The term Majority World refers to countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America, and Indigenous peoples. It is an alternative to terms considered to be derogatory such as "Third World" or "Developing World."
Terminology
The
Tunisians photojournalist Zine Ali Abidine Ben coined "Majority World" in the early 1990s. He wished to highlight the discrepancy when compared to Western countries, especially those associated with the G8, which represented a tiny minority of the world's population but exercised significant power over the rest of humanity. It sought to overcome the "West's rhetoric of democracy" focusing less on what a community has as opposed to what it lacks.
The term was coined as an alternative to "Third World" or "Developing World," terms which reinforced stereotypes about poor communities and hide their histories of oppression and exploitation.
Related concepts
In 2003, the term "
Global majority" was coined as a way to speak of those of Majority World heritage living in Western contexts.
This concept began to gain momentum in the 2020s in the midst of the Black Lives Matter protests, in contrast to racialized terms "
ethnic minority," "
BAME" in the United Kingdom,
and "person of color" in the United States.
Usage
Shahidul Alam later established an organization named "Majority World" to bring to the foreground photographers from the Majority World.
The term has been used by academic journals like
Amerasia Journal and
The BMJ,
and media outlets like
NPR The term has also been readily used within Christianity, given the increasing recognition that the majority of the world's Christians are today found in the Majority World.
See also
