>[!INFO]+ Meta >Author:: Kevin Murray >Date:: 2007 >Reference:: 'The south-south way' _Artlink_ Vol 27: 2, p. 14-15 (2007) >Tags:: #text #south Bare breasted natives in Gauguin paintings, creatures with feet on their heads, Carmen Miranda, Bazza McKenzie. The most striking images of the south are mostly from a northern viewpoint. The north looks south wlth a mixture of desire and fear-of sex and cannibalism. Less well known is the south-south point of view. Like spokes on the wheel, cultures of the south rarely get a chance to meet, other through the northern centres. How might the south represent itself to itself? The sweep of the south is broad and there are many ways to cross it. Certainly indigenous solidarity has been important in the development of Pacific cultures, and this network is beginning to extend into Latin America, where Maori artists are beginning to play a particularly active role. Accompanying this is a dormant non-indigenous dialogue, as descendents of colonisers work out an identity that is more like guest than master. Overlaying this are the diasporic links of peoples who have been scattered across the bottom of the world, such as Indian, Scottish, Jewish, Ethiopian and Italian. While these networks are often exclusive, there are many references in common between peoples of the south. Nature provides distinct references, partly emerging from Gondwana with distinct flora and fauna, such as the flightless bird, which do not always fit neatly into the northern Linnaean systems. There are more stories attached to the stars of the southern hemisphere than the nationalistic myth of the Southern Cross. And there are natural challenges that are shared, such as El Niño and the rising water levels. Culturally, there are parallel paths of development. From initial invasion of colonisers there followed for most countries a reasonably brutal period of repression in the 20 th century, with reconciliation being the shared challenge of the present. With colonisation came the different trajectories of northern movements, such as modernism and the baroque. While our understanding of modernism in Australia is by reference to seminal moments in its northern origins, we are yet to gauge our history according to the parallel modernist paths of countries such as Brazil. Of course, there is traffic in the other direction. From the rebellion of Sicilian writers in the meridianalismo movement in 19 th century Italy to the negritude poets of early 20 th century France, there are many attempts to counter the hegemony of the north. This continues today, with new strategies developed to counter the enduring defeatism of colonisation. A number of artists are exploring possibilities of reverse primitivism, which subjects Western culture to the same exotic gaze that is normally directed south. So the Colombian artist Nadin Ospina who incorporates consumerist icons into forged pre-Columbian ceramics. Globalisation is also encouraging the growth of 'world' cultures, which blend traditional and modern, so craft-design collaborations are beginning to flourish. But is on the political stage where the south seems particularly vocal. The emergence of regional leaders like Chavez, Mbeki and Lula are providing a voice for the interests of southern nations. While there are elements of Marxism that retain power, there are also alternative humanistic values that influence this solidarity. From Africa comes the spirit of _ubuntu_ . Part of a traditional Zulu gathering is the consumption of sorghum beer. This is shared by passing around a wood-fired clay vessel, filled with frothing liquid. Before any of the beer is consumed, a portion is spilt on the ground in an act of _ubuntu_ -in honour of the ancestors. During the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, ex-victims of apartheid would perform the ultimate act of revenge against their persecutors by refusing the cycle of violence and recognising their shared humanity. While on the other hand, emerging from Latin America is _tango_ . Supposedly derived from African roots, the tango emerged as a mournful lament of a young migrant nation. It is built particularly on wounded pride and a desperate attempt to engage and impress. It involves the conceit in which an individual wrests some private gain from the collective. So how might the spirits of ubuntu and tango converse? At the moment, they engage in the domain of open source software. While the cold war signalled the end of competition between the two world systems of capitalism and communism, the collective mission survives in the realm of open source software. Linux has been developed as a successful free alternative to the Windows operating system. While Linux is the basic code available for anyone to use, it needs to be packaged in forms that enable ordinary users to install it on their computers. Currently, one of the most popular of these distributions is titled _[Ubuntu](http://www.ubuntu.com/%20)_ . Their website explains, 'Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'Humanity to others', or 'I am what I am because of who we all are'. The Ubuntu distribution brings the spirit of Ubuntu to the software world.' The other main initiative bringing Linux to everyday users is titled _[The Tango Project](http://tango-project.org)._