Ruins and Rhythms of Development and Life After Progress

ABSTRACT

Since the rise of capitalist modernity, communities across the world have been convinced by the potential of development and progress. This article steps aside from the idea of continuous and unilinear change, and examines contemporary afterlives of broken developmentalist dreams. By assembling ethnographies from countries politically defined as growth-engines in three different regions of the world (Brazil, Germany and India), we propose that development no longer inspires the same aspirations about progress. By exploring how material decay and shattered expectations become intimately woven into the everyday experiences of local populations, we show how the ruinous effects of pursuing economic growth leaves ordinary people to a life on their own terms. At this current historical juncture, we argue for the analytical productiveness of exploring ‘the after’ rather than ‘the otherwise’. This is pursued through an interrogation of the irregular rhythms of ‘life after progress’.

KEYWORDS:

• Progress
• ruination
• temporality
• disillusionment
• development theory

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 BRIC is an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China. Originally coined in 2001 by an analyst from Goldman Sachs for an investment portfolio, the four countries eventually developed real corporation to increase trade and to push for a multipolar world order on the global arena. South Africa later joined the BRICS. However, in 2015, Goldman Sachs closed its BRIC fund because the product had not been generating profit and growth was not expected ‘in a foreseeable future’ (Xie 2015).

2 http://www.rwe.com/web/cms/en/1904186/rwe/responsibility/environment/climate-protection/, accessed 23 May 2019.

3 Part of the following sneaking workshop has also been described in Krøijer 2019.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Det Frie Forskningsråd; the Danish Council for Independent Research [grant number 1321-00025B].