Open Society Announces Fellowships for Public Intellectuals in Global South Cities
The Open Society Fellowship will support critical thinkers in seven cities across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.
NEW YORK—The Open Society Foundations today announced the selection of 31 public intellectuals from seven Global South cities, who will serve as Open Society Fellows in 2025-26. The fellows were drawn from cities that are home to a dynamic circle of thinkers and cultural producers engaged in high-level critical debate. The cities are Beirut, Buenos Aires, Colombo, Dar es Salaam, Jakarta, Lagos, and Taipei.
“We’re in the midst of momentous changes around the world—changes that are unsettling our assumptions and forcing us to revisit them. The bold ideas and energy that this global fellowship brings is not just important, but crucial in this moment,” said Binaifer Nowrojee, president of the Open Society Foundations. “The Open Society Fellowships has a very special place in the work of the foundations and the fellows will help shape global conversations on the most pressing issues of our time—from human rights and social justice to climate change and inequality.”
Fellows were selected by a distinguished panel of external reviewers for their heterodoxy and openness to new approaches and vigorous debate, ensuring that Open Society remains true to a vision of restless critical thought. Fellows each receive a grant of $120,000. They meet several times in person and join a network of colleagues committed to collaboration, debate, shared learning, and social impact.
“The Open Society Fellowship is committed to supporting public intellectuals in cities that act as crucibles of critical debate and cultural experimentation. We hope to enable public intellectuals in those places to take their rightful place on the global stage and link their work to the broader goal of advancing open society,” said fellowship director Stephen Hubbell.
Fellows and their projects include:
- A filmmaker creating the first documentary record of queer lives in Syria in modern history (Madonna Adib, Beirut).
- A social and cultural historian studying the “criminal question” to better understand the swing to the far right in Argentina (Lila Caimari, Buenos Aires).
- A law student researching the multi-ethnic, multicultural history of Sri Lanka through five sacred sites (Uthpala Wijesuriya, Colombo).
- An anthropologist and philosopher looking at the competing roles of faith-based humanitarian groups in West Papua and Patani (Budi Hernawan, Jakarta).
- An architect, designer, and curator using Lagos as a case study to explore the centrality of Indigenous markets in African urbanism and their implications for climate change and increasing inequality (Tosin Oshinowo, Lagos).
More information about the Open Society Fellowship and this year’s fellows is at https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/open-society-fellowship.