Sephis [South-South Exchange Programme for Research on the History of Development]

A key communication-centred conceptual approach that infuses Sephis' work is that of "alternative histories", which involves asking "how to recover suppressed or marginalized voices and move to the production of alternative, non-statist histories....The programme aims at initiating and supporting research activities which question the absolute authority of the written documents, and are sceptical about 'statist' and unilinear accounts of history. 'Alternative' also pertains to encouraging the dialogue between the many Southern visions on development and history in addition to the hitherto prevailing North-South exchanges."

From this angle, Sephis' Faculty Exchange Programme works to foster knowledge and understanding by facilitating exchanges of faculty between two departments in different continents in the South. As part of this programme, a university department in the South with an interest in inviting a colleague from another continent in the South submits a vacancy to the Sephis secretariat (located in Amsterdam, The Netherlands). Eligible hosts are social science and history departments; eligible visiting faculty include historians or historically-oriented social science scholars. After approval by the Sephis Steering Committee, the coordinators circulate a call for applications in the region from where the visiting lecturer is sought. Selection is determined a by small committee consisting of the two senior faculty from the host university and two members from the applicants' region.

Similarly, Sephis' lecture tour programme is a strategy for establishing connections between different research traditions and networks in the South. This programme enables universities in the South to invite established scholars from another part of the South, representing a specific historical school or scholarly approach, to give one or a few lectures. The inviting institute presents a coherent local programme, including visits to several universities or research institutes directly related to the expertise of the lecturer. During his or her tour (expected to range from between 2 and 4 weeks in length), the scholar can meet colleagues and advanced students, advise on academic programmes, and explore possibilities for collaborative research. Under such a scheme a prominent historian working on urban culture in Southeast Asia might visit a number of universities in East Africa, or a distinguished researcher from Latin America working on oral history visiting South Asia.

Sephis also offers:

• Research fellowships, with the following two sub-themes: "Equity, Exclusion and Liberalization"; and "The Forging of Nationhood & The Contest over Citizenship, Ethnicity and History". In addition, Sephis encourages proposals at the interface of history, theory, and development practice. These fellowships extend from a minimum of 3 months to a maximum of 2 years for both fellowships at the postdoctoral level and for fellowships at the PhD level.
• The grants programme "Preserving Social Memory: History and Social Movements" is intended to support small-scale projects for the preservation and dissemination of alternative historical sources, such as visual and audio material. "It is important that these initiatives are well-connected to local intellectual communities and social movements and that their results will be accessible to a wide audience."

Rights, Inclusion.

Working under the aegis of an international steering committee, Sephis is guided by a "comparative perspective", which means acknowledging the existence of a variety of historical trajectories and perspectives. "Conceding that the word 'comparative' may have different associations for each of us, Sephis does not use a single definition of comparative, but tries to encourage historians to reconsider the links between empirical research and methodological and conceptual issues." This perspective shapes the decisions of the Sephis Steering Committee in selecting projects.

The overall theme of this research programme is "historicising modernity and development", looking at modernity as the basic tenet of the struggles for nationhood and economic prosperity. Central questions in the Sephis programme relate to the contradictions created by the advance of modernity - on the one hand opening up new opportunities, while on the other creating new barriers for many groups and societies. During its first phase, which will last until 2011, Sephis is focusing on 2 subthemes that run through the histories of national and local "development/underdevelopment" in recent times: identity and equity.