*Trump in the Global South * *Special issue of the International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies * *Editors: Nicky Falkof, Iginio Gagliardone and Nkululeko Sibiya (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa) * Since his second arrival into office in 2025, Donald Trump has saturated news, social media and public debates well beyond US borders. Yet most scholarship on Trumpism remains US-centric. In this special issue of the *International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies, *we ask how his political brand—populist nationalism, nativism, authoritarian tendencies, eugenic rhetoric and violent attacks on difference – resonates or clashes with political realities, historical experiences, social structures and cultural values in the Global South, parts of which he famously dismissed as ‘shithole countries’. We also ask how perspectives from the Global South allow a reading of Trump and Trumpism that goes beyond increasingly insular frameworks centred on the rise of the far right and threats to civil liberties in the US. With a focus on the first year of Trump’s second presidency, this special issue examines how his policies, and the divisive representations of race, gender, sexuality, disability and nationality that often underpin them, have been received and reported in the South. It invites empirical, critical analyses of how communities, political actors, religious groups, media and social movements in the Global South have interpreted, appropriated, resisted or supported Trump, his discourses and his political agenda. *Scope and key themes: * This special issue encourages contributions that critically explore, but are not limited to, the following themes: ● *Unexpected alliances and affinities: *Where does support for Trump or Trumpism appear among communities in the Global South? How do we understand cases where such alignments may appear counter-intuitive? ● *Resistance and rejection: *What forms of critique, resistance or satire targeting Trump and Trumpism emerge from the Global South? How significant are they in national public debates and how likely to influence national politics? ● *Enforcing identities: *How do responses to Trump and Trumpism enforce resistant, traditional, dominant or minority identities in the Global South? How do these constituencies use their affective responses to Trump to further cement the meanings of their identities? ● *Mediated engagements and digital cultures: *How do traditional and social media in Global South countries frame Trump, facilitate the spread of his ideas or foster communities of support/critique? How do local digital cultures engage with Trumpist discourse (memes, hashtags, influencer commentary)? ● *Contradictions and repercussions: *How do Trump’s rhetoric and policies intersect with local realities? How do engagements with Trumpism exacerbate existing social fractures or create new ones? What are the tangible consequences of these trends? We invite submissions from across the social sciences and humanities, including (but not limited to) critical diversity studies, sociology, political science, anthropology, international relations, media and communication studies, religious studies and gender studies. We strongly encourage interdisciplinary work and welcome a range of methodological approaches, from ethnography and discourse analysis to digital methods, computational social science and mixed-methods research. We are particularly interested in contributions from scholars based in, or conducting research in, Africa, Latin America and Asia. We aim to create a platform for voices that are often marginalised in global academic discourse and to foster a dialogue that places the Global South at the center of critical analyses of global political phenomena. *Timeline and submission details * ●*Abstract submission deadline: *30 January, 2026 ●*Notification of acceptance: *13 February, 2026 ●*Full paper submission deadline: *15 May, 2026 ●*Expected publication date: *Late 2026 Extended abstracts (between 500 and 750 words) and a short bio (max 150 words) should be sent to nkululeko.sibiya@wits.ac.za. Final papers should be between 6,000 and 10,000 words (including references) and will undergo a double-anonymous peer review process according to the journal’s guidelines. The *International Journal of Critical Diversity Studies *is published by Pluto Press. The journal is Gold Open Access and there are no article processing charges.