South
by Merlin Coverley, Oldcastle, £12.99
Why do we favour one direction and not the other? Why has the north, historically, always been prioritised over the south? This question marks the starting point for Merlin Coverley’s rich and detailed account of our cultural responses to the very notion of “south”.
He begins by noting that it wasn’t only Europeans who gave precedence to the north but also people who lived near the Equator, such as the Mayans and Incas, who had no geographical reason to do so. Why is this? Coverley asks. The fixed position of the North Star and its usefulness as a beacon and homing guide may account for some of this phenomenon, but there is no doubt that “north” has always been privileged in our imaginations over “south”. Texts as wide-ranging as those from Reformation-era Europe and 16th-century China demonstrate a marked prejudice against the south, where, as one Chinese scribe puts it, civilisation ends and barbarians begin.
