Antimeridianism

Definition
Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism by an individual, community, or institution against a person or people on the basis of their distance from the prime meridian.
History
A protologism coined by Dr. Elizabeth Whitcombe of Dunedin, New Zealand, in 2021, and first published by Professor John A. Crump and Dr. Tilman M. Davies of the University of Otago in 2022. Based on the root word antimeridian, or the 180th meridian, antimeridianism is considered to be a form of discrimination that takes place within the wider context of colonialism. The term refers to the consequences for those located remote to the prime meridian of the decision by predominantly western nations to locate the prime meridian at Greenwich, England, made at a conference in Washington, DC, in the United States in 1884. While there are several manifestations of antimeridianism, Crump and Davies highlight the form that occurs when multiple time zone teleconferences are scheduled to the convenience of persons or groups located near the prime meridian. This results in persons remote to the prime meridian being systematically requested to participate in teleconferences during the unfavorable hours of 11pm to 5am local time. Consequences of this include the burden of inconvenience being borne more often by persons remote to the prime meridian, and under-representation of persons remote to the prime meridian, should they choose not to participate. This may be especially problematic when, for example, the persons most affected by the condition under discussion are systematically excluded due to their temporally remote location. The COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with restrictions on face-to-face meetings and dramatically increased demand for and use of teleconferences communication on a wide range of health conditions. Higher levels of international teleconference use are expected to be sustained after the pandemic. While teleconferences are recognised to be inferior to face-to-face meetings for complex and ambiguous tasks involve large groups with weak ties, antimeridianism provides an additional challenge to achieving adequate participation for teleconferences involving many or most time zones because of inconvenience and impacts on wellbeing to those asked to participate between 11pm and 5am local time.

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