), contribute to global narratives by offering alternative perspectives on technological advancement, crisis management, and cultural identity from the South. Drawing on Raewyn Connell's Southern Theory, which advocates for decolonizing knowledge and amplifying the voices of the Global South, this paper argues that these works challenge the Nothern-centric narratives of the future while reflecting on the local struggles, aspirations, and cultural realities. Oesterheld’s El Eternauta grapples with an external crisis: a post-apocalyptic world where a small group of survivors must navigate both alien and political forces, utilizing technology as a means of survival and resistance. In contrast, Schweblin's Kentukis delves into an internal crisis, interrogating the commodification of intimacy and the ethical implications of surveillance technologies in a near-future setting where personal autonomy is increasingly mediated by invasive digital systems. Through these texts, the paper posits that Global South Futurism is not merely a critique of Western technological hegemony and political dominance, but also an assertion of the right to define the future, advocating for a more inclusive global humanity. By emphasizing cultural identity and local agency, both works offer alternative visions of the future that resist the ideological framework of the Northern imagination.

From the perspective of Nigerian-American writer Nnedi Okorafor, "Afrofuturism" has diverged from African experiences, aesthetics, and value systems, relegating Africa to the margins once again by prioritizing the concerns of African Americans. Consequently, she has introduced the concepts of "Africanfuturism" and "Africanjujuism," which place greater emphasis on African localization. Among these, "Africanjujuism," with its focus on “animism”, serves as an indispensable lens for understanding the unique characteristics of African science fiction. the influence of “animism” on modern life counteracts the notion of modernity as a linear movement towards progress.However, within the theoretical framework of Western literary criticism, animism is often defined as a pre-modern, tribal belief system or as a tool employed by African intellectuals to resist Western modernity discourse. This, in turn, obscures the complexity of indigenous African knowledge production. Africanjujuism, on the other hand, does not situate African knowledge in relation to European discourse. Instead, it conceptualizes animism as a polysemic space, emphasizing the materialism and unconscious dimensions of this traditional belief system. Although artistic practices rooted in Africanjujuism possess a mystical quality, they are capable of embedding themselves within economic, cultural, and social spheres through their unique cognitive frameworks. They propagate within the normative networks of society, influencing the cultures and subjects within these networks and becoming a driving force for collective subjectivity. Africanjujuism not only highlights the infinite interplay between the real world, the spiritual world, and the future world in African science fiction but also vividly demonstrates the complex dialectical relationship between tradition and modernity.

Mou Zongsan (1909–1995) was the focal point of academic attention in the 1990s, but discussions about his thought have gradually diminished in the 21st century. This decline can largely be attributed to the general academic consensus that there are misinterpretations and fabrications in Mou's thoughts. However, these discussions often approach his ideas either from a Western philosophical perspective, a Confucian traditional standpoint, or a focus on isolated concepts, with little attention given to Mou’s overall philosophical system. This paper attempts to address this gap by using political practice as the primary framework, weaving together Mou Zongsan’s key concepts of "inner sage," "outer king," and "judgment of teachings," in order to present these ideas within his own philosophical system.

Firstly, Mou Zongsan’s concept of "inner sage" is centered around what he calls a "moral metaphysics," which affirms the human capacity for "intuitive wisdom" — an innate ability to directly perceive the ontological reality. This allows the subject’s actions to be immediately connected with the moral essence. His metaphysical construction is aiming to reconcile the relationship between mind and matter at an ontological level, thus paving the way for his new conception of the "outer king." Therefore, critiques of Mou’s ontology should not be equated with Kant’s concept of the "thing-in-itself."

Secondly, Mou Zongsan introduces the concept of "the fall of moral consciousness" to enable Confucian spirit to guide modern democracy and science. According to Mou, through the self-restraint of the moral subject, space is made for the epistemic subject. Since Mou’s moral metaphysics already encompasses the immediacy of action, even when moral consciousness "falls," it continues to maintain its dominant role in practice. Hence, moral consciousness does not merely "open" the path to the "outer king," but leads it practically — it is not a theoretical abstraction.

Finally, Mou Zongsan made a critical judgment on the Confucianism of the Song and Ming dynasties. He regarded Hu Hong's (五峰) and Liu Zongzhou's (蕺山) theory as the perfect teachings of Confucianism. This is because they emphasized the objective spirit and the subjective mental substance, and were better able to resonate with the spirit of the times. It is clear that Mou’s ultimate aim is to reconcile Western epistemology, rather than diminish the historical position of Cheng-Zhu（程朱） .

Through examining the concept of "inner sage — outer king," it is evident that Mou Zongsan’s use of these concepts is a creative interpretation. Without this contextual understanding, one might obscure the true nature of his thought.

Afrofuturism has emerged as a critical paradigm for theorizing African and diasporic futures, employing speculative fiction, visual art, and digital media to destabilize colonial epistemologies and propose radical alternatives for Black existence. This paper examines the Afrofuturist construction of migration, decolonization, and planetary survival through multimodal speculative storytelling, analyzing how these narratives articulate postcolonial resistance, ecological reconfiguration, and technological agency within global imaginaries.

Focusing on Cristina de Middel’s photobook The Afronauts (2012), Anthony Joseph’s hybrid novel The African Origins of UFOs (2006), and Mussunda Nzombo and Manuela Grotz’s AI-generated visual exhibition O Futuro na Lista de Espera (2023), this study interrogates how African and diasporic artists engage in speculative remappings of human and post-human life in response to ecological degradation, forced displacement, and neocolonial expansion. Grounded in Malcolm Ferdinand’s concept of "colonial inhabitation" (2022) and Ytasha Womack’s theorization of Afrofuturist aesthetics (2013), this paper argues that these works reconfigure Africa as both a site of departure and return, subverting linear temporalities and positioning Black bodies as central to the technological, environmental, and metaphysical transformations of planetary modernity.

By employing an intersemiotic and transmedial approach, this study moves beyond traditional textual analysis to examine how Afrofuturist narratives function as counter-hegemonic discourses within the futurist paradigm. Through a comparative, multimodal framework, it explores how Afrofuturist imaginaries engage with space exploration, ecological collapse, and speculative mobility, producing alternative cartographies that challenge Eurocentric teleologies of progress. These works dismantle extractivist and exclusionary futurisms, repositioning Africa not as a peripheral recipient of technological modernity, but as an active agent in shaping the trajectory of planetary futures. By foregrounding Afrofuturism as a methodological tool for rethinking migration, agency, and transnational blackness, this also paper contributes to ongoing scholarly debates in comparative literature, postcolonial studies, and speculative aesthetics, demonstrating how speculative cultural production operates as a political praxis of survival and resistance.