This introductory article makes a critical estimation of the impact of pandemics on the Global South consumer's well-being. Our paper moves beyond the concerns of the other papers of this Special Issue. Instead, we focus on the issues of the vulnerable, marginal, and subaltern consumers of the Global South-experiences and anxieties, distinct from those of more "modern," capitalized, industrialized, democratized, and economically liberated Global North consumers. We offer the North-South comparisons across national lines or from block to block that bring in a series of promising directions and new currents in the critical, interdisciplinary studies of consumer affairs. Primary perspectives and associated topics for future agenda impacting TCR highlighted are (i) socio-economic inequalities and injustices, (ii) environmental injustice and sustainable future. We finally suggest an innovative research paradigm, "altruistic-activist consumer research," to address the concerns and impact the well-being of marginal consumers from the Global South. K E Y W O R D S"altruistic-activist consumer research", consumer well-being, environmental injustice, Global South, India, pandemic, socioeconomic inequality and injustice, sustainable future, TCR When it arrived in the unforgiving industrial towns of central Mexico, the sandswept sprawl of northern Nigeria and the mazes of metal shanties in India's commercial capital, Mumbai, COVID-19 went by another name. People called it a 'rich

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Research on alternate masculinity from India that emphasize consumption and consequent subjective well-being (SWB) is primarily about gay men. However, our research points to different marginal masculinity, alternate consumption, and consecutive SWB.The present study uses in-depth interview methods to uncover the "marginal" masculinity of a group of urban, upper-middle-class, heterosexual Indian men.We probe their consumption as a part of their identity project referred to as cathartic. Such consumption leads to a sense of high subjective consumer well-being amidst an otherwise patriarchally defined Indian consumptionscape. This almost fledgling group of men relates itself to the shifting world order of normative masculinity, denounces the patriarchal norms, betrays the cause of male privilege, empathetically responds to the paradigms of femininity, accepts the fall of hegemonic forms of masculinity, and is sensitive toward "others" and ecological/sustainability issues. We further argue that this "cathartic masculinity," as evident through their consumption, may impact the fledging gender-fluid marketplace of tomorrow.

Since the mid-1980s there has been a sharp rise in the number of literary publications by Indigenous Australians and in the readership and impact of those works. One contemporary Aboriginal Australianauthor who continues to make a contribution to both the Australian and the global canon is Kim Scott (1957-). Scott has won many awards, including Australia's highest, the prestigious Miles FranklinAward, for his novels <I>Benang</I> (in 2000) and <I>That Deadman Dance</I>(in 2011). Scott has also published in other literary genres, including poetry, the short story, and children's literature, and he has written and worked professionally on Indigenous health issues. Despite Scott's national and international acclaim, there is currently no comprehensive critical companion that contextualizeshis work for scholars, students, and general readers. <I>A Companion to the Works of Kim Scott</I> fills this void by providing a collection of eleven original essays focusing on Scott's novels, shortstories, poetry, and his work with the Wirlomin Noongar Language and Stories Project and Indigenous health. The companion also includes an original interview with the author.<BR><BR> Contributors: Christine Choo, Arindam Das, Per Henningsgaard, Tony Hughes-d'Aeth, Jeanine Leane, Brenda Machosky, Nathanael Pree, Natalie Quinlivan, Lydia Saleh Rofail, Lisa Slater, Rosalie Thackrah and Sandra Thompson, Belinda Wheeler, Gillian Whitlock and Roger Osborne.<BR><BR> Belinda Wheeler is Assistant Professor of English at Claflin University, Orangeburg, South Carolina.<BR><BR>

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