Millennial Capitalism and the Culture of Neoliberalism

Millennial Capitalism and the Culture of Neoliberalism
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vi iicuui i quetct sook
itceuti vc vooceui ti cs,
edited by Dilip Parameshwar Gacnkar
ci osi i zti ou, edited by Arjun Appadurai
vi i i cuui i c ri ti i sv uo tuc
cuituec or ucoi i scei i sv, edited
by }ean Ccmarc o }chn L. Ccmarc
cosvoroi i tui sv, edited by
Carcl A. Breckenridge, Sheldcn Pcllcck,
Hcmi K. Bhabha, o Dipesh Chakrabarty
v0vii c c0i10vi vooxs
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Millennial Capitalism and
the Culture of Neoliberalism
Edited by }ean Ccmarc and }chn L. Ccmarc
ouk c uui v c e s i t v r e c s s * oue u v a i o uo o u z c c 1
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:ooI Duke Univeisity Piess All iights ieseived
Piinted in the United States of Ameiica on acid-fiee papei @
Typeset in Adobe Minion by Tseng Infoimation Systems
Libiaiy of Congiess Cataloging-in-Publication Data appeai
on the last piinted page of this book. The text of this book
was oiiginally published, without the essay by Melissa W.
Wiight oi the index, as vol. I:, no. : (:ooo) of Public Culture.
Melissa W. Wiights essay oiiginally appeaied in vol. II,
no. _ (I,,,) of Public Culture, pages ,_,.
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Contents
}ean Ccmarc and }chn L. Ccmarc Millennial Capitalism:
Fiist Thoughts on a Second Coming I
Irene Stengs, Hyltcn Vhite, Caitrin Lynch, and }erey A.
Zimmermann Millennial Tiansitions ,,
Fernandc Ccrcnil Towaid a Ciitique of Globalcentiism:
Speculations on Capitalisms Natuie o_
Michael Stcrper Lived Eects of the Contempoiaiy Economy:
Globalization, Inequality, and Consumei Society 88
Melissa V. Vright The Dialectics of Still Life: Muidei,
Women, and Maquiladoias I:,
Allan Sekula Fieeway to China (Veision :, foi Liveipool) I,
Peter Geschiere and Francis Nyamnjch Capitalism and
Autochthony: The Seesaw of Mobility and Belonging I,,
Luiz Paulc Lima, Scctt Bradwell, and Seamus Valsh
Millennial Coal Face I,I
Rcsalind C. Mcrris Modeinitys Media and the End of Mediumship:
On the Aesthetic Economy of Tianspaiency in Thailand I,:
Rcbert P. Veller Living at the Edge: Religion, Capitalism,
and the End of the Nation-State in Taiwan :I,
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Paul Ryer Millenniums Past, Cubas Futuie: :o
Elizabeth A. Pcvinelli Consuming Geist. Popontology
and the Spiiit of Capital in Indigenous Austialia :I
David Harvey Cosmopolitanism and the Banality of
Geogiaphical Evils :,I
Contiibutois _II
Index _I,
vi
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Millennial Capitalism and the Culture of Neoliberalism
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Millennial Capitalism:
First Thoughts on a Second Coming
}ean Ccmarc and }chn L. Ccmarc
s i ouc ui uc t ow e o s c t ui c uc v
Ve live in dicult times, in times cf mcnstrcus chimeras and evil dreams and
criminal fcllies.Joseph Coniad, Under Vestern Eyes
The global tiiumph of capitalism at the millennium, its Second
Coming, iaises a numbei of conundiums foi oui undeistanding of his-
toiy at the end of the centuiy. Some of its coiollaiiesplagues of the
new woild oidei, Jacques Deiiida (I,,: ,I) calls them, unable to ie-
sist apocalyptic imageiyhave been the subject of clamoious debate.
Otheis ieceive less mention. Thus, foi example, populist polemics have
dwelt on the planetaiy conjunctuie, foi good oi ill, of homogenization
and dieience (e.g., Baibei I,,:), on the simultaneous, syneigistic spi-
ialing of wealth and poveity, on the iise of a new feudalism, a phoe-
nix disguied, of woildwide piopoitions (cf. Connelly and Kennedy
I,,).
1
Foi its pait, scholaily debate has focused on the confounding
eects of iampant libeialization: on whethei it engendeis tiuly global
ows of capital oi concentiates ciiculation to a few majoi sites (Hiist
and Thompson I,,o), on whethei it undeimines, sustains, oi ieinvents
the soveieignty of nation-states (Sassen I,,o), on whethei it fiees up,
cuibs, oi compaitmentalizes the movement of laboi (see the Geschieie
and Nyamnjoh essay in this volume), on whethei the cuiient xation
with demociacy, its iesuiiection in so many places, implies a measuie
of mass empoweiment oi an emptying out of its] meaning, its ieduc-
tion to papei (Negii I,,,: ,, Comaio and Comaio I,,,).
2
Equally
in question is why the piesent infatuation with civil society has been
accompanied by alaiming incieases in civic stiife, by an escalation of
civil wai, and by iepoits of the diamatic giowth in many countiies of
domestic violence, iape, child abuse, piison populations, and most dia-
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matically of all, ciiminal phantom-states (Deiiida I,,: 8_, Blaney
and Pasha I,,_). And why, in a like vein, the politics of consumeiism,
human iights, and entitlement have been shown to coincide with puz-
zling new patteins of exclusion, patteins that inect oldei lines of gen-
dei, sexuality, iace, and class in ways both stiange and familiai (Gal
I,,,, Ydice I,,,). Iionies, heie, all the way down, iionies, with apolo-
gies to Jean-Paul Saitie, in the veiy soul of the Millennial Age.
Othei featuies of oui piesent piedicament aie less iemaiked, de-
bated, questioned. Among them aie the odd coupling, the binaiy com-
plementaiity, of the legalistic with the libeitaiian, constitutionality with
deiegulation, hypeiiationalization with the exubeiant spiead of inno-
vative occult piactices and money magic, pyiamid schemes and pios-
peiity gospels, the enchantments, that is, of a decidedly neclibeial econ-
omy whose evei moie insciutable speculations seem to call up fiesh
specteis in theii wake. Note that, unlike otheis who have discussed the
new spectial ieality of that economy (Negii I,,,: ,, Spiinkei I,,,),
we do not talk heie in metaphoiical teims. We seek, instead, to diawat-
tention to, to inteiiogate, the distinctly piagmatic qualities of the mes-
sianic, millennial capitalism of the moment: a capitalism that piesents
itself as a gospel of salvation, a capitalism that, if iightly hainessed, is
invested with the capacity wholly to tiansfoim the univeise of the mai-
ginalized and disempoweied (Comaio and Comaio I,,,b).
All this points to anothei, even moie fundamental question. Could
it be that these chaiacteiistics of millennial capitalismby which we
mean bcth capitalismat the millenniumand capitalismin its messianic,
salvic, even magical manifestationsaie connected, by cause oi coi-
ielation oi copiesence, with othei, moie mundane featuies of the con-
tempoiaiy histoiical moment: Like the incieasing ielevance of con-
sumption, alike to citizens of the woild and to its scholaily cadies, in
shaping selfhood, society, identity, even epi-stemic ieality: Like the
concomitant eclipse of such modeinist categoiies as social class: Like
the ciises, widelyobseivedacioss the globe, of iepioductionandcom-
munity, youth and masculinity: Like the buigeoning impoitance of
geneiation, iace, and gendei as piinciples of dieience, identity, and
mobilization: The point of this essay lies in exploiing the possibility of
theii inteiconnection, even moie, in laying the giound of an aigument
foi it.
As this suggests, oui intent in this selection of essays fiom Public
z
*
( c u c ov e or r uo ( ouu i . c ov e or r
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Culture is to animate fuithei debate on the enigmatic natuie of millen-
nial capitalism, and also on its implications foi theoiizing histoiy and
society at the stait of the twenty-ist centuiy. Howevei we wish to chai-
acteiize oui cuiient momentas an age of death (of ideology, politics,
the subject) oi iebiith (of the spiiit of Maix, Webei, the two Adams,
Feiguson and Smith)ouis aie peiplexing times: Times of monstious
chimeias in which the conjunctuie of the stiange and the familiai, of
stasis and metamoiphosis, plays tiicks on oui peiceptions, oui posi-
tions, oui piaxis. These conjunctuies appeai at once to endoise and to
eiode oui undeistanding of the lineaments of modeinity and its post-
ponements. Heie, plainly, we can do no moie than oei pieliminaiy
obseivations and opening lines of aigument on a topic whose full extent
can only be glimpsed at piesent.
Let us, then, cut to the heait of the mattei: to the ontological condi-
tions-of-being undei millennial capitalism. This begins foi usas it did
foi the fatheis of modeinist social theoiywith epochal shifts in the
constitutive ielationship of pioduction to consumption, and hence of
laboi to capital. This iequiies, in tuin, that we considei the meaning of
social class undei pievailing political and economic conditions, condi-
tions that place giowing stiess ongeneiation, gendei, andiace as indices
of identity, aect, and political action. In light of these ieections we
go on to exploie thiee coiollaiies, thiee ciitical faces of the millennial
moment: the shifting piovenance of the nation-state and its fetishes,
the iise of new foims of enchantment, and the explosion of neolibeial
discouises of civil society.
Fiist, howevei, back to basics.
c r i t i i s v t t uc vi i i c uui uv, vi i i c uui i c r i t i i s v
The pclitical histcry cf capital jis] a sequence cf attempts by capital tc withdraw
frcm the class relaticnship, at a higher level we can ncw see it as the histoiy of the
successive attempts of the capitalist class to emancipate itself fiom the woiking
class.Maiio Tionti, The Stiategy of Refusal (Tiontis emphasis)
Specters, Speculaticn. Of Ccns and Prcs Consumption, iecall, was
the hallmaik disease of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuiies, of the
Fiist Coming of Industiial Capitalism, of a time when the ecologi-
cal conditions of pioduction, its consuming passions (Sontag I,,8, cf.
*
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Jean Comaio I,,,a), ate up the bodies of pioduceis.
3
Now, at the end
of the twenty-ist centuiy, semiotically tiansposed, it is often said to
be the hallmaik of modeinity (van Binsbeigen and Geschieie n.d.:
_), the measuie of its wealth, health, and vitality. An oveigeneializa-
tion, maybe, yet the claim captuies populai imaginings and theii iep-
iesentation acioss the eaith. It also iesonates with the giowing Euio-
cultuial tiuism that the (post)modein peison is a subject made with
objects. Noi is this suipiising. Consumption, in its ideological guise
as consumeiismiefeis to a mateiial sensibility actively cultivated,
foi the common good, by Westein states and commeicial inteiests, pai-
ticulaily since Woild Wai II. It has even been cultivated by some non-
capitalist iegimes: In the eaily I,,os, Deng Xiaoping advocated con-
sumption as a motoi foice of pioduction (Diilik I,,o: I,).
In social theoiy, as well, consumption has become a piime movei
(van Binsbeigen and Geschieie n.d.: _). Incieasingly, it is the factoi, the
piinciple, held to deteimine denitions of value, the constiuction of
identities, and even the shape of the global ecumene.
4
As such, tell-
ingly, it is the invisible hand, oi the Gucci-gloved st, that animates the
political impulses, the mateiial impeiatives, and the social foims of the
Second Coming of Capitalismof capitalism in its neolibeial, global
manifestation. Note the image: the invisible hand. It evokes the ghost
of ciises past, when libeial political economy ist disceined the move-
ments of the maiket beneath swiiling economic wateis, of fiee entei-
piise behind the commonweal. Gone is the deus ex machina, a guie
altogethei too conciete, too industiial foi the viitualism (Caiiiei and
Millei I,,8) of the post-Foidist eia.
As consumption became the moving spiiit of the late twentieth cen-
tuiy, so theie was a concomitant eclipse of pioduction, an eclipse, at
least, of its perceived salience foi the wealth of nations. This heialded a
shift, acioss the woild, in oidinaiy undeistandings of the natuie of capi-
talism. The woikplace and laboi, especially woik-and-place secuiely
iooted in a stable local context, aie no longei piime sites foi the cie-
ation of value oi identity (Sennett I,,8). The factoiy and the shop,
fai fiom secuie centeis of fabiication and family income, aie incieas-
ingly expeiienced by viitue of theii eiasuie: eithei by theii iemoval to
an elsewheiewheie laboi is cheapei, less asseitive, less taxed, moie
feminized, less piotected by states and unionsoi by theii ieplacement
at the hands of nonhuman oi nonstandaid means of manufactuie.
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Which, in tuin, has left behind, foi evei moie people, a legacy of ii-
iegulai piecewoik, of menial woikfaie, of ielatively insecuie, tian-
sient, gainless occupation. Hence the paiadox, in many Westein econo-
mies, of high ocial employment iates amidst staik deindustiialization
and joblessness.
5
In the upshot, pioduction appeais to have been supei-
seded, as the fcns et crigc of wealth, by less tangible ways of geneiating
value: bycontiol ovei such things as the piovision of seivices, the means
of communication, and above all, the ow of nance capital. In shoit,
by the maiket and by speculation.
Symptomatic in this iespect aie the changing histoiical foitunes of
gambling. The lattei, of couise, makes manifest a mechanism integial
to maiket enteipiise: It puts the adventuie into ventuie capital. Finan-
cial iisk has always been ciucial to the giowth of capitalism, it has, fiom
the ist, been held to waiiant its own due ietuin. But, iemoved fiom
the dignifying nexus of the maiket, it was until iecently tieated by Piot-
estant ethics and populist moiality alike as a paiiah piactice. Casi-
nos weie set apait fiom the woikaday woild. They weie situated at ie-
soits, on ieseivations and iiveiboats: liminal places of leisuie and[oi
the haunts of those (aiistociats, pioigates, chanceis) above and be-
yond honest toil. Living othe pioceeds of this foimof speculationwas,
noimatively speaking, the epitome of immoial accumulation: the wagei
stood to the wage, the bet to peisonal betteiment, as sin toviitue. Theie
have, self-evidently, always beendieient cultuies and moies of betting.
Howevei, the activitywhethei it be a uttei on the hoises oi a do-
mestic caid game, on a spoiting contest oi an oce poolhas geneially
been placed outside the domain of woik and eaining, at best in the am-
biguous, nethei space between viitue and its tiansgiession. Ovei a gen-
eiation, gambling, in its maiked foim, has changed moial valence and
invaded eveiyday life acioss the woild.
6
It has been ioutinized in a wide-
spiead infatuation with, and populai paiticipation in, high-iisk deal-
ings in stocks, bonds, and funds whose foitunes aie goveined laigely by
chance. It also expiesses itself in a fascination with futuies and theii
downmaiket counteipait, the lotteiy. Heie the mundane meets the mil-
lennial: Not A LOT TO TOMAR, OW! pioclaims an iionic innei-city
muial in Chicago (see Millennial Tiansitions in this volume), laige
hands giasping a seductive pile of casino chips, beside which nestles a
newboin, motheiless babe.
7
This at a moment when gambling is] the
fastest giowing industiy in the US, when it is tightly woven into the
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national fabiic, when it is incieasingly opeiated and piomoted by
goveinment.
8
Life itself has become the object of bookmaking, it is no longei the
sole pieseive of the iespectable insuiance industiy, of its abstiact ai-
got of longevity statistics and piobability quotients. A iecent aiticle in
Newsweek spoits the headline Capital Gains: The Lotteiy on Lives:
In Ameiicas n de siecle casino cultuie, no wagei seems cutre. So how
about betting onhowlong a stiangei is likely to live: Youcanbuy pait oi
all of his oi hei insuiance policy, becoming a beneciaiy. Youi gamble:
that death will come soon enough to yield a high ietuin on the money
you put up. The Viatical Association of Ameiica says that sI billion
woith of coveiage went into play last yeai.
9
A much bettei bet, this,
than the sale of the Savioi foi thiity pieces of silvei. Ination notwith-
standing.
In the eia of millennial capitalism, secuiing instant ietuins is often a
mattei of life and death. The failuie to win the weekly diaw was linked
with moie than one suicide in Biitain in the wake of the intioduction
of national lotteiy in I,,, in I,,,, the India Tribune iepoited that one
of the biggest cential Indian States, Madya Piadesh, was caught in the
voitex of lotteiy mania, which had claimed seveial lives.
10
Witnesses
desciibed extieme enthusiasm among the jobless youth towaids tiy-
ing theii luck to make a fast buck, piecisely the kind of fatal ecstasy
classically associated with caigo cults and chiliastic movements (Cohn
I,,,). Moie mundanely, eoits to enlist divine help in tipping the odds,
fiom the Taiwanese countiyside to the Kalahaii fiinge, have become a
iegulai featuie of what Wellei (in this volume) teims fee-foi-seivice
ieligions (Comaio and Comaio I,,,b). These aie locally nuanced
fantasies of abundance without eoit, of beating capitalism at its own
game bydiawing a winning numbei at the behest of unseen foices. Once
again, that invisible hand.
The change inthe moial valence of gambling also has a public dimen-
sion. In a neolibeial climate wheie taxes aie anathema to the majoiitai-
ian political centei, lotteiies and gaming levies have become a favoied
means of lling national coeis, of geneiating cultuial and social assets,
of nding soft monies in times of tough cutbacks. The defunct machin-
eiy of a giowing numbei of welfaie states, to be suie, is being tuined by
the wheel of foitune. With moie and moie goveinments and political
paities depending on this souice foi quick ievenue xes, betting, says
6
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Geoige Will, has been tiansfoimed fiom a social diseasesubjected,
not so long ago, to sciutiny at the hands of Haivaid Medical School
into social policy.
11
Once a dangeious sign of moial tuipitude, it is
now maiketed almost as a patiiotic duty.
12
Put these things togetheithe explosion of populai gambling, its
legitimate incoipoiationtothe scal heait of the nation-state, the global
expansion of highly speculative maiket investment, and changes in
the moial vectois of the wageiand what has happened: The woild,
answeis a ieective Fidel Castio, has become a huge casino. Because
the value of stock maikets has lost all giounding in mateiiality, he
saysanticipating a point to which we shall ietuintheii woikings
have nally iealized the dieam of medieval alchemy: Papei has been
tuined into gold.
13
This evokes Susan Stiange (I,8o: I_, cf. Haivey
I,8,: __:, Tomasic andPentony I,,I), who, inlikening theWesteinscal
oidei to an immense game of luck, was among the ist to speak speci-
cally of casino capitalism: Something iathei iadical has happened to
the inteinational nancial system to make it so much like a gambling
hall. . . . It] has made inveteiate, and laigely involuntaiy, gambleis of
us all. Insofai as the giowth of globalized maikets, electionic media,
and nance capital have opened up the potential foi ventuie enteipiise,
the gaming ioom has actually become iconic of capital: of its natuial
capacity to yield value without human input (Haidt I,,,: _,), to giow
and expand of its own accoid, to iewaid speculation.
And yet ciisis aftei ciisis in the global economy, and giowing in-
come dispaiities on a planetaiy scale, make it painfully plain that theie
is no such thing as capitalism sans pioduction, that the neolibeial stiess
on consumption as the piime souice of value is palpably pioblematic.
If scholais have been slow to ieect on this fact, people all ovei the
woildnot least those in places wheie theie have been sudden infu-
sions of commodities, of new foims of wealthhave not. Many have
been quick to give voice, albeit in dieient iegisteis, to theii peiplexity
at the enigma of this wealth: of its souices and the capiiciousness of
its distiibution, of the mysteiious foims it takes, of its slippeiiness, of
the opaque ielations between means and ends embodied in it. Oui con-
cein heie giows diiectly out of these peiplexities, these imaginings: out
of woildwide speculation, in both senses of the teim, piovoked by the
shifting conditions of mateiial existence at the tuin of the twentieth
centuiy.
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We seek, heie, to inteiiogate the experiential contiadictions at the
coie of neolibeial capitalism, of capitalism in its millennial manifesta-
tion: the fact that it appeais both to include and to maiginalize in un-
anticipated ways, to pioduce desiie and expectation on a global scale
(Tiouillot I,,,), yet to deciease the ceitainty of woik oi the secuiity of
peisons, to magnify class dieiences but to undeicut class conscious-
ness, above all, tooei upvast, almost instantaneous iiches tothosewho
mastei its spectial technologiesand, simultaneously, to thieaten the
veiy existence of those who do not. Elsewheie (I,,,c) we have aigued
that these contiadictions, while woildwide in eect, aie most visible in
so-called postievolutionaiy societiesespecially those societies that,
having been set fiee by the events of I,8, and theii afteimath, enteied
the global aiena with distinct stiuctuial disadvantages.
14
A good deal is
to be leained about the histoiical implications of the cuiient moment
by eavesdiopping on the populai anxieties to be heaid in such places.
Howdo we inteipiet the mounting disenchantment, in these libeiated
zones, with the eects of haid-won demociacy: Why the peiceptible
nostalgia foi the secuiity of past iegimes, some of them immeasuiably
iepiessive: Why the accompanying upsuige of asseitions of identityand
autochthony: How might they be linked to widespiead feais, in many
paits of Eastein Euiope and Afiica alike, about the pieteinatuial pio-
duction of wealth:
The end of the Cold Wai, like the death of apaitheid, ied uto-
pian imaginations. But libeiation undei neolibeial conditions has been
maiied by a disconceiting upsuige of violence, ciime, and disoidei. The
quest foi demociacy, the iule of law, piospeiity, and civility thieatens
to dissolve into stiife and ieciimination, even political chaos, amidst
the oft-mouthed plaint that the pooi cannot eat votes oi live on a good
Constitution.
15
Eveiywheie theie is evidence of an uneasy fusion of en-
fianchisement and exclusion, of xenophobia at the piospect of woild
citizenship without the old piotectionisms of nationhood, of the eoit
to iealize modein utopias by decidedly postmodein means. Gone is any
ocial-speak of egalitaiian futuies, woik foi all, oi the pateinal govein-
ment envisioned by the vaiious fieedom movements. These ideals have
given way to a spiiit of deiegulation, with its taunting mix of emanci-
pation and limitation. Individual citizens, a lot of them maiooned by a
iuddeiless ship of state, tiy to clambei aboaid the good ship Enteipiise.
But in so doing, they nd themselves battling the eccentiic cuiients of
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the new woild oidei, which shoit-ciicuit ieceived ways and means.
Caught up in these cuiients, many of them come face to face with the
most fundamental metamoiphosis wiought by the neolibeial tuin: the
labile iole of laboi in the elusive equation connecting pioduction to
consumption, the pio to the con of capitalism.
16
Which biings us back to the pioblematic status of pioduction at the
tuin of the new centuiy.
Labcrs Pain. Prcducing the Class cf :ooo The emeigence of con-
sumption as a piivileged site foi the fabiication of self and society, of
cultuie and identity, is closely tied to the changing status of woik undei
contempoiaiy conditions. Foi some, the economic oidei of oui times
iepiesents a completion of the intiinsic pioject of capital: namely, the
evolution of a social foimation that, as Maiio Tionti (I,8o: _:) puts it,
does not look to laboi as its dynamic foundation (cf. Haidt I,,,: _,).
Otheis see the piesent moment in iadically dieient teims. Scott Lash
and John Uiiy (I,8,: :_:__), foi instance, declaie that we aie seeing
not the denouement but the demise of oiganized capitalism, of a sys-
temin which coipoiate institutions could secuie compiomises between
management and woikeis by making appeals to the national inteiest.
The inteinationalization of maiket foices, they claim, has not meiely
eioded the capacity of states to contiol national economies. It has led
to a decline in the impoitance of domestic pioduction in many once
industiialized countiieswhich, along with the woildwide iise of the
seivice sectoi and the feminization of the woikfoice, has dispeised class
ielations, alliances, and antinomies acioss the foui coineis of the eaith.
It has also put such distances between sites of pioduction and con-
sumption that theii aiticulation becomes all but unfathomable, save in
fantasy.
Not that Foidist fabiication has disappeaied. Theie is a laigei abso-
lute numbei of industiial woikeis in the woild today than evei befoie
(Kellogg I,8,). Neithei is the mutation of the laboi maiket altogethei
unpiecedented. Foi one thing, Maix (I,o,: o_,) obseived, the develop-
ment of capitalism has always conduced to the cumulative ieplacement
of skilled laboieis by less skilled, matuie laboieis by immatuie, male
by femalealso living laboi by dead. As David Haivey (I,8,: I,:
,_) ieminds us, the devaluation of laboi powei has been a tiaditional
iesponse to falling piots and peiiodic ciises of commodity pioduc-
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tion. What is moie, the giowth of global maikets in commodities and
seivices has nct been accompanied by a coiiespondingly uniestiicted
owof woikeis, most nation-states still tiy to iegulate theii movement
to a gieatei oi lessei extent. The simultaneous fieeing and compait-
mentalizing of laboi, Petei Geschieie and Fiancis Nyamnjoh (in this
volume) point out, is a tension long endemic to capitalism.
Nonetheless, Haivey insists, if not in quite the same teims as Lash
and Uiiy (I,8,), that the cuiient moment is dieient: that it evinces
featuies that set it apait, fiactuiing the continuing histoiy of capital
a histoiy, Engels once said, that iemains] the same and yet is] con-
stantly changing (quoted by Andie Gundei Fiank I,,I: _o]). Above
all, the explosion of new maikets and monetaiy instiuments, aided by
sophisticated means of planetaiy cooidination and space-time com-
piession, have given the nancial oidei a degiee of autonomy fiomieal
pioduction unmatched in the annals of political economy (cf. Tuinei
n.d.: I8). The consequences aie tangible: Diiven by the impeiative to
ieplicate money, wiites David Koiten (I,,o: I_, cf. McMichael I,,8:
,8), the new global] system tieats people as a souice of ineciency:
evei moie disposable. The spiialing viituality of scal ciiculation, of the
accumulation of wealth puiely thiough exchange, exaceibates this ten-
dency: it enables the speculative side of capitalismto act as if it weie en-
tiiely independent of human manufactuie. The maiket and its masteis,
an electionic heid (Fiiedman I,,,) of nomadic, deteiiitoiialized in-
vestois, appeai less and less constiained by the costs oi moial economy
of conciete laboi.
If capital stiives to become autonomous of laboi, if the spatial and
tempoial cooidinates of modeinist political economy have been sun-
deied, if the ontological connection between pioduction and consump-
tion has come into question, what has happened to the linchpin of capi-
talism: the concept foimeily known as class:
Denunciations of the concept, Fiediic Jameson (I,,,: o,) la-
ments, have become obligatoiy. Even foi Maixists. This in spite of the
fact that class names an ongoing social ieality, a peisistently active di-
mensionof post-ColdWai maps of thewoildsystem. He is, moieovei,
unconvinced by claims that it no longei makes sense of the tiansna-
tional division of laboi, noi is he peisuaded that gendei, iace, and eth-
nicity aie moie constitutive of conciete expeiience in the contempoiaiy
moment. Foi Jameson, gendei and iace aie too easily ieconciled with
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the demands of libeial ideology, with its solutions to social pioblems,
with the soits of politics it pioeis. Class, nally, iemains moie intiac-
table and moie fundamental. Thus Tom Lewis (I,,,: I,I): the failuie to
iecognize it as the most eective subject position thiough which to
oiganize against iacism and sexism is paiticulaily iegiettable.
But suiely the mattei iuns deepei than this: Subject positions aie
multiply deteimined, shaped less by political expediency than by the
compelling tiuths of sense and peiception. As Jameson himself notes
(I,,,: ,), Nothing is moie complexly allegoiical than the play of class
connotations acioss the . . . social eld. Oui task, suiely, is to ex-
amine how consciousness, sentiment, and attachment aie constituted
undei pievailing conditions, why class has become a less plausible basis
foi self-iecognition and action when giowing dispaiities of wealth and
powei would point to the inveise (cf. Stoipei, in this volume), why
gendei, iace, ethnicity, and geneiation have become such compelling
idioms of identication, mobilizing people, both within and acioss
nation-states, in ways often opposed to ieigning hegemonies.
Once again, this pioblem is haidly new. Theie has long been debate
about the two big questions at the nub of the histoiical sociology of
class: Why do social classes seem so seldom to have acted foi them-
selves ( fur sich): And why have explicit foims of class consciousness
aiisenielatively infiequently, evenundei thewoist of Foidist conditions
(see, e.g., Walleistein I,,:: I,_, Comaio and Comaio I,8,): Com-
plex, poetically iich, cultuially infoimed imaginings have always come
between stiuctuial conditions and subjective peiceptionsimaginings
that have multiplied and waxed moie etheieal, moie fantastic, as capi-
talist economies have enlaiged in scale. Neithei the absolute inciease in
industiial woikeis acioss the globe noi the fact that ,o peicent of the
population in advanced capitalist societies stiuctuially belong to the
woiking class (Lewis I,,,: I,o,I) dictates that people will expeiience
the woild, oi act upon it, in classic pioletaiian teims.
Quite the opposite. As we have alieady said, the labile ielation of
laboi to capital may have intensied existing stiuctuies of inequality,
but it is also eioding the conditions that give iise to class opposition
as an idiom of identity and[oi inteiest. Key heie is the diamatic tians-
nationalization of piimaiy pioduction (this by contiast to tiade in iaw
mateiials and nished pioducts, which has long ciossed soveieign boi-
deis, see Dicken I,8o: _). A woild-histoiical piocess, it is having pio-
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found eects on the conguiation, and the cognition, of social iela-
tions of pioduction eveiywheie: (I) By undeimining the capacity of
states to sustain economies in which pioduction, plant, im and in-
dustiy weie essentially national phenomena (Hobsbawm I,,,: _I_),
it iendeis obsolete the old system of baigaining in which laboi and
capital could negotiate wages and conditions within an enclaved teiii-
toiy (Lash and Uiiy I,8,: :_:__, see above), (:) by subveiting domes-
tic pioduction in industiialized countiies, it encouiages the cutting of
laboi costs thiough casualization, outsouicing, and the hiiing of dis-
counted (female, immigiant, iacinated) woikeis, theiebyeithei making
blue-collai employees iedundant oi foicing them into the menial end
of the seivice sectoi, (_) by widening the gulf between iich and pooi
iegions, it makes the latteivia the expoit of laboi oi the hosting of
sweatshops and maquiladoiasinto the woiking class of the foimei,
and () by ieducing pioletaiians eveiywheie to the lowest common de-
nominatoi, it compels them to compete with little piotection against
the most exploitative modes of manufactuie on the planet.
To the extent, then, that the nation-state is, as Aijaz Ahmad (I,,::
_I8) says, the teiiain on which actual class conicts take place, it fol-
lows that the global dispeisal of manufactuie is likely to fiagment mod-
einist foims of class consciousness, class alliance, and class antinomies
at an exponential iate. It is also likely to dissolve the giound on which
pioletaiian cultuie once took shape and to disiupt any sense of ioot-
edness within oiganically conceived stiuctuies of pioduction. Alieady,
in many places, theie has been a palpable eiosion of the conventional
bases of woikei identity. Thus, while it is possible to aigue, withTeience
Tuinei (n.d.: :,, cf. Cox I,8,: :,I), that tiansnational ows of capital
and laboi have ieplicated inteinal class divisions on an inteinational
scale, existing ielations among laboi, place, and social iepioduction
and, with them, the teims of class conict itselfhave been thoioughly
unsettled foi now.
While the contouis of the global pioletaiiat aie ghostly at best
and while middle classes seem eveiywheie to be facing a loss of socio-
economic secuiity, theii centei giound evei shakiei (cf. Stoipei, in this
volume)a tiansnational capitalist class is taking moie and moie tan-
gible shape. Heie, again, theie aie questions of nuance about the old
and the new: inteinational bouigeoisies aie, aiguably, as old as capi-
talism itself. Dependency theoiists have long insisted that they weie
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a ciitical element in the making of modein Euiopean states and theii
national economies, also that theii exploitation of colonial wealth was
indispensable to the development of the Westein metiopoles. The new
tiansnational capitalist eliteits fiequent-iei executives, nancieis,
buieauciats, piofessionals, and media mogulsmay appeai to be the
planetaiy veision of those oldei cosmopolitan bouigeoisies, its cadies
centeied in the impeiial capitals of the woild. But, as Leslie Sklaii (I,,8:
I_o_,) aigues, this new elite is distinctive in seveial ways. Above all,
its inteiests aie vested piimaiily in globalizing foims of capital: capi-
tal whose shaieholdei-diiven impeiatives aie ielated to any paiticu-
lai local enteipiise, metiopolitan oi colonial. Hence, while its business
ventuies might loop into and out of national economies, this does not,
as Saskia Sassen (n.d.) stiesses, make them national enteipiises. The
entiepieneuiial activities of this class aie conceived in teims of mai-
kets, monetaiy tiansactions, and modes of manufactuie that tianscend
national boideis. They seek to disengage fiom paiochial loyalties and
juiisdictions, thus to minimize the eects of legal iegulations, enviion-
mental constiaints, taxation, and laboi demands.
17
Decontextualization, the distantiation fiomplace and its sociomoial
piessuies, is an autonomic impulse of capitalism at the millennium,
18
ciucial, in fact, to its ways and means of discounting laboi by abstiact-
ing itself fiom diiect confiontation oi civic obligation. The pooi aie no
longei at the gates, bosses live in enclaved communities a woild away,
beyond political oi legal ieach. Capital and its woikfoice become moie
and moie iemote fiom each othei. Heie is the haish undeiside of the
cultuie of neolibeialism. It is a cultuie that, to ietuin to oui opening
comment, ie-visions peisons not as pioduceis fiom a paiticulai com-
munity, but as consumeis in a planetaiy maiketplace: peisons as en-
sembles of identity that owe less to histoiy oi society than to oiganically
conceived human qualities.
This logos does not go uncontested, of couiseneithei by popu-
lai nationalisms noi by social movements of vaiious stiipes, left and
iight, Noith and South, especially among the maiginal (Sklaii I,,8: I_,,
Tuinei n.d.). But, as iek (I,,,: I:,) suggests, maiginalities of diei-
ent kinds do not, foi obduiate stiuctuial ieasons, often come togethei
in enduiing iainbow coalitions. To be suie, the gospel of laissez-faiie
is a potent piesence in contempoiaiy capitalist societies, its axioms ie-
infoiced by quotidian expeiience and its tiuths instilled in its subjects
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by the iemoiseless commodication of evei moie nely taigeted aieas
of eveiyday life. Witness the following inteipolation: You aie at one
with the woild. . . . The ieal woild wheie time tieads with a leisuie
measuie. You expiess youi commitment to the new age . . . in the way
you think, the way you talk, the way you diess. Leisuie time diessing
is YOU. This o-the-peg call to postpioletaiian identity comes fiom
a label attached to a paii of womens shoits maiketed in a climate of
patiiotic capitalism by a South Afiican chain stoie.
19
The thickening
hegemony to which it speaks is boine also by the global communicative
media, themselves seeking to constiuct a planetaiy ecumene, whose
satellite signals and bei-optic neives ieach the widest possible audi-
ence. Those signals aie designed to evade contiol exeicised by states
ovei ows of images and infoimationows once integial to the cie-
ation of political communities and national publics (cf. Andeison
I,8_: o_).
Foi all theii tiansfoimative powei, as anthiopologists have iepeat-
edly insisted, these mateiial and cultuial foices do not have simple, ho-
mogenizing eects. They aie, in some measuie, iefiacted, iedeployed,
domesticated, oi iesistedwheievei theycome toiest. What we call glob-
alism is a vast ensemble of dialectical piocesses, piocesses that cannot
occui without the giounded, socially embedded human beings fiom
whom they diaw value. Noi can these piocesses occui without the con-
ciete, cultuially occupied localesvillages, towns, iegions, countiies,
subcontinentsin which they come to iest, howevei eetingly. Still,
they aie ie-foiming the salience of locality, place, and community in
ways that often bypass the state. Hence the piolifeiation of attachments
at once moie paiticulai and moie univeisal than citizenship (Tuinei
n.d.: 8)fiom those based on gendei, sex, iace, and age thiough those
oiganized aiound issues such as enviionmentalism and human iights
to those, like the Nation of Islam oi the hip-hop nation, that conjuie
with nationhood itself.
The paiadox of class at the millennium, in sum, must be undei-
stood in these teims. Neolibeialismaspiies, in its ideology and piactice,
to intensify the abstiactions inheient in capitalism itself: to sepaiate
laboi powei fiomits human context, to ieplace society with the maiket,
to build a univeise out of aggiegated tiansactions. While it can nevei
fully succeed, its advance ovei the long twentieth centuiy has pio-
foundly alteied, if unevenly in space and time, the phenomenology of
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being in the woild. Foimative expeiienceslike the natuie of woik and
the iepioduction of self, cultuie, and communityhave shifted. Once-
legible piocessesthe woikings of powei, the distiibution of wealth,
the meaning of politics and national belonginghave become opaque,
even spectial. The contouis of society blui, its oiganic solidaiity dis-
peises. Out of its shadows emeiges a moie iadically individuated sense
of peisonhood, of a subject built up of tiaits set against a univeisal
backdiop of likeness and dieience. In its place, to inveit the old Duik-
heimean telos, aiise collectivities eiected on a foim of mechanical soli-
daiity in which me is geneialized into we.
In this vocabulaiy, it is not just that the peisonal is political. The
peisonal is the only politics theie is, the only politics with a tangible
iefeient oi emotional valence. By extension, interpeisonal ielations
above all, sexuality, fiom the peccadillos of piesidents to the global
spectei of .iuscome to stand, metonymically, foi the inchoate foices
that thieaten the woild as we know it. It is in these piivatized teims
that action is oiganized, that the expeiience of inequity and antago-
nism takes meaningful shape. In this sense, Jameson (I,,,: ,) is coi-
iect. Theie is no autonomous discouise of class. Ceitainly not now, if
evei. Oppositions of gendei and iace, even if not in themselves explicit
vehicles foi that discouise, aie fiequently ieinvested with its piactical
dynamics and expiess its staik antagonisms. This is inevitable. Reign-
ing hegemonies, both populai and academic, may sepaiate the con-
stiuction of identity fiom the antinomies of class. But the maiket has
always made capital out of human dieience and dieience out of capi-
tal, cultivating exploitable categoiies of woikeis and consumeis, iden-
tifying paiiahs, and seeking to isolate enemies of established enteipiise
(Wiight, in this volume). As lived ieality, then, social class is a multiply
iefiacted gestalt. Its contiasts aie mobilized in a host of displaced ieg-
isteis, its distinctions caiiied in a myiiad of chaiged, locally modulated
signs and objectsfiom the canons of taste and desiie to the niceties
of language use, the subtle disciiminations of adveitising to the cainal
conict of spoit.
In shoit, as neolibeial conditions iendei evei moie obscuie the ioot-
ing of inequality in stiuctuies of pioduction, as woik gives way to the
mechanical solidaiities of identity in constiucting selfhood and so-
cial being, class comes to be undeistood, in both populai and scholaily
discouise, as yet anothei peisonal tiait oi lifestyle choice. Which is why
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it, like citizenship, is measuied incieasingly by the capacity to tiansact
and consume, why politics is tieated as a mattei of individual oi gioup
entitlement, why social wiongs aie tiansposed into an issue of iights,
why diuse conceins about cultuial integiity and communal suivival
aie vested in piivate anxieties about sexuality, piocieation, oi family
values, why the fetus, neolibeial subject pai excellence, becomes the
focus of a macabie nativity play, in which, vexed to nightmaie by a
iocking ciadle, moial antagonists lock in moital battle ovei the iight
to life (Jean Comaio I,,,a, Beilant I,,,). Analytically, of couise, it is
impeiative foi us nct to take these things at face value. The pioblem,
iathei, is to explain why, in the millennial age, class has become dis-
placed and iefiacted in the way that it has. Which is why, nally, its
ieduction, to the meie expeiience of infeiioiity, as Jameson (I,,,: ,)
would have it, is insucient. The concept of class so ieduced captuies
neithei the complex constiuction of contempoiaiy expeiience noi the
ciises of social iepioduction in which much of the woild appeais to be
caught.
Generating Futures. Ycuth in the Age cf Incivility That sense of
physical, social, and moial ciisis congeals, peihaps moie than anywheie
else, in the contempoiaiy piedicament of youth, now widely undei
sciutiny (Comaio and Comaio foithcoming). Geneiation, in fact,
seems to be an especially feitile site into which class anxieties aie dis-
placed. Peihaps that much is oveideteimined: it is on the backs of the
pubescent that conceins about social iepioductionabout the viability
of the continuing piesenthave almost always been saddled. Nonethe-
less, geneiationas a piinciple of distinction, consciousness, andstiuggle
has long been neglected, oi taken foi gianted, by theoiists of politi-
cal economy. This will no longei do: The giowing peitinence of juve-
nilesoi, moie accuiately, theii impeitinenceis an ineluctable fea-
tuie of the piesent moment, fiom Chicago to Cape Town, Calcutta to
Caiacas. Pieadulthood, of couise, is a histoiically constiucted categoiy:
While, in much of the late-twentieth-centuiy English-speaking woild,
young white peisons aie teenagers, theii black counteipaits aie ycuth,
adolescents with attitude. And most often, if not always, male.
Theie aie staitling similaiities in the cuiient situation of youth the
woild ovei, similaiities that appeai to aiise out of the woikings of neo-
libeial capitalism and the changing planetaiy oidei of which we have
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spoken. These similaiities seemto be founded on a doubling, on simul-
taneous inclusion and exclusion. On one hand is theii much iemaiked
exclusion fiom local economies, especially fiom shiinking, mutating
blue-collai sectois. As the expansion of the fiee maiket iuns up against
the demise of the welfaie state, the modeinist ideal in which each gen-
eiation does bettei than its piedecessoi is mocked by conditions that
disenfianchise the unskilled young of the innei city and the countiyside
(cf. Abdullah I,,8). Denied full, waged citizenship in the nation-state,
many of them take to the stieets, often the only place wheie, in an eia
of piivatization, a lumpen public can be seen and heaid (cf. Appaduiai
:ooo). The piole of these populations ieects also the feminization of
post-Foidist laboi, which fuithei disiupts gendei ielations and domes-
tic iepioduction among woiking people, cieating a concomitant ciisis
of masculinity: a ciisis as audible in U.S. gangsta iap as in South Afii-
can gang iape, as visible in the paiodic castiation of The Full Mcnty
as in the deadly machismo of soccei violence oi the echoing coiiidois
of Columbine High. This ciisis is not conned to youth oi woikeis, of
couisewoild cinema has made that point cogently in iecent yeais
but it is magnied among them.
On the othei hand is the iecent iise of asseitive, global youth cul-
tuies of desiie, self-expiession, and iepiesentation, in some places, too,
of potent, if unconventional, foims of politicization. Pie-adults have
long been at the fiontieis of the tiansnational: the waxing U.S. economy
in the I,,os was maiked by the emeigence of teens as a consumei
categoiy with its own distinctive, inteinationally maiketable cultuie.
This, howevei, intensied immeasuiably duiing the I,8os and I,,os. To
a gieatei extent than evei befoie, geneiation became a conciete piin-
ciple of mobilization, inecting othei dimensions of dieience, not least
class, in whose displacements it is closely entailed (cf. Coiiigan and
Fiith I,,o). Youth activism, cleaily, has been hugely facilitated by the
owof infoimation, styles, and cuiiencies acioss old soveieign bound-
aiies. The signifying piactices on which it is based appeai to ouiish,
moie than most things, with space-time compiession.
This is not to imply that the young foim a homogeneous, socio-
logical categoiy of people which thinks, oiganizes and acts in coheient
ways (Seekings I,,_: xiv). The fact that youth cultuie is incieasingly
capacious in its ieach does not mean that the situation of kids, oi
the natuie of theii social expeiience, is eveiywheie the same. But it is
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to say that, in iecent times, this segment of the population has gained
unpiecedented autonomy as a social categoiy an und fur sich, both in
and foi itself, this in spite, oi maybe because, of its ielative maiginal-
ization fiom the noimative woild of woik and wage. In many Westein
contexts they, along with othei disenfianchised peisons (notably the
homeless and the unemployed), constitute a kind of counteination: a
viitual citizeniy with its own twilight economies, its own spaces of pio-
duction and iecieation, its own modalities of politics with which to ad-
diess the economic and political conditions that deteimine its plight
(Venkatesh I,,,).
As a consequence, youth tend eveiywheie to occupy the innovative,
unchaited boideilands along which the global meets the local. This is
often made manifest in the elaboiation of cieolized aigots, of stieet-
speak and cybeitalk, that give voice to imaginative woilds veiy dieient
fiom those of the paiental geneiation. But these boideilands aie also
sites of tension, paiticulaily foi disadvantaged young people fiompost-
ievolutionaiy societies, fiom innei cities, and fiom othei teiiois incog-
nita who seek to make good on the piomises of the fiee maiket, also foi
anyone who jostles against the incivilities, illegalities, and impoitunities
of these piecocious entiepieneuis. At the opening of the new centuiy,
the image of youth-as-tiouble has gained an advanced capitalist twist as
impatient adolescents take the waiting out of wanting by developing
iemaikably diveise foims of illicit enteipiise
20
fiom diug tiacking
and computei hacking in the uiban United States, thiough the bush
economies of West and Cential Afiica, which tiade diamonds and dol-
lais, guns and gasoline ovei long distances (Roitman I,,,, De Boeck
I,,,), to the supply of seivices both legal and lethal. In this they tiy
to link the poles of consumption and pioduction and to bieak into the
cycle of accumulation, often by outing ieceived iules and conventions.
The young have felt theii powei, powei boin paitly of the sheei weight
of numbeis, paitly of a giowing inclination and capacity to tuin to the
use of foice, paitly of a willingness to hold polite society to iansom.
Bill Bufoid (I,,_: :oo,) has suggested that Biitish soccei fans ex-
peiience a compelling sense of community in moments of conceited
violence. Otheis have said the same of gangland wais in Noith Ameii-
can cities, witch buining in the noitheily piovinces of South Afiica, and
cognate social piactices elsewheie. Is it suipiising, then, that so many
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juveniles see themselves as iionic, mutant citizens of a newwoild oidei:
Oi that the standaidized nightmaie of the genteel mainstieam is an in-
cieasingly univeisal image of the adolescent, a laigei-than-life guie
weaiing absuidly expensive spoits shoes, headphones blaiing gangsta
iap, beepei tied to a global undeigiound economyin shoit, a sinistei
caiicatuie of the coipoiate mogul: Is this not a diamatic embodiment
of the daik side of consumeiism, of a iiotous ietuin of the iepiessed,
of a paiallel politics of class, social iepioduction, and civil society:
Piecisely because of its fusion of monstiosity, eneigy, and cieativity,
this guie also subsumes some of the moie complex aspects of millen-
nial capitalism, if in the mannei of a giotesque: its tendency to spaik
the puisuit of newways and means foi the pioduction of wealth, its am-
bivalent, contiadictoiy engagement with the nation-state, its play on
the piesence and absence of civil society. It is to these thiee faces of the
iough beast, its houi come iound at last, that we now tuin.
t ue c c r c c s or vi i i c uui i c r i t i i s v
Liberal demccracy . . . has never been . . . in such a state cf dysfuncticn. . . . Life
is nct cnly distcrted, as was always the case, by a great number cf sccic-eccncmic
mechanisms, but it is exercised with mcre and mcre diculty in a public space
prcfcundly upset by technc-tele-media apparatuses and by new rhythms cf in-
fcrmaticn and ccmmunicaticn, . . . by the new mcdes cf apprcpriaticn they put
tc wcrk, by the new structure cf the event and its spectrality.Jacques Deiiida,
Specters cf Marx
Occult Eccncmies and New Religicus Mcvements. Privatizing the Mil-
lennium A stiiking coiollaiy of the dawning Age of Millennial Capi-
talism has been the global piolifeiation of occult economies.
21
These
economies have twodimensions: a mateiial aspect foundedonthe eoit
to conjuie wealthoi to account foi its accumulationby appeal to
techniques that defy explanation in the conventional teims of piacti-
cal ieason, and an ethical aspect giounded in the moial discouises and
(ie)actions spaikedby the ieal oi imaginedpioductionof value thiough
such magical means. It is dicult, of couise, to quantify the piesence
of the occultand, theiefoie, to make any claim to its inciease. As we
note above, nance capital has always had its spectial enchantments, its
modes of speculation based on less than iational connections between
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means and ends. Both its undeiside (the paiiah foims of gambling of
which we spoke a moment ago) and its uppei side (a scal industiy, em-
biacing eveiything fiom insuiance to stock maikets) have been iooted,
fiom the ist, in two insciutables: a faith in piobability (itself a notoii-
ously pooi way of piedicting the futuie fiom the past) and a monetaiy
system that depends foi its existence on condence, a chimeia know-
able, tautologically, only by its eects. Wheiein, then, lies the claimthat
occult economies aie piesently on the iise:
In the specic context of South Afiica, we have demonstiated (I,,,b,
I,,,c) that theie has been an explosion of occult-ielated activity
much of it violent, aiising out of accusations of iitual killing, witchciaft,
and zombie conjuiingsince the late apaitheid yeais. These also in-
clude fantastic Ponzi schemes, the sale of body paits foi magical pui-
poses, satanic piactices, touiismbased on the sighting of fabulous mon-
steis, and the like. Heie middle-class magazines iun dial-a-divinei
adveitisements, national papeis caiiy headline aiticles on medicine
muideis, piime-time televisionbioadcasts diamas of soiceiy, and moie
than one witchciaft summit has been held. Patently, even heie we
cannot be suie that the biute quantum of occult activity exceeds that
of times past. But what is cleai is that theii iepoited incidence, wiit-
ten about by the mainstieam piess in moie piosaic, less exoticizing
teims than evei befoie (Foidied I,,,), has foiced itself upon the pub-
lic spheie, iuptuiing the ow of mediated news. It is this iuptuie
this focus of populai attention on the place of the aicane in the eveiy-
day pioduction of valueto which we iefei when we speak of a global
piolifeiation of occult economies.
It is not dicult to catalogue the piesence of occult economies in dif-
feient paits of the woild. In West Afiica, foi example, Petei Geschieie
(I,,,), among otheis, has shown how zombie conjuiing is becoming
an endemic featuie of eveiyday life, how soiceiy and witchciaft have
enteied into the postcolonial political economy as an integial element
of a thiiving alteinative modeinity, how magic has become as much an
aspect of mundane suivival stiategies as it is indispensable to the am-
bitions of the poweiful (see also Bastian I,,_). Noi is all of this based
in iuial situations oi among pooi people. In South Afiica a iecent case
involved a well-known physician: she was tuined into a zombie by a
Nigeiian devil-woishippei, who, having iendeied hei insensate, took
a laige sum of money fiom hei bank account.
22
By labeling the accused
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a Nigeiian devil woishippei, the iepoit ties the menace of the satanic
to the ow of immigiants acioss national boideis.
Noi is this only an Afiican phenomenon. In vaiious paits of Asia
occult economies thiive, often taking suipiising tuins (see Moiiis, in
this volume). InThailandwheie foitune-telling has beentiansfoimed
by global technology and e-mail divination has taken oone tiadi-
tional seei, auspiciously named Madam Luk, iepoits that hei clients
nowadays ask thiee questions to the exclusion of all otheis: Is my
company going bioke: Am I going to lose my job: and Will I nd
anothei job:
23
In the United States, too, the fallout of neolibeial capi-
talism is having its impact on magical piactice. Theie is, foi instance,
a giowing use (seeping into the giassioots of the U.S. heaitland and
taking its place beside othei millennial puisuits) of taiot ieadings as a
iespectable foim of theiapydesciibed by the diiectoi of the Tiends
Reseaich Institute as a low-cost shiink in the box.
24
By these means
aie psychology, spiiituality, and foitune-telling fused.
Sometimes dealings in the occult take on a moie visceial, daikei
foim. Thioughout Latin Ameiica in the I,,os, as in Afiica and Asia,
theie have been mass panics about the clandestine theft and sale of the
oigans of young people, usually by unsciupulous expatiiates (Schepei-
Hughes I,,o). Violence against childien has become metonymic of
thieats to social iepioduction in many ethnic and national contexts, the
dead (oi missing) child having emeiged as the standaidized nightmaie
of a woild out of contiol (Jean Comaio I,,,a). Theie, and in othei
paits of the globe, this commeicelike inteinational adoptions, mail-
oidei maiiiage, and indentuied domestic laboiis seen as a new foim
of impeiialism, the auent Noith siphoning o the essence of pooiei
otheis by mysteiious means foi nefaiious ends. All of which gives evi-
dence, to those at the nethei end of the global distiibution of wealth,
of the woikings of insidious foices, of potent magical technologies and
modes of accumulation.
That evidence ieaches into the heait of Euiope itself. Hence the ie-
cent scaies, in seveial countiies, about the sexual and satanic abuse of
childien (La Fontaine I,,,), about the kidnapping and muidei of stieet
uichins, most iecently in Geimany by Russian gangs, foi puiposes
of oigan haivest and expoit, about the alleged tiacking in women
especially] fiom. . . nations of the foimei Soviet bloc foi piostitution,
laboi, and othei peisonal seivices in Westein Euiope, the Ameiicas,
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Japan, and China.
25
Again, the United States is not exempt fiom anxi-
eties ovei the pilfeiing of human bodies and body paits foi piot. Note,
foi just one extieme instance, the uiban myth that tiaveised the Intei-
net inI,,, about the seciet excisionof kidneys, byappaiently inciedible
means, fiom business tiaveleis.
26
In othei contexts, the occult concentiates itself in puiely nancial
dealings. Thus theie seems to have been an extiaoidinaiy intensica-
tion of pyiamid schemes lately, many of them tied to the electionic
media. These schemes, and a host of scams allied with thema few
legal, many illegal, some alegalaie haidly new. But theii iecent mush-
iooming acioss the woild has diawn a gieat deal of attentionpaitly
because of theii sheei scale and paitly because, by ciossing national
boideis and[oi iegisteiing at addiesses fai fiom the site of theii local
opeiation, they insinuate themselves into the slipstieam of the global
economy, theieby escaping contiol. Recall the ten oi so whose ciash
spaiked the Albanian ievolution eaily in I,,,, seveial of which took on
almost miiaculous dimensions foi pooi investois. One pyiamid man-
agei in Albania, accoiding to the NewYcrk Times, was a gypsy foitune
tellei, complete with ciystal ball, who claimed to know the futuie.
27
Even in the tightly iegulated stock maikets of the United States, theie
has been a iise in illegal opeiations that owe theii logic, if not theii pie-
cise opeiation, to pyiamids: anothei New Ycrk Times iepoit attiibutes
this to the fact that investois aie piesently piedisposed to thiow dol-
lais at get-iich-quick schemes. Six billion dollais weie lost to scams
on the New Yoik Stock Exchange in I,,o.
28
These scams also biing to
mind otheis that aiise fiom a piomiscuous mix of scaicity and deiegu-
lation, among them, the notoiious Nigeiian-based I,, a tiuly tians-
national con that iegulaily tiaps foieign businessmen into signing ovei
majoi assets and abets laige-scale, amazingly intiicate foims of fiaud
(Aptei I,,,), also the Foundation foi New Eia Philanthiopy, a U.S.
pyiamid cieated to change the woild foi the gloiy of God. On the
basis of a piomise to double theii money in six months, its foundei,
John Benett, peisuaded ve hundied nonpiot oiganizations, Chiistian
colleges, and Ivy League univeisities to invest s_, million.
29
The line
between Ponzi schemes and evangelical piospeiity gospels is veiy thin
indeed.
30
All of these things have a single common denominatoi: the alluie of
acciuing wealth fiomnothing. In this iespect, they aie boin of the same
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animating spiiit as casino capitalism, indeed, peihaps they are casino
capitalism foi those who lack the scal oi cultuial capitaloi who, foi
one oi anothei ieason, aie ieluctantto gamble on moie conventional
maikets. Like the cunning that made stiaw into gold (Schneidei I,8,),
these alchemic techniques defy ieason in piomising unnatuially laige
piotstoyield wealth without pioduction, value without eoit. Heie,
again, is the spectei, the distinctive spiiit, of neolibeial capitalism in its
tiiumphal houi. So much foi the demise of disenchantment.
Speaking of the neolibeial spiiit, occult economies have close paial-
lels in the spiead of new ieligious movements acioss the planet. To wit,
the lattei may be seen as holy-owned subsidiaiies of the foimei. These
movements take on a wide vaiiety of guises. In the case of the Vissaii-
ontsi, disenchanted Soviet intellectuals who follow a tiac waiden-
tuined-messiah, membeis exchange theii eaithly wealth foi life in the
City of Sun, a congiegation in Sibeiia that iecalls a communist faim.
The Second Coming heie, led by a man with a sense of both histoiy
and iionya City of Sun, in Sibeiia: A caieei in Russian trac man-
agement foi the Son of God:envisages a futuie in the past, a heieaftei
(oi theiebefoie:) that iecaptuies the gloiies of a socialist commune.
31
But the ienunciatoiy oiientation of the Vissaiiontsi is not usual among
new ieligious movements at the millennium. Much closei to the global
mood of the moment aie fee-foi-seivice, consumei-cult, piospeiity-
gospel denominations. These cieeds aie well exempliedbyany numbei
of neo-Pentecostal sects, best peihaps by the Univeisal Chuich of the
Kingdom of God (Igreja Universal dc Reinc de Deus), a denomination
of Biazilian oiigin which, tiue to its name, has opened up outposts in
many paits of the woild (Kiamei I,,,).
The Univeisal Chuich iefoims the Piotestant ethic with enteipiise
and uibanity, fulsomely embiacing the mateiial woild. It owns a majoi
television netwoik in Biazil, has an elaboiate Web site, and, above all,
piomises swift payback to those who embiace Chiist, denounce Satan,
and make theii faith piactical by saciicing all they can to the
movement.
32
Heie Pentecostalism meets neolibeial enteipiise. In its
Afiican chuiches, most of them (liteially) stoiefionts, piayei meetings
iespond to fiankly meicenaiy desiies, oeiing eveiything fiom cuies
foi depiession thiough nancial advice to iemedies foi unemployment,
casual passeisby, clients ieally, select the seivices they iequiie. Bold
coloi adveitisements foi vmws and lotteiy winnings adoin altais, tab-
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loids pasted towalls and windows caiiy testimonials by followeis whose
membeiship was iewaided by a iush of wealth and[oi an astonishing
iecoveiy of health. The ability to delivei in the heie and now, itself a
potent foim of space-time compiession, is oeied as the measuie of a
genuinely global God, just as it is taken to explain the powei of satanism
(Comaio and Comaio I,,,b), both have the instant ecacy of the
magical and the millennial. As Kiamei (I,,,: _,) says of Biazilian neo-
Pentecostals, Innei-woildly asceticism has been ieplaced with a con-
cein foi the piagmatics of mateiial gain and the immediacyof desiie. . . .
The ietuin on capital has suddenly become moie spiiitually compel-
ling and imminent . . . than the ietuin of Chiist. This shift has been
endemic to many of the new ieligious movements of the late twenti-
eth centuiy. Foi them, and foi theii millions of membeis, the Second
Coming evokes not a Jesus who saves, but one who pays dividends. Oi,
moie accuiately, one who piomises a miiaculous ietuin on a limited
spiiitual investment.
Why: Howto put the mattei moie geneiallyaie we to account
foi the cuiient spiead of occult economies and piospeiity cults:
To the degiee that millennial capitalism fuses the modein and the
postmodein, hope and hopelessness, utility and futility, the woild cie-
ated in its image piesents itself as a mass of contiadictions: as a woild,
simultaneously, of possibility and impossibility. This is piecisely the
juxtaposition associated with caigo cults and chiliastic movements in
othei times and places (Woisley I,,,, Cohn I,,,). But, as the giowth of
piospeiity gospels and fee-foi-seivice movements illustiates, in a neo-
libeial age the chiliastic uige emphasizes a piivatizedmillennium, a pei-
sonalized iathei thana communal sense of iebiith, inthis, the messianic
meets the magical. At the tuin of the twenty-ist centuiy, the caigo,
glimpsed in laige pait thiough television, takes the foim of huge con-
centiations of wealth that acciue, legitimately oi otheiwise, to the iich
of the global economyespecially the enigmatic new wealth deiived
fiom nancial investment and management, fiom intellectual piop-
eity and othei iights, fiom cybeispace, fiom tianspoit and its cognate
opeiations, and fiom the supply of vaiious post-Foidist seivices. All of
which points to the fact that the mysteiious mechanisms of a chang-
ing maiket, not to mention abstiuse technological and infoimational
expeitise, hold the key to hitheito unimaginable foitunes amassed by
the evei moie iapid ow of value, acioss time and space, into the uid
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cooidinates of the local and the global, to the much mass-mediated
mantia that the gap between the auent and the indigent is giowing at
an exponential iate, and to the stiange convolutions in the stiuctuial
conditions of laboi, discussed above, that seem at once to ieduce and
pioduce joblessness by alteiing conventional teims of employment, by
feminizing the woikfoice, and by deteiiitoiializing pioletaiiats.
This, of couise, is the ip side of the coin: the sense of impossibility,
even despaii, that comes fiom being left out of the piomise of pios-
peiity, fiom having to look in on the global economy of desiie fiom
its immiseiated exteiiois. Whethei it be in post-Soviet Cential Euiope
oi postcolonial Afiica, in Thatcheiite Biitain oi the neolibeial United
States, in a China edging towaid capitalism oi neo-Pentecostal Latin
Ameiica, the woild-histoiical piocess that came to be symbolized by the
events of I,8, held out the piospect that eveiyone would be set fiee to
accumulate and speculate, to consume, and to indulge iepiessed ciav-
ings in a univeise of less goveinment, gieatei piivatization, moie opu-
lence, innite enteipiise. Foi the vast majoiity, howevei, the millennial
moment passed without visible eniichment.
The implication: That, in these timesthe late modeinist age when,
accoiding toWebei and Maix, enchantment would withei awaymoie
and moie oidinaiy people see aicane foices inteivening in the pio-
duction of value, diveiting its ow towaid a new elect: those masteis
of the maiket who compiehend and contiol the pioduction of wealth
undei contempoiaiy conditions. They also attiibute to these aicane
foices theii feelings of eiasuie and loss: an eiasuie in many places of
community and family, exaceibated by the destabilization of laboi, the
tianslocalization of management, and the death of ietail tiade, a loss of
human integiity, expeiienced in the spieading commodication of pei-
sons, bodies, cultuies, and histoiies, in the substitution of quantity foi
quality, abstiaction foi substance.
33
None of these peiceptions is new,
as we have said. Balzac (I8,: I8, II,) desciibed them foi Fiance in
the I8os, as did Coniad (I,II) foi pieievolutionaiy Russia, Gluckman
(I,,,), moieovei, spoke of the magic of despaii that aiose in simi-
laily dislocated colonial situations in Afiica. Nonetheless, to ieiteiate,
such disiuptions aie widely experienced thioughout the woild as inten-
sifying at a fiightening iate at piesent. That is why the ethical dimen-
sions of occult economies aie so piominent, why the mass panics of
oui times tend to be moial in tone, why these panics so often expiess
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themselves in ieligious movements that puisue instant mateiial ietuins
and yet condemn those who eniich themselves in nontiaditional ways.
To be suie, occult economies fiequently have this bipolai chaiactei: At
one level, they consist in the constant quest foi new, magical means foi
otheiwise unattainable ends, at anothei, they vocalize a desiie to sanc-
tion, to demonize and even eiadicate, people held to have accumulated
assets by those veiy means. The salvic and the satanic aie conditions
of each otheis possibility.
Occult economies, then, aie a iesponse to a woild gone awiy, yet
again: a woild in which the only way to cieate ieal wealth seems to
lie in foims of powei[knowledge that tiansgiess the conventional, the
iational, the moialthus to multiply available techniques of pioducing
value, faii oi foul. In theii cultuial aspect, they bespeak a iesolute eoit
to come to teims with that powei[knowledge, to account foi the inex-
plicable phenomena to which it gives iise, and to plumb its seciets. The
unpiecedented manifestation of zombies in the South Afiican countiy-
side, foi instance, has giown in diiect piopoition to the shiinking laboi
maiket foi young men. The foimei piovides a paitial explanation foi
the lattei: The living dead aie commonly said to be killed and iaised up
by oldei people, witches of wealth, to toil foi them (Comaio and Co-
maio I,,,b), theieby iendeiing iuial youth jobless. Theie aie, in this
eia of exitime employment, even pait-time zombies, a viitual woiking
classof puie, abstiact laboi poweithat slaves away at night foi its
masteis. In this context, fuitheimoie, the angiy diamas duiing which
iitual muideieis aie identied often become sites of public divination.
As they unfold, the accuseis discuss, attiibute cause, and give voice to
theii undeistanding of the foices that make the postcolony such an in-
hospitable place foi them. This is an extieme situation, obviously. But
in less staik ciicumstances, too, these economies tend to spawn simul-
taneous stiivings to gainei wealth and to put a stop to those who do so
by allegedly misbegotten means.
As all this suggests, appeals to the occult in puisuit of the seciets
of capital geneially iely on local cultuial technologies: on veinaculai
modes of divination oi oiaculai consultation, spiiit possession oi an-
cestial invocation, soiceiy busting oi foiensic legal pioceduies, witch
beliefs oi piayei. But the use of these technologies does not imply an it-
eiation of, a ietieat into, tiadition. On the contiaiy, theii deployment
in such ciicumstances is fiequently a means of fashioning new tech-
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niques to pieseive oldei values by ietooling cultuially familiai signs and
piactices. As in caigo cults of old, this typically involves the mimicking
of poweiful new means of pioducing wealth.
In shoit, the iise of occult economiesamidst and alongside moie
conventional modes of economic piactice that shade into the muiky
domains of ciime and coiiuptionseems oveideteimined. This, aftei
all, is an age in which the extiavagant piomises of millennial capital-
ism iun up against an incieasingly nihilistic, thoioughly postmodein
pessimism, in which the will to consume outstiips the oppoitunity to
eain, in which, ielatively speaking, theie is a much highei velocity of ex-
change than theie is of pioduction. As the connections between means
and ends become moie opaque, moie distended, moie mysteiious, the
occult becomes an evei moie appiopiiate, semantically satuiated meta-
phoi foi oui times. Not only has it become commonplace to peppei
media pailance, science-speak, psychobabble, and technologese with
the language of enchantment, even the dieai aigot of the lawis showing
tiaces of the same thing.
34
Andwe all iemembei voodoo economics, that
Reagan-eia insult to the iationality of Caiibbean iitual piactice. But,
we insist, occult economies aie not ieducible to the symbolic, the gu-
iative, oi the allegoiical. Magic is, eveiywheie, the science of the con-
ciete, aimed at making sense of and acting upon the woildespecially,
but not only, among those who feel themselves disempoweied, emas-
culated, disadvantaged. The fact that the tuin to enchantment is not
unpiecedented, that it has piecuisois in eailiei times, makes it no less
signicant to those foi whom it has become an integial pait of eveiy-
day ieality. Maybe, too, all this desciibes a eeting phase in the long,
unnished histoiy of capitalism. But that makes it no less momentous.
Of all the enchantments that accompanied the Fiist Coming of Capi-
talism, peihaps the most peiduiing was nationalism. And the nation-
state, a political communityconjuied always out of dieience, often
against indieiencethat gave the Duikheimean conscience collective
a distinctive, eeivescent twist. Recently, as eveiyone knows, theie has
been much talk of its death, especially with the end of the Age of Em-
piie, the close of the Cold Wai, and the onset of the postcolonial eia,
it is as if the Tieaty of Westphalia has nally given way to the Failuie
of the West. We shall considei this view, and the aiticulate dissent it
has piovoked, in a moment. What is beyond question, howevei, is that
the Second Coming, the dawning Age of Millennial Capitalism, has had
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complex, contioveisial eects on the piesent and futuie of the nation-
state.
Alien-Naticn, Hyphen-Naticn, Desti-Naticn. The Future cf the Na-
ticn-State and the Fetishism cf Law In its bioad outlines, the schol-
aily debate ovei the cuiient condition of the nation-statethe denite,
singulai aiticlehas become something of a clich. The thesis that the
hyphenated modeinist polity is being diamatically subveited, doomed
even, has been ieheaised ad innitum, with vaiying degiees of nuance,
aspects of it have been foieshadowed in what we have alieady said.
Nation-states, fiom this vantage, have been iendeied iiielevant by
woild maiket foices (I) because capital has become uncontiollable and
keeps moving, at its ownvelocity, to sites of optimumadvantage, (:) be-
cause the global woikfoice has become evei moie mobile as job seekeis,
incieasingly managed by piivate agencies, migiate evei faithei in pui-
suit of even the most menial of jobs, undei even the most feudal of con-
ditions,
35
and (_) because these human ows seem, in vaiying piopoi-
tions, to elude suiveillance, despite the highly iepiessive mechanisms
often put into place to monitoi national fiontieis. Undei such condi-
tions, state iegulation of both capital and laboi becomes obsolete, im-
possible, so, too, do scal designs that iun countei to the mechanisms
of global maikets and[oi the impeiatives of global coipoiations. Stakes,
it is said, can no longei independently aect the levels of economic
activity oi employment within theii teiiitoiies. . . . Theii] job is to pio-
vide the infiastiuctuie and public goods needed at the lowest possible
cost (Hiist and Thompson I,,o: I,,,o).
In its histoiical fiaming, this thesis sees the leitmotif of the twentieth
centuiy as the battle between goveinment and the maiketplace (Yei-
gin and Stanislaw I,,8), the lattei winning out to the point that public
sectois aie shiinking, deiegulation is eveiyones piioiity, state compa-
nies aie being auctioned o to piivate investois, and Wall Stieet is the
most poweiful inuence on economies eveiywheie (Gaiten I,,8: ,).
As Sassen (n.d.: ,) notes, this peispective casts the stiength of the
nation-state in a zeio-sum opposition to the global economynote,
not to neolibeial capitalism, noi globalization tcut ccurt, but to the
global eccncmy. Wheie one gains, the othei must lose. Thus, says Robeit
Ross (I,,o: :oo,, :I8), until iecently the iegulatoiy iole of national
goveinments expanded piogiessively. Now, howevei, coipoiations aie
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able to pievail on states to iestiain iegulations, cut taxes, and allocate
moie public funds towaid subsidizing pioduction costs, which puts
global capital in a position to demand changes in state policy (:II,
emphasis ouis). Taken togethei, this adds up to the piognosis that, in
the long iun, the powei of the state, of centialized goveinment, will
weaken eveiywheie, an inevitability which will change piofoundly the
veiy textuie of histoiy (Lukacs I,,_: I,,).
In all this, as will be cleai, it is the woikings of tiansnational coi-
poiations, and especially the mobility of theii pioductive opeiations,
that aie held accountable foi the imminent demise of the nation-state.
Otheis have also laid causal stiess on the scal mechanics of the woild
economy, in paiticulai on theii technological tiansfoimations. Joel
Kuitzman (I,,_), foi example, holds that the giowth of a global elec-
tionic economybased on an electionic commons in which viitual
money and commodities may be exchanged instantly via an uniegu-
lated woild netwoik of computeishas shatteied the integiity of sov-
eieign polities (8,8o, :II,): It has eioded theii monopolistic contiol
ovei the money supply, theii capacity to contain wealth within boi-
deis, and even theii ability to tax citizens oi coipoiations. Fiom this
peispective, the emeigence of a global economy is said to be undei-
mining the nation-state by deconstiucting cuiiency, ciedit, and cus-
toms boundaiieswhich foimeily gave goveinments a majoi means
of contiol ovei the wealth of theii nationsby cieating mobile mai-
kets acioss the planet, thus dispeising the pioduction and ciiculation
of value. Which is why, it is so commonly said, many states aie nd-
ing it impossible to meet the mateiial demands placed upon them by
theii citizeniy oi to caiiy out eective economic development policies,
why few can adequately house, feed, school, and ensuie the health of
theii populations, whyeven fewei can see theii waycleai to settling theii
national debt oi ieducing theii decits, why only a handful can be con-
dent about the ieplacement of infiastiuctuie ovei the medium teim,
why almost none have any gieat capacity to contiol theii money supply,
let alone ows of goods and people, and why a giowing numbei have
shown a staitling inability to iegulate violence.
The thesis has also been aigued in teims othei than the simply eco-
nomic, of couise. The eioding boundedness of the nation-state, its loss
of soveieignty as a commonwealth of signs, has been vaiiously attiib-
uted to the impact of planetaiy cultuial ows and electionic media (see,
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e.g., Appaduiai I,,o, Hanneiz I,8,: o,,o, Mooie I,8,, Fostei I,,I), to
the asseitive spiead of tiansnational communities, social movements,
and identities, to the univeisalization of many aspects of the law (if
not of justice, Silbey I,,,: :o,), the expansion of tiibunals that subject
national juiisdictions to supianational ones (Daiian-Smith I,,,, I,,,),
and the iise of an inteicontinental commeicial aibitiation establish-
ment (Gaith and Dezalay I,,o), to woildkill, the commodication of
violence that makes it possible foi coipoiations, political blocs, shadow
states, oi nations to ient soldieis on the Inteinet, to aiiange foi the ap-
plication of foice in bieach of soveieign boideis, even to buy a coup
fioma multinational company (John L. Comaio I,,o),
36
to the shift in
dominant patteins of waifaie fiomconfiontations between countiies to
civil conicts that tend to tianslocalize themselves, to kill highei pio-
poitions of civilians than evei befoie, and to feed an aims industiy that
has metamoiphosed fioma highly iegulated impoit-expoit business to
a global tiade in illicit gun-iunning,
37
to the assimilation of many of
the tiaditional functions of goveinment eithei into the piivate sectoi oi
into supianational combinations.
As Peiegiine Woisthoine noted, in an essay tellingly entitled Faie-
well to Englands Nation State, the only aiea wheie the countiy] ie-
mains independent and soveieign is spoit. On which Patiiotic Fiont,
he adds laconically, miseiable iesults sayall that needs to be said. Even
heie, laboi has become a mobile commodity as citizens-of-convenience
take the eld in acquiied (natuialized) colois, although it is tiue
that this is peihaps the most signicant, sentiment-inspiiing, tiauma-
inducing site of national eeivescence in many paits of the woild.
38
In
eveiy othei domain, Woisthoine continues, English institutions, all of
them dysfunctional, have been ieplaced by moie eective inteinational
oi global ones. But who caies: he asks. It is time to change oui think-
ing.
39
This fiom a notable public intellectual, in Biitains most widely
iead conseivative newspapei, about England, self-appointed ciadle of
modeinity, demociacy, and the statenot some stiuggling postcolony
still tiying to thiow o the eects of the Age of Empiie.
Some do caieand aie not piepaied to give up so easily on the sa-
lience of the nation-state. It is not yet time, says Khachig Tololyan (I,,I:
,), to wiite its] . . . obituaiy. Tuinei (n.d.: :,), foi one, aigues that
the development of the global capitalist system has not led to any
witheiing away of the state at all. Quite the opposite, the ielevance of
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nation-]state boundaiies has been heightened, contempoiaiy states,
especially successful ones, still attempt to iegulate, encouiage oi ob-
stiuct ows of woikeis, capital and commodities acioss theii boideis
(:,). Instaik contiast to the likes of Kuitzman(I,,_), Tuinei also speaks
of the peiceived need foi national economies to iemain competitive
undei global conditions (:_:), a fai ciy, this, fiom the notion that
theie no longei is any such thing. Similaily Hiist and Thompson (I,,o:
I,): The globalization of pioduction, they hold, has been exaggei-
ated. Companies, of which few aie tiuly tiansnational (see abcve), aie
tetheied to theii home economies and aie likely to iemain so (:). Also
oveistated aie claims foi the dominance of woild maikets and theii
ungoveinability (o), in point of fact, nancial ows and tiade aie con-
centiated in the tiiad of Noith Ameiica, Euiope, and Japan (:). Heie,
in a nutshell, is the counteicase.
This antithetical position has a nontiivial political dimension foi
its advocates, especially those on the left. To the degiee that globaliza-
tion dissolves the soveieign nation-state into a sea of planetaiy eco-
nomic foices and legal juiisdictions, it would appeai to negate any ieal
piospect of piogiessive oi pioletaiian politicsbe they inteinational
oi intianationalas they would have no teiiain on which to occui, no
conciete object in teims of which to fiame themselves, no obvious tai-
get against which to act (cf. Hiist and Thompson I,,o: I, Ahmad I,,::
_I,).
40
We shaie the concein. As it is, theie is a stiong aigument to be
made that neolibeial capitalism, in its millennial moment, poitends the
death of politics by hiding its own ideological undeipinnings in the dic-
tates of economic eciency: in the fetishism of the fiee maiket, in the
inexoiable, expanding needs of business, in the impeiatives of science
and technology. Oi, if it does not conduce to the death of politics, it
tends to ieduce them to the puisuit of puie inteiest, individual oi col-
lectiveoi to stiuggles ovei issues (the enviionment, aboition, health
caie, child welfaie, human iights) that, impoitant though they may be,
aie often, pace Jameson (I,,,: ,), dissociated fiom anything beyond
themselves. It is heie that the analytic case foi the sustained salience of
the modeinist polity meiges into the noimative case foi its desiiability.
A paienthetic comment heie. Theie aie those who would muddy the
aigument by pointing out that the notion of a stiong nation-state has
always been something of a fantasy. This on thiee giounds: the state,
the nation, and the hyphen. Recall, in iespect of the ist, Philip Abiams
1
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(I,88: ,,,,), foi whom the state was always the distinctive collec-
tive misiepiesentation of capitalist societies: an essentially imagina-
tive constiuction, it was, at once, a tiiumph of concealment and an
ongoing ideological pioject. Even moie extieme is Ralph Milibands
(I,o,: ,) famous claim that the state . . . does not, as such, exist.
Shades heie of things wiitten long ago. Philip Coiiigan and Deiek Sayei
(I,8,: ,) iemind us that Maix (I,o,) believed the state to be in an im-
poitant sense an illusion . . . : It] is at most a message of domination
an ideological aitifact attiibuting unity, stiuctuie and independence to
the disunited, stiuctuieless and dependent woikings of the piactice of
goveinment. Foi Webei (I,o: ,8), too, it was a claim to legitimacy, a
means by which politically oiganized subjection is simultaneously ac-
complished and concealed, and it is constituted in laige pait by the ac-
tivities of institutions of goveinment themselves (Coiiigan and Sayei,
I,8,: ,). A tiuly cuiious foice of histoiy, this: at once an illusion, a
potent claim to authoiity, a cultuial aitifact, a piesent absence and an
absent piesence, a piinciple of unity masking institutional disaiticula-
tion. But nothing like the kind of essentialized thing that much of
the cuiient debate tieats eithei as alive oi dead. Likewise the nation:
the enoimous liteiatuie on the topicboth befoie and aftei Imagined
Ccmmunities (Andeison I,8_)makes it abundantly cleai that neithei
at its dawn noi in its high modeinist phase was this polity homoge-
neous, that even its Euiopean exemplais weie as dieient as they weie
alike. What is moie, theii capacity to iegulate boundaiies and to contiol
owsof capital and cultuial piopeity, communications and cuiien-
cies, peisons and infoimationwas invaiiably incomplete in the face
of tiansnational piessuies and incentives. So, too, was theii hold ovei
the loyalty of theii citizens and subjects. Indeed, the nation-state has
always andeveiywheie beena woik inpiogiess, nowheie a fully iealized
accomplishment. The same may be said, by extension, of its hyphen-
nation: of the aiticulation of state to nation. Polities acioss the planet
vaiy hugely in both the extent to which, and the mannei in which,
nation and state aie conjoined in them, of which moie shoitly.
In pait, it is just such complexities that have led to iefoimulations
of the aigument fiom both sidesand to the opening up of a middle
giound. Even those who have made the case most foicibly foi the con-
tinuing ielevance of the nation-state do not deny that it is undeigoing
tiansfoimation oi that it has been weakened in some iespects in the
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face of global capitalism (see, e.g., Hiist and Thompson I,,o: I,o,I).
The pioblem, of couise, is to specify hcw it has changed. Foi some, its
metamoiphosis is captuied in an aphoiistic shift, an apt metaphoi foi
the millennial moment: Philip McMichael (I,,8: II_), foi one, speaks
of the substitution of the citizen state by the consumei state. This
is a polity, adds Susan Hegeman (I,,I: ,:,_), in which identity, at all
levels, is dened not meiely by the consumption of objects, but also by
the consumption of the past (8,,I). Echoes, heie, of Jean Baudiillaid
(I,,8), also of the language of national chaiteis, in which the piotec-
tion of consumeis takes piecedence ovei the piotection of woikeis and
citizens aie iedened as stakeholdeis.
Moie substantively, synthetic positions typically begin by decon-
stiucting the zeio-sum opposition between globalization and the au-
tonomous functioning of nation-states. Few would continue to deny
that the soveieign independence of the lattei has contiacted, not least
in the iealms of economic management, defense, and communications,
that, foi all theii eoits to iegulate the owof laboi, theii hold ovei the
mobility of people, inwaid oi outwaid, has been moie oi less undei-
mined, that theii pailiamentaiy politics are devoted, in incieasing pio-
poition, to safeguaiding the opeiations of the maiket, to pioviding
stable and secuie enviionments foi tiansnational coipoiations, and to
attiacting oveiseas investment. In this iespect, add Hiist and Thomp-
son (I,,o: I,,), it is also tiue that, without inteinational waifaie and
conventional enemies, the state dces become less immediately signi-
cant to its citizens, national eciency (in such things as industiial
giowth, education, health caie, welfaie, and the piovision of infia-
stiuctuie) dces diminish, and solidaiity, save foi spoiting allegiances,
dces pale. At the same time and in counteipoint, Sassen (n.d.: o,)
obseives, Most global piocesses mateiialize in national teiiitoiies,
laigely] thiough national institutional aiiangements, fiom legislative
acts to ims. These may be tiansfoimed in the piocess, but they iemain
peiceptibly national in theii location and opeiation. To be suie, Sassen
continues, states often paiticipate actively in setting up those scal and
legal fiamewoiks thiough which the global economy woiks, and with-
out whose specialized instiuments it could not existthey aie not just
ineit objects on which that economy impacts. Noi aie they ineit objects
in the face of the emeigence of iegional economic spheies that bieach
theii fiontieiswhethei these be ocially constituted, like the Oie-
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sund Region in Scandinavia (Peebles n.d.), oi spaces of uniegulated ac-
tivity dominated by aimed factions, like the Chad Basin in West Afiica.
With iegaid to the lattei, in fact, Janet Roitman (I,,8) demonstiates
that, fai fiom pioclaiming the demise of the nation-state, these tians-
national netwoiks exist in complicated, mutually peipetuating, often
complicitous ielations with it, this notwithstanding the fact that those
who contiol the netwoiksoften veiy poweiful aimed factionscom-
pete with goveinment foi nancial and iegulatoiy ascendancy. In doing
so, they depend on the veiy national fiontieis they tiansgiess and the
institutions of the state in oidei to pioduce wealth, conveisely, the state
establishes its own legitimacy, and justies its own existence, by doing
battle with these aimed factions.
It is also the case, as we have intimated, that not all nation-states sub-
mit to the demands of the global economy without some mediation oi
inteivention, few administiations would suivive if they did. Take post-
colonial South Afiica again: Although the Afiican National Congiess
(.c) goveinment is unieseivedly committed to paiticipating in the
global capitalist economy, its new laboi laws seek to piotect woikeis
in ways that do not simply seive the inteiests of tiansnational busi-
ness, quite the opposite, employeis have piotested these laws foi that
veiy ieason. Whethei oi not they will suivive, and what theii eects
will be ovei the long iun, is still veiy much in question. But the gen-
eial point of which this is an exemplaiy instancethat nation-states dc
seek to hold a measuie of contiol ovei the teims on which theii citi-
zens engage with the maiketwill be cleai. So, too, will the fact that the
piocesses by which millennial capitalism is taking shape do not ieduce
to a simple naiiative accoiding to which the nation-state eithei lives
oi dies, ebbs oi ouiishes. Its impact is much moie complicated, moie
polyphonous and dispeised, and most immediately felt in the eveiyday
contexts of woik and laboi, of domesticity and consumption, of stieet
life and media-gazing.
This biings us back full ciicle to the ielationship between the nation-
state and millennial capitalismwhich, we ieiteiate, is not synony-
mous with globalism, although globalization is an inheient pait of it.
Rounding o the dialectics of the aigument we have just outlined, we
would like to make a few points about this ielationship. All ow fiom
things alieady said.
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Let us begin with the most basic. Theie is an anomaly at the heait of
the contempoiaiy histoiy of the modeinist polity. On one hand, theie
is no such thing, save at veiy high levels of abstiaction, as the nation-
state. Self-evidently, the sociology of the polities that exist undei its
sign vaiies diamatically. It is dicult to establish any teims in which,
say, Geimanyand Guinea, Bhutan and Belgium, Uganda and the United
States, England and Eiitiea may be held to belong to anything but
the most polythetic of categoiies. Noi aie the substantive dieiences
among themdieiences that aie grcwing as a iesult of theii engage-
ment with global capitalismsatisfactoiily captuied by iesoit to vapid
oppositions, to conventional contiasts like iich veisus pooi, Noith vei-
sus South, successful veisus unsuccessful countiies. In some places, as
we all know, the state can haidly be said to peiduie at all, oi to peiduie
puiely as a piivate iesouice, a family business, a convenient ction, in
otheis, the nation, as imagined community, is little moie than a ihe-
toiical guie of speech, the coloi of a soccei stiipe, an aiiline without
aiiciaft, a univeisity iaiely open. Moie complicatedly, theie aie many
postcolonial, postievolutionaiy polities, not least but not only in Afiica
and the foimei Soviet Union, in which theie have developed deep s-
suies between state and goveinment, this being a coiollaiy of the tian-
sition fiom old to new iegimes, in which, as often as not, the powei
biokeis, buieauciats, andadministiative peisonnel of the past aie eithei
left in situ oi succeed in nding less visible ways to keep theii hands on
the leveis of authoiity. Almost invaiiably, this sets in motion a stiuggle
into which neolibeial capitalist enteipiise inseits itself, often with deci-
sive eects. On occasion, too, as in Russia (Ries I,,,), oiganized ciime
seizes on that stiuggle to fashion itself into a spectial, undeigiound
paia-state, pioviding civic amenities and policing on a fee-foi-seivice
basis (cf. Deiiida I,,: 8_). This, in tuin, leads to the populai impies-
sion that goveinment has ietieated, that oidei has evapoiated, that the
nation-state is no longei.
Onthe othei hand, despite this vaiiability intheii political sociology,
nation-states appear, at least in theii exteiioi foims, to be moie simi-
lai than evei befoie, conveiging on the same notions of the iule of law,
enacting similai constitutions, speaking moie and moie English, boi-
iowing fiom a single stock of signs and symbols, woishipping togethei
at the altai of Adam Smith, and, yes, all alike dealing with the impact
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of the global economyas well as the sense of ciisis, ieal oi imagined,
to which its implosion has given iise. Even the stiongest, foi ieasons we
have spelled out, nd themselves haid put to sustain past levels of pub-
lic expendituie and[oi the costs of infiastiuctuial iepioduction. Many
of them, moieovei, have been witness both to calls foi less govein-
ment and to a widening iuptuie in theii hyphen-nation, in the dis-
aiticulation, that is, between nation and state. Indeed, the asseition
of civil society against the state, itself a buigeoning global phenome-
non, is just one symptom of that disaiticulation. Of, so to speak, alien-
nation. Again, none of this is unpiecedented. Thioughout theii histoiy,
states have sueied legitimation ciises, been held to account foi exces-
sive public spending, and had to deal with thieats to the integiity of
the political community. That, howevei, does not diminish theii sig-
nicance in the white heat of the millennial moment.
The millennial mcment.
As the teim suggests, it is out of the cuiient sense of change and
ciisis, especially in its impact on the hyphen-nation of the modeinist
polity, that the millennial dimensions of millennial capitalism ieentei
oui naiiativein two ways.
Fiist, it is stiiking that almost eveiywheie that occult economies
have aiisen, the peiceived need to iesoit to magical means of pioducing
wealth is blamed, in one way oi anothei, on the inability of the state to
assuie its national citizens a iegulai income: to piotect them fiom des-
titution as pioductive employment migiates away acioss its boideis, to
stop the inow of immigiants and otheis who diveit the commonweal
away fiomautochthons, to incaiceiate ciiminals, witches, and othei ne-
faiious chaiacteis who spoil the woild foi upiight, haidwoiking people.
The state is also held culpable foi failing to safeguaid those upiight
people fiom violence. To wit, when communal action is takenin the
name of infoimal justice, cultuial policing, oi whateveiagainst those
who ply the immoial economy, it is often in the millennial hope of ie-
stoiing coheience and contiol in a woild iun amok, of lling the void
left by the withdiawal of the state and making good on its sundeied
obligation to the nation.
Second, in the face of the same iuptuie, theie is a stiong tendency foi
states to appeal to new oi intensied magicalities and fetishes in oidei
to heal ssuies and bieaches in the fabiic of the polity. Heie, again, an
inteipolation: Recall oui comments on the question of identity. Foi iea-
6
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sons alluded to eailiei (and exploied in extensc elsewheie, John L. Co-
maio I,,o), one of the most notable coiollaiies of the changing face
of nationhood in the neolibeial age, and especially aftei I,8,, has been
an explosion of identity politics. Undei these conditions, imagining
the nation iaiely piesumes a deep hoiizontal fiateinity any longei,
not even in what once iegaided themselves as the most undieienti-
ated of polities. While the vast majoiity continue to live as citizens in
nation-states, they tend to be only conditionally, paitially, and situa-
tionally citizens cf nation-states. Ethnic stiuggles, ianging fiom polite
alteications ovei iesouices to genocidal combat, seem immanent al-
most eveiywheie as membeiship is claimed on the double fiont of in-
nate substance and piimoidial sentiment, as cultuie becomes intellec-
tual piopeity (Coombe I,,8), as indigenous knowledge becomes an
object of commeice, as aboiiginal spiiituality becomes the site of a con-
sumeiist quest (Povinelli, inthis volume), as self-imaginings, visual iep-
iesentations, even genes become copyiight incainate.
41
In the event,
homogeneityas national fantasy (Beilant I,,I), national aspiiation
(Andeison I,8_), national impeiativeis giving way iapidly to a iecog-
nition of the iiieducibility of dieience. All of which puts even gieatei
stiess on hyphen-nation, all of which piesses even moie the necessity
of nding its millennial key. The moie diveise nation-states become in
theii political sociology, the highei the level of abstiaction at which the
nation-state exists, the gieatei the impeiative to nd that key. By theii
veiy natuie, as David Haivey (I,8,: Io8) notes, modeinist states had
always to constiuct a . . . sense of community . . . based on moie than]
money, and, hence, to conjuie up denition of public inteiests ovei
and above the bouigeois] class and sectaiian inteiests they seived.
They still have to fabiicate that sense of community. But, with the dis-
placement of class, the inteiests that they have now to encompass lie in
cultuial and othei foims of identity.
That states iely on magical means to succeed in the woik of hyphen-
nation, of aiticulating nationhood, is a point made by Michael Taussig
(I,,,) and Feinando Coionil (I,,,), each in his own way. A iesoit to
mass-mediated iitual both to pioduce state powei and national unity
and to peisuade citizens of theii ieality is epidemic in the age of mil-
lennial capitalismin iough piopoition, peihaps, to populist peicep-
tions of ciisis, to the inability of goveinments to sustain theii monopoly
ovei the means of violence and the ow of wealth, and to the alien-
;
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nation of theii subjects. Thus, suggests Eiic Woiby (I,,8: ,oo), in those
paits of Afiica wheie the hold of iuling cadies is tenuous at best, ex-
ecutive authoiity has become dependent on the peifoimance of quo-
tidian ceiemonial, extiavagant in its diamatuigy and impiovisational
content alike, to ensuie the collusion of citizen-subjects. The lattei, he
goes on (,o:, aftei Mbembe I,,:a: _), live with the state in a piomis-
cuous hybiid of accommodation and iefusal, powei and paiody, em-
bodiment and detachment. This, in tuin, tends to iob the public of
its vitality and, iecipiocally, vulgaiizes the politicalwith it, nation-
hood as wellieducing it to a chimeia, which cieates the need foi yet
moie magic.
Heie, it seems, lies the key to the magicality of the state in the age
of millennial capitalism. It is not just that iuling iegimes iesoit to the-
atiical display oi to illusion to conjuie up the piesent and futuie of
the political community, its destination, this has always been tiue,
fiom Elizabethan ioyal piogiesses (cf. Geeitz I,,,) to the tiumped-up
iites of colonial iegimes (cf. Fields I,8,). It is, iathei, that they become
caught up in cycles of iitual excess in which ceiemonial enactments of
hyphen-nation, alike in electionic space and ieal time, stand as alibis
foi iealpolitikwhich iecedes evei faithei as its suifaces aie visible
piimaiily thiough the glassy essence of television, the tidal swiil of
iadio waves, the ne piint of the piess. By constantly naiiating hyphen-
nation, moieovei, these ceiemonial enactments tend to diaw attention
to its fiagility, to the ineluctable dieiences on which the body poli-
tic is built, to the diveigence of inteiests that it must embiace. State
iitual itself, then, becomes something of a pyiamid scheme: The moie
it is indulged, the moie it is iequiied. Hence its cyclicity, its excess, its
millennial qualities.
But it is not only in the iegistei of iitual that nation-states engage
with the millennial. Anothei ciucial dimension is the fetishism of the
law, of the capacity of constitutionalism and contiact, iights and legal
iemedies, to accomplish oidei, civility, justice, empoweiment. Like all
fetishes, the chimeiical quality of this one lies in an enchanted displace-
ment, in the notion that legal instiuments have the capacity to oiches-
tiate social haimony. This misses a point once cogently made, in piose
ction, by Cailos Fuentes (I,,:), namely that powei pioduces iights,
not iights powei, that law in piactice, by extension, is a social piod-
uct, not a piime movei in constiucting social woilds. Still, like many
8
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fetishesincluding the fiee maiket itselfthis one continues to sui-
vive its iepeated demystication.
The modeinist nation-state has, fiom the ist, been giounded in a
cultuie of legality. Its spiiit, with a nod to Montesquieu, has always been
the spiiit of the law. Globalization and the giowth of neolibeial capi-
talism intensify this by an oidei of magnitude: the lattei, because of its
contiactaiian conception of human ielations, piopeity ielations, and
exchange ielations, its commodication of almost eveiything, and its
celebiation of deiegulated piivate exchange, all of which aie heavily in-
vested in a cultuie of legality,
42
the foimei, because of the way in which
it demands new institutional modes of iegulation and aibitiation to
deal with new foims of piopeity, piactice, and possessionas well as
with the abiogation of old juiisdictional lines and limits (cf. Jacobson
I,,o, Salacuse I,,I, Shapiio I,,_). But the fetishism of the law goes way
beyond this.
In situations of iuptuied hyphen-nation, situations in which the
woild is constiucted out of appaiently iiieducible dieience, the lan-
guage of the lawaoids an ostensibly neutial mediumfoi people of dif-
feiencedieient cultuial woilds, dieient social endowments, diei-
ent mateiial ciicumstances, dieiently constiucted identitiesto make
claims on each othei and the polity, to entei into contiactual ielations,
to tiansact unlike values, and to deal with theii conicts. In so doing,
it foiges the impiession of consonance amidst contiast, of the existence
of univeisal standaids that, like money, facilitate the negotiation of in-
commensuiables acioss otheiwise intiansitive boundaiies.
43
Hence its
capacity, especially undei conditions of moial and cultuial disaiticula-
tion, to make one thing out of many, illocutionaiy foice out of illusion,
conciete iealities out of often fiagile ctions. Hence, too, its hegemony,
despite the fact that it is haidly a guaiantoi of equity. As an instiument
of goveinance, it allows the state to iepiesent itself as the custodian of
civility against disoidei: as having a mandate to conjuie moial commu-
nity by exeicising the monopoly of which Haivey (I,8,: Io8) spoke
a monopoly ovei the constiuction of a commonweal out of inimical,
fiactious diveisities of inteiest. This, in laige pait, is ieected in the
iash of new constitutions wiitten since the late I,8os. If law undeipins
the langue of neolibeialism, constitutionalism has become the parcle of
univeisal human iights, a global aigot that individuates the citizen and,
by making cultuial identity a piivate asset iathei than a collective claim,
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tiansmutes dieience into likeness. It is an open question whethei oi
not these constitutions yield any empoweiment at all. (Inteiestingly,
the celebiated South Afiican one has been dubbed a Towei of Babel:
it is utteily incompiehensible in the veinaculais of those whom it was
supposed to enfianchise.)
44
Aftei all, as we have said, not one of these
instiuments actually speaks of an entitlement to the means of suivival.
They do not guaiantee the iight to eain oi to pioduce, only to pos-
sess, to signify, to consume, to choose. This is consistent not only with
the neolibeial mood of the millennium but also with anothei of its
panaceas: the ienaissance of pioceduial demociacy, a univeisal human
iight that tiansposes fieedom into choice by oeiing empoweiment
thiough the ballotthe black box that ieduces politics to the iough
equivalent of a quinquennial shopping spieeall in the name of the
iule of law, of its magical capacity to piomise new beginnings.
But cultuies of legality, constitutionality, iight, and demociacy
speak piimaiily to the question of hyphen-nation, to moial community
and citizenship, fiom the discuisive vantage of the state and its func-
tionaiies. Fiom the othei side of the hyphen, fiom the side of society
against the state, theie has emeiged anothei, complementaiy discouise
of populist, millennial optimism: civil society.
Pcstnative, Pcsthuman, Pcstscript. Civil Scciety in Pursuit cf the Mil-
lennium Moie than any othei sign, peihaps, civil society has sui-
faced as the Big Idea of the Millennial Moment
45
indeed, as an all-
puipose panacea foi the postmodein, postpolitical, postnative, even
posthuman condition.
46
Its genealogy, befoie and aftei I,8,, is too
well known to detain us heie (see, e.g., Walzei I,,:, Cohen and Aiato
I,,, Kiygiei I,,,), save to say that the moie of a global obsession it
has become, the less cleai it is what the teim might actually mean
as a conciete object(ive), as an abstiact concept, oi as a political piac-
tice. Civil society, it seems, is known piimaiily by its absence, its elu-
siveness, its incompleteness, fiom the tiaces left by stiuggles conducted
in its name. Moie aspiiation than achievement, it ietieats befoie the
sciutinizing gaze. Foi all those, like Vclav Havel (n.d.), who seek a
way Tcward a Civil Scciety, theie aie otheis who deny the point of so
doing. Why: Some, like Michael Haidt (I,,,: :,), aigue that we aie al-
ieady in the postcivil society eia, an eia incapable of pioducing the
conditions of its possibility. Otheis simply dismiss it as an inheiently
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polymoiphous, inchoate, unspeciable signiei. Woise yet, it is said
to conate an analytic constiuct with an ideological tiope, thus ien-
deiing the foimei piomiscuous and the lattei vacuous (Comaio and
Comaio I,,,a).
In spite of this, civil scciety has seived as a iemaikably potent battle
ciy acioss the woild. Duiing inhospitable times, it ieanimates the opti-
mistic spiiit of modeinity, pioviding scholais, public guies, poets, and
oidinaiy people alike a language with which to talk about demociacy,
moial community, justice, and populist politics, with which, fuithei-
moie, to bieathe life back into society, declaied dead almost twenty
yeais ago by the poweiful magi of the Second Coming, especially
Maggie Thatchei. Amidst n de sicle cynicism and ietiospection, pio-
tagonists of civil society look biavely towaid a new woild. Tiue, theii
idyll has been dispaiaged foi its excessive Euiocentiism, foi its naive
libeialism, foi ie-piesenting old-style impeiialism in a seductive new
gaib, and foi the mannei of its expoit by such lattei-day evangelists
as nongoveinmental oiganizations. Tiue, too, it has been downsized,
localized, tailoied to the neolibeial agepuiged, in shoit, of global his-
toiical visions and giand emancipatoiy dieams (cf. Cohen and Aiato
I,,: xii). But, notwithstanding the skepticism, the Ideathe fetish
has woiked its magic, kindling a iefoimist spiiit all ovei the place as it
piomises iescue fiom the political vacuum of postmodein nihilism.
What is it, then, about civil society that so ies the moial imagina-
tion: What makes it such a tienchant tiope foi these millennial times:
An answei is to be found in the paiallels between the histoiy of the
heie and now and the histoiy of the Fiist Coming of the Idea in the
late eighteenth centuiy, the post-Enlightenment age in Euiope, that
is, that spawned the hyphenated nation-state, the concepts of political
economy, cultuie, the civil, civility, civilizationand the distinction
between the state and something that came to knowitself as society
(cf. Keane I,88a: I,).
It is common cause that the woild-histoiical conditions of the late
eighteenth centuiy embiaced philosopheis and eveiypeisons alike in a
phenomenology of unceitainty (Beckei I,,: xiixiv): a sense of un-
ease occasioned by the inteisection of epochs, at which time the geneiic
natuie of humanity, of sociality, of selfhood and its abstiaction in laboi,
piopeity, and iights, of the value of things, of ieceived means and ends
was undei ieconstiuction. Though they could not have known it, they
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weie living at the fiont end of an Age of Revolution (Hobsbawm I,o:),
an age that posed piofound issues of piactical epistemology. Those
issues weie foimulated, in the ist instance, in political teims: they
giew out of a malaise of goveinance, of populist opposition to abso-
lutist iule and monaichial despotism (see, e.g., Woods I,,:: ,,, Keane
I,88b: o,).
But behind the suifaces of the political weie woiking much moie
fundamental piocesses of ieconstiuction: those attendant upon the ad-
vance of capitalism and commodity ielations, upon the biith of the
iight-beaiing citizen-subject, upon the empoweiment of the bouigeoi-
sie and the emeigence of a public with its own opinions] and intei-
ests (Tayloi I,,o: Io8, cf. Habeimas I,8,), uponthe dawnof modeinist
nationhood, upon the iise of what Ciawfoid Macpheison (I,o:) was
famously to dub possessive individualism. In light of these piocesses,
the pioblem of the social piesented itself with paiticulai foice. How,
given the eiosion of old ways of being and knowingnot to mention
the expanding scale and cumulative abstiaction of human ielations
was the piesent and futuie of society to be giasped: Wheiein lay its
moial, mateiial, and iegulatoiy mooiings: It became impeiative, says
Testei (I,,:: ,), to explain how society was even] possible in a woild
in which time-honouied answeis weie collapsing thiough mixtuies of
political ciisis, intellectual enlightenment, technological development
and the . . . iapid uibanization of social life, in which new, national
divisions of laboi weie taking ioot amidst the encioachment on eveiy-
thing of nance, inwhich the sanctityof the family was seento be at iisk,
in which people, things, and natuie (cf. Coionil, in this volume) weie
being objectied in an altogethei unpiecedented mannei. In which the
piospect of AdamSmiths faceless societyof stiangeis stalkeddistuib-
ingly close to handnovel specteis of a haunted gothic ction diama-
tized the stiangeness of what had become ieal (Cleiy I,,,: I,).
It is not haid to see why, at the time, discouises of civil society, in
both theii analytic and utopic iegisteis, should have focused on the
issues that they did: on the ielationship between state (oi, moie gen-
eially, political authoiity) and society, on the posited existence, in the
space between the citizen and the soveieign polity, of an inteipolated
public with its own will, on the iole of voluntaiy associations in pio-
viding alteinative loci foi the achievement of the commonweal, on a
demociatizing image of self-geneiating moial community, whose ele-
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mental atom was the Chiistian family, on the signicance of the fiee
maiket in undeiwiiting the piospeiity of that community, on the ca-
pacity of commeice to insciibe civility in a new civics. Foieshadowing
heie of Hegel, Simmel, Duikheim, Habeimas.
The paiallels with the piesent aie moie than obvious, indeed, they
knit togethei all the vaiious stiands of oui poitiait of the Age of Millen-
nial Capitalism. Now, as then, the call foi civil society typically piesents
itself as an emancipatoiy ieaction to a familiai doubling: on one hand,
to the gieatei opacity, intiusiveness, and monopolistic tendencies of
goveinment, on the othei, to its diminishing capacity to satisfy even
minimally the political and economic aspiiations of its component
publics (Haynes I,,,: Io), to guaiantee the commonweal, oi to meet the
needs of its citizeniy. Thus, foi example, in Cential Euiope the puisuit
of the Idea, which took on millennial featuies fiom the ist, is said to
have aiisen in iesponse to incieasingly iepiessive communist iuleand
in postcolonial times, to have been sustained by the memoiy of Soviet
excesses (see, e.g., Rupnik I,88, Kiygiei I,,,). In the West, a cause foi
it has been found in buigeoning coipoiatism of the state (Tayloi I,,o:
,,,o) and a disenchantment with politics tcut ccurt. And in Afiica
it is asciibed to the iise of antistatist, piomaiket populism occasioned
by the collapse of totalitaiian iegimes (Young I,,: _o), whose poli-
tics of the belly (Bayait I,,_) and vulgai spectacles of powei (Mbe-
mbe I,,:b) peisuaded citizens that goveinments no longei champion
societys collective inteiests (Haynes I,,,: :).
But this, too, speaks puiely to suifaces. Now, as then, the ioots of
the piocess lie deepei: in the inteiiois, and the animating foices, of the
Age of Millennial Capitalismin paiticulai, in its impulse to displace
political soveieignty with the soveieignty of the maiket, as if the lattei
had a mind and a moiality of its own, to ieoidei the ielationshipof pio-
duction to consumption, to ieconstiuct the essence of laboi, identity,
and subjectivity, to disaiticulate the nation fiom the state, to ieduce
dieience to sameness by iecouise to the language of legality, to elevate
to ist causes value-fiee technological necessity and the ostensibly
neutial demands of economy, to tieat goveinment as immanently un-
desiiable, except insofai as it deiegulates oi piotects maiket foices,
to fetishize the law as a univeisal standaid in teims of which incom-
mensuiable soits of valueof ielationship, iights, and claimsmay be
mediated, to encouiage the iapid movement of peisons and goods, and
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sites of fabiication, thus calling into question existing foims of com-
munity, to equate fieedom with choice, especially to consume, to fash-
ion the self, to conjuie with identities, to give fiee ieign to the foices
of hypeiiationalization, to paise human beings into fiee-oating laboi
units, commodities, clients, stakeholdeis, stiangeis, theii subjectivity
distilled into evei moie objectied ensembles of inteiests, entitlements,
appetites, desiies, puichasing powei. And so to iaise the most fun-
damental question of all: In what consists the social: Society: Moial
community:
Heie, then, is oui point. As in the late eighteenth centuiy, and in
stiikingly similai fashion, the Idea of Civil Society makes its appeai-
ance in the late twentieth centuiy just as the fabiic of the social, the
possibility of society, the ontological coie of humanity, the natuie of
social distinction, and the essence of identity aie being diamatically
challenged, just as we expeiience an epochal metamoiphosis in the
oiganization of pioduction, laboi, and the maiket, in technology and
its sociocultuial implications, in the constitutive connections between
economy and polity, nation and state, cultuie and place, peison, family,
and community, just as we nd it impossible to sustain the domi-
nant teims of modeinist sociology-as-lived, of ieceived anthiopolo-
gies of knowledge, of oui geogiaphical giasp of an incieasingly foui-
dimensional woild (see Haivey, in this volume). Amid populist moial
panics, mass-mediated alienation, ciises of iepiesentation, and schol-
aily peiplexity, Civil Society, in its Second Coming, once moie becomes
especially good to think, to signify with, to act upon. The less sub-
stance it has, the emptiei its iefeients, the moie this is so, which is why
its veiy polyvalence, its unxability, is intiinsic to its powei as panacea.
It is the ultimate magic bullet in the Age of Millennial Capitalism. Foi
it piomises to conjuie up the most fundamental thing of all: a mean-
ingful social existence. And, theieby, to lay to iestfoi now at least
Adam Smiths ghostly phantasm: the Society of Stiangeis.
We have aigued that many of the enigmatic featuies of economy and
societyciica :ooobe they the allegoiical tiansguiationof the nation-
state, the asseitive stiidency of iacinated adolescence, the ciisis of mas-
culinity, the apotheosis of consumption, the fetishism of civil society,
the enchantments of eveiyday lifeaie conciete, histoiically specic
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outwoikings of millennial capitalism and the cultuie of neolibeialism.
Foi all theii appaient polysemy and disaiticulation, these things aie
closely inteiielated, all at once iooted in the past and newin the piesent.
Togethei, they point to the fact that we inhabit an age that is ievolu-
tionaiy and yet is also an ongoing chaptei in the stoiy of capital, a stoiy
that, in Theodoi Adoinos (I,8I: ,o) phiase, sounds] so old, and yet
is] so new. Despite the pioclamations of neolibeial piophets, histoiy
has not come to an end. Noi will it soon. As Felipe Feinandez-Aimesto
(I,,,) puts it, Millenaiianism will suivive the millennium. Todays
apocalypse will become tomoiiows mundane ieality, laying down the
teims of a dialectic out of which human beings will stiuggle to make
sense of the woild, to make livelihoods, politics, communities.
Alieady theie aie signs of alteied conguiations, of fiesh eoits to
challenge the tiiumphal ieign of the maiket, to tuin aside the sweep-
ing consequences of tiansnational economic piessuies. In the wake of
fiagmenting national identities, Tuinei (n.d.) obseives, newly asseitive
social movements have begun to puisue common cause on a woild
scale, foiging an alteinative, ciitical global civil society. It is too eaily,
patently, to take the measuie of theii success. But theii passionate in-
tensity, to invoke the spiiit of Yeats one last time, might yet kindle the
matuie politics of a new age, the woist might yet become the best.
Theie aie also signs that oiganized laboi is seeking expansive ways and
means to deal with the emeigent economic oidei. Thus a leading union-
ist: The end of the centuiy is the staiting point of . . . an inteinational
laboi ghtback. . . . Global unionism is boin.
47
We canonly hope. Histoiy, of couise, will deteimine the substance of
the politics of the twenty-ist centuiy. Foi oui pait, we nd it unimag-
inable that innovative foims of emancipatoiy piactice will not emeige
to addiess the excesses of neolibeial capitalism. But that is in the futuie.
Foi now, in intioducing the iich aiiay of essays in this volume, we
seek to stiess the epistemic impoitance of ciitical distance. Of a iefusal,
that is, to be seduced into tieating the ideological tiopes and suiface
foims of the cultuie of neolibeialismits self-iepiesentations and sub-
jective piactices, identities and utilitiesas analytic constiucts. Life,
undei millennial capitalism, is neithei a game noi a iepeitoiie of iatio-
nal choices. It is iiieducible to the utilitaiian piagmatics of law and
economy oi to methodological individualisms of one kind oi anothei.
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Indeed, these and othei theoietical discouises aie pait of the pioblem.
Ciitical disbelief, in puisuit of a ieinvigoiated piaxis, is the beginning
of a solution.
uot c s
Oui thanks go to Caiol Bieckeniidge, Aijun Appaduiai, and the editoiial committee of
Public Culture foi peisuading us ist to undeitake this pioject. Caitiin Lynch, managing
editoi of that jouinal, has been a model of cieative encouiagement and help, not least
in the piepaiation of this book. We owe hei a debt of giatitude. Oui ieseaich assistant,
Mauieen Andeison, has, as usual, gone fai beyond the call of duty, identifying closely
with the pioject and biinging hei own special insights to beai on it.
1 New feudalism is Flouiishing in an English countiy gaiden, Guardian (London),
:o August I,,,, _,. See also the seiies on The downsizing of Ameiica, New Ycrk Times,
_, Maich I,,o.
2 ThamMoyo and Chiistine Chiweshe-Adewal, Why we hate South Afiica, Mail and
Guardian (Johannesbuig), :, Octobei Novembei I,,,, _:.
3 The following paiagiaphs closely follow ideas developed in the opening section of
Comaio and Comaio I,,,c.
4 Ecumene iefeis to a iegion of peisistent cultuial inteiaction and exchange
(Kopyto I,8,: Io, cf. Hanneiz I,8,: oo).
5 The following joke did the iounds in the United States in the late I,,os: Suie,
theie aie plenty of jobs to be had. At the moment I have thiee, and I still cant aoid
to eat!
6 On the moial valence of gambling, see, foi example, Geoige F. Will, Hooked
on gambling: Othei comment, Internaticnal Herald Tribune, :o:, June I,,,, 8, also
Michael Tackett and Ted Giegoiy, Gamblings luie still a divisive issue, Chicagc Tribune,
:o May I,,8, _.
7 By Jeiey A. Zimmeimann, the muial in the next essay, Paid Piogiamming, cap-
tuies supeibly the poignant, mundane millennialism that we allude to heie. It is painted
alongside an Ameiican ag-tuined-bai-code. The aitist told us that he used Spenglish
in the woik to addiess the local Chicano population.
8 Will, Hooked on gambling.
9 Jane Biyant Quinn, Capital gains: The lotteiy on lives, Newsweek, I, Maich I,,,,
,,. Viaticals aie insuiance policies bought fiom the teiminally ill, especially those in
the late stages of .ius.
10 Lotteiy mania giips Madya Piadesh, many commit suicide, India Tribune (Chi-
cago), : Januaiy I,,,, 8. We thank Aijun Appaduiai foi aleiting us to this mateiial.
11 Will, Hooked on gambling. On the Haivaid Medical School study, see Biett Pul-
ley, Compulsion to gamble seen giowing, New Ycrk Times, , Decembei I,,,, ::.
12 Tackett and Giegoiy, Gamblings luie still a divisive issue, _, the woids quoted
aie those of James Dobson, piesident of Focus on the Family, a Chiistian media minis-
tiy. They echo obseivations made by a iange of witnesses foi the U.S. National Gaming
Impact Study Commission, set up in I,,o to study the eects of gambling.
6
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13 Fidel Castio, Castio: Woild has become a huge casino, Sunday Independent
(Johannesbuig), o Septembei I,,8, , the aiticle is a tiansciipt of a speech given to the
South Afiican Pailiament.
14 By postievolutionaiy societies we mean societiessuch as those of the foimei
Soviet Unionthat have iecently witnessed a diamatic metamoiphosis of theii political,
mateiial, social, and cultuial stiuctuies, laigely as a iesult of the end of the Cold Wai
and the giowth of the global maiket economy.
15 Ebiahim Haivey, Spectie of capitalism haunts ANC, Mail and Guardian (Johan-
nesbuig), :, Octobei Novembei I,,,, _.
16 All this, pace the simplifying optimism of Fiancis Fukuyama (I,,,), who claims
that the Gieat Disiuption that beset the industiialized woild fiomthe mid-I,oos to the
eaily I,,osa iesult of the iise of the postindustiial economy and the infoimation
ageis coming to an end.
17 It is a mattei of note, in this iespect, that neithei the chaiteied companies noi the
impeiial enteipiises opeiated by old inteinational bouigeoisies globalized pioduction
itself in the way that tiansnational coipoiations now do (Dicken I,8o: ,,).
18 As this implies, we see the piogiessive abstiaction entailed in piocesses of de-
contextualization as pait of the evolving logic of capitalisma point made by Maixian
theoiies of ieication, whose salience enduies. To suggest, as Daniel Millei (I,,,: :I:,
Caiiiei and Millei I,,8) does, that viitualism, one manifestation of these piocesses,
may be a ieplacement foi capitalism in compiehending the cuiient momentoi that
it may piovide a new political economyis to confuse cause and eect.
19 On patiiotic capitalism, see the piess announcement foi the annual geneial con-
feience of the South Afiican Black Management Foium, I8:o Novembei I,,,, on Patii-
otic Capitalism: The Dilemma of the New Millennium, which was published in, among
othei places, Scwetan, : Novembei I,,,, :,.
20 The phiase take the waiting out of wanting was the adveitising sloganof a majoi
Biitish ciedit caid in the I,,os. The twilight economies at issue heie aie seldom en-
tiiely in the hands of the young. The diug tiade, foi instance, is a vast tiansnational
business that confoims with biutal claiity to the piinciples of capitalist enteipiise. As
Sudhii Venkatesh (I,,,) shows, black youth on U.S. city stieets depend on bosses on
whose account they take laige iisks foi small piot.
21 This section owes much to an eailiei essay (I,,,b), in which we exploied the iise
of occult economies in South Afiica.
22 Mzilikazi Wa Afiika, I was tuined into a Zombie: Doctoi says she enduied eight
days of toiment aftei a devil-woishippei luied hei into a tiap, Sunday Times (Johannes-
buig) Extia], II July I,,,, I.
23 Uli Schmetzei, Lettei fiom Bangkok: Thai seeis dealt ieveisal of foitune, Chicagc
Tribune, I8 Novembei I,,,, .
24 Connie Laueiman, Got a pioblem: Pick a caid: Taiot has moved out of the
occult iealmto become the low-cost Shiink in a box, Chicagc Tribune, Tempo Sec-
tion, Decembei I,,,, I, I_.
25 Theie have been countless stoiies in Biitish tabloids about the sexual and satanic
;
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abuse of childien. Foi an especially vivid one, see Biian Radfoid, Satanic ghouls in baby
saciice hoiioi, News cf the Vcrld (London), : August I,,,, _o_I. Its two subtitles
Cult is covei foi pedophile sex monsteis and They bieed tots to use at occult iitesie-
ect well the moial panic to which they speak. On the kidnapping of Geiman childien
foi these puiposes, see Childien killed foi theii oigans, Sunday Vcrld (Johannesbuig),
_I Octobei I,,,, Io, the iepoit, based on Geiman seciet seivice documents fiom Bei-
lin, oiiginated with Reuteis. The quotation about the tiacking in women is in Vladi-
mii Isachenkov, Enslaving women fiomfoimei Soviet bloc is widespiead, Santa Barbara
News-Press, 8 Novembei I,,,, A8, see also Denis Staunton, Couple on tiial foi child toi-
tuie oei, Guardian (London), 8 August I,,,, I_.
26 Accoiding to this uiban myth, the telling of which is always accompanied by au-
thenticating detail, the victim is oeied a diink at an aiipoitNew Oileans appeais to
be a favoiiteand awakes in a hotel bath, body submeiged in ice. A note taped to the
wall wains him not to move, but to call ,II. He is asked, by the opeiatoi, to feel caiefully
foi a tube piotiuding fiom his back. When he nds one, he is instiucted to iemain still
until paiamedics aiiive: His kidneys have been haivested.
27 Edmund L. Andiews, Behind the scams: Despeiate people, easily duped, New
Ycrk Times, :, Januaiy I,,,, _. See also Celestine Bohlen, Albanian paities tiade chaiges
in the pyiamid scandal, New Ycrk Times, :, Januaiy I,,,, _.
28 See Leslie Eaton, Investment fiaud is soaiing along with the stock maiket, New
Ycrk Times, _o Novembei I,,,, I, :. Eaton also notes that these scams have been facili-
tated by the iise of low cost telecommunications and . . . the inteinet.
29 Chaiity pyiamid schemei sentenced to I: yeais, Chicagc Tribune, :_ Septembei
I,,,, o.
30 Laige-scale scams have occuiied in Russia, Romania, Bulgaiia, Seibia, and othei
foimei communist countiies, see Andiews, Behind the scams. They aie also common in
Afiica (Comaio and Comaio I,,,b).
31 Tom Whitehouse, Messiah on the make in Sun City, Observer (London), _o May
I,,,, :o.
32 The phiases in quotes weie utteied to us in I,,, by a Univeisal Chuich pastoi in
Makeng, South Afiica, wheie the denomination is giowing fast: it has two stoiefiont
chapels, seveial iuial centeis, and a much-watched daily piogiam on the local television
channel.
33 This piogiessive sense of loss, it haidly needs saying, was a touchstone of the
cultuie industiy thioughout the I,,os: Considei such condition of England lms as
The Full Mcnty and Brassed O, theii Euiopean paiallels (The Dreamlife cf Angels, foi
example), and innumeiable non-Westein counteipaits.
34 We weie stiuck by one iecent instance that iesonates so obviously with oui con-
ceins heie: Michael Metelits, speaking of laboi legislation in the new South Afiica,
iefeiied to it as a tiicky, not to say occult business. See his Toiling masses and hon-
est capitalists, Vcrk tc Rule. A Fccus cn Labcur Legislaticn, supplement to Mail and
Guardian (Johannesbuig), I,:I Octobei I,,,, II.
35 A stiiking example of the management of the global woikfoice by piivate agen-
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cies is Sta Solutions, a U.K. company that ieciuits foieigneispioducing them like
magicto toil in Biitish agiicultuie foi a pittance undei new feudal conditions that
the U.K. goveinment has iefused to iegulate, piefeiiing to allow neolibeial enteipiise
fiee ieign. New feudalism is ouiishing, _,.
36 See, foi example, Doug Biooks, SA piivate aimies can supply peacekeepeis to
DRC, Star (Johannesbuig), _ Novembei I,,,, Io.
37 See, foi example, Richaid Noiton-Tayloi and Owen Bowcott, Deadly cost of new
global waifaie, Mail and Guardian (Johannesbuig), :, Octobei Novembei I,,,, :o.
38 See The high piice of defeat, Mail and Guardian (Johannesbuig), ,II Novembei
I,,,, :I, in which it is noted that losses by national teams may cause the fall of govein-
ments. In New Zealand, a defeat in the Rugby Woild Cup had such a shatteiing eect
on the national psyche that a local univeisity is oeiing giief counselling. See Blues
counselling foi all black fans, Star (Johannesbuig), , Novembei I,,,, I.
39 Peiegiine Woisthoine, Faiewell to Englands nation state, Daily Telegraph (Lon-
don), :, June I,88, I.
40 This is not to say that theie have not been eoits to cieate new foims of politics.
Deiiida I,,, foi example, posits the possibility of a new Inteinational, the foimu-
lation of which, howevei, has diawn much ciiticism, most notably fiom Aijaz Ahmad
(I,,,: Io,).
41 Even those consideied, by populai steieotype, to be anything but modein have
taken to asseiting legal iights ovei theii mass-mediated image. The !Xoo, a San gioup in
Namibia, aie suing foi the use of pictuies of themselves on postcaids and in an aiiline
magazine adveitisement, claiming nancial compensation. Bobby Joidan, San people in
legal action ovei insulting ad, Sunday Times (Johannesbuig), _I Octobei I,,,, ,.
42 Hence the anity between neolibeial economics and the woik of the law and
economics school of legal theoiy that is closely associated with the Univeisity of Chi-
cago Law School. Almost any iecent text emanating fiom that school will seive to sub-
stantiate the point.
43 We have made a paiallel aigument foi the salience of law to colonial states
which, in this iespect, foieshadowed the situation we desciibe heie, see John L. Co-
maio I,,8.
44 Goloa Moiloa, Constitutional Towei of Babel, Sunday Vcrld (Johannesbuig),
_I Octobei I,,,, Io.
45 The topics discussed in this section aie dealt with in extenso in Comaio and
Comaio I,,,a.
46 Pcstnative is used by Geeitz (I,,,: o) to desciibe Obeyesekeies subject position
in his debate with Sahlins ovei the death of Captain Cook, but it applies as well to the
geneiic subject in the age of neolibeial capitalism. Pcsthuman appeais foi the ist time,
to oui knowledge, in Hayles I,,,.
47 Fiank Nxumalo, Global capital can bank on woildwide iesistance, Sunday In-
dependent (Johannesbuig), , Novembei I,,,, Business Repoit, I. The unionist is John
Maitland, piesident of the Inteinational Chemical Eneigy Mining and Geneial Woikeis
Union, which iepiesents :o million woikeis.
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Geschieie, Petei. I,,,. The mcdernity cf witchcraft. Pclitics and the cccult in pcstcclcnial
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Haidt, Michael. I,,,. The witheiing of civil society. Sccial Text, no. ,: :,.
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Millennial Transitions
Irene Stengs, Hyltcn Vhite, Caitrin Lynch,
and }erey A. Zimmermann
mon
ey \ m-n \ n
In the steady iepeitoiie of auspicious
Thai New Yeai caids that caiiy poi-
tiaits of ioyalty and holy monks, a
new type of caid appeaied in I,,8.
The images on these caids aie Ioo-,
,oo-, oi Iooo-baht banknotes complete
with the cuiiencys small poitiait of
the piesent king. The accompanying
texts plainly wish the ieceivei a lot
of wealth (khc haj ruaj ). The I,,,
collapse of the Asian economies has
boosted the hope of many Thai that
the kings moial and spiiitual poweis
can lead them into a new peiiod of
piospeiity.Iiene Stengs
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Mfanele, KwaZulu Natal Prcvince, Scuth Africa, :;;,. Hyltcn Vhite
bride
wealth \ bid-welth \ n
Using money to puichase cattle, oi even to stand foi
them in the context of biidewealth exchange, made
it possible foi maiiiage to pioceed in the southein
Afiican countiyside despite the collapse of pastoial
autonomy undei colonialism. But it also meant that
social iepioduction came to depend on the wages
iemitted by migiant woikeis. In oidei to make hei
moie maiiiageable, this man adoins his only
daughtei with money and clothes that iepiesent hei
value as a futuie wife and mothei.Hylton White
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A Christmas Bcnanza, Kandy, Sri Lanka, December :;;,. Caitrin Lynch
1
lot
tery \ la-t-i \ n
The globalization of the Chiistian holiday of Chiistmas
has accompanied economic libeialization. In Sii Lanka,
this global capitalist holiday has been appiopiiated by non-
Chiistians: The Chiistmas season has become the buying
season, with the main icon Santa Claus, not Jesus Chiist.
When the goveinment intioduced its economic libeializa-
tion package in I,,,, it also intioduced Sevana, the nations
ist lotteiy. Twenty yeais latei, many of the numeious
lotteiies aie iun by the state, which has ieguied wagei-
ing as an act of chaiitypioceeds aie diiected towaid
goveinment piojects foi housing, development, and
education.
*
Neaily two millennia aftei Jesuss biith, when
hopeful consumeis puichased these Sevana Chiistmas
lotteiy tickets in I,,,, theii money would also go towaid
building houses foi the pooithe Chiistmas season of
chaiity ieguied in the act of wageiing.Caitiin Lynch
*
Steven Kempei, The Nation Consumed: Buying and
Believing in Sii Lanka, Public Culture , (I,,_): _8o.
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Paid Prcgramming, a mural by }erey A. Zimmermann, Hcncre Street at Ncrth Avenue, Bucktcwn,
Chicagc :;;;. }erey A. Zimmermann
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lot
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Nct A LOT TO TOMAR, OV! and Cash cla, details frcm Paid Prcgramming mural, Chicagc.
}erey A. Zimmermann
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Toward a Critique of Globalcentrism:
Speculations on Capitalisms Nature
Fernandc Ccrcnil
The end of a millennium is a time that invites speculations about
the futuie as well as ieckonings with the past. In his Ccnfessicns, Saint
Augustine suggested that it is only at the end of a life that one can ap-
piehend its meaning. The cuiient fashionable talk about the end of His-
toiy, of socialism, even of capitalismoi at least the long-announced
demise of its familiai industiial foim and the biith of an eia dened by
the dominance of infoimation and seivices iathei than mateiial pio-
ductionsuggests that the close of the millennium has geneiated fan-
tasies inspiied by a similai belief. In a stiiking coincidence, the end of
the millenniumhas also maiked the victoiy of capitalismovei socialism
aftei a piotiacted confiontation that polaiized humanity duiing much
of the twentieth centuiy. Its tiiumph at this time makes capitalism ap-
peai as the only valid social hoiizon, gianting it a sacialized sense of
nality that conjuies up what Sylvia Thiupp identied as the millennial
expectation of a peifect age to come (I,,o: I:).
As an expiession of this millennial fantasy, coipoiate discouises of
globalization evoke with paiticulai foice the advent of a newepoch fiee
fiom the limitations of the past. Theii image of globalization oeis the
piomise of a unied humanity no longei divided by East and West,
Noith and South, Euiope and its Otheis, the iich and the pooi. As if
they weie undeiwiitten by the desiie to eiase the scais of a conictual
past oi to biing it to a haimonious end, these discouises set in motion
the belief that the sepaiate histoiies, geogiaphies, and cultuies that have
divided humanity aie now being biought togethei by the waim em-
biace of globalization, undeistood as a piogiessive piocess of planetaiy
integiation.
1
Needless to say, discouises of globalization aie multiple and fai fiom
homogeneous. Scholaily accounts geneially contest the steieotypical
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image of an emeiging global village populaiized by the coipoiations
and the media. These accounts suggest that globalization, iathei than
being new, is the intensied manifestation of an old piocess of tians-
continental tiade, capitalist expansion, colonization, woildwide migia-
tions, and tianscultuial exchanges, and that its cuiient neolibeial mo-
dality polaiizes, excludes, and dieientiates even as it geneiates ceitain
conguiations of tianslocal integiation and cultuial homogenization.
Foi its ciitics, neolibeial globalization is implosive iathei than expan-
sive: it connects poweiful centeis to suboidinate peiipheiies, its mode
of integiation is fiagmentaiy iathei than total, it builds commonalities
upon asymmetiies. In shoit, it unites by dividing. Fiom dieient pei-
spectives and with dieient emphases, these ciitics oei not the com-
foiting image of a global village, but iathei the distuibing viewof a fiac-
tuied woild shaiply divided by ieconguied ielations of domination.
2
Although I, too, am diawn by the desiie to make sense of capital-
isms histoiy at the millenniums end, I will exploie its life not so much
by chionicling its biogiaphy fiom the vantage point of the piesent, as
Saint Augustine suggests, but by disceining its piesent conguiation
and speculating about its futuie in light of its daik colonial past. My
biief sketch of capitalism will be highly selective, diawing on ceitain
featuies in oidei to paint, with bioad stiokes, a iough image of its
changing dynamics at this time. To biing foith this image as I see it
emeiging at the tuin of millennium, I will tiace some links between the
colonial past within which capitalism evolved and the impeiial piesent
within which neolibeial globalization has gained hegemony. Needless
to say, theie is a iisk in iefeiiing to capitalism by a single woid (and
in the singulai) and attiibuting to it featuies that may give the impies-
sion that it is a bounded oi self-willed entity, iathei than a complex,
contiadictoiy, and heteiogeneous piocess mobilized by the actions of
innumeiable social agents. Against the opposite dangei of missing the
foiest (oi foiests!) foi the tiees, I opt foi the iisk of pioducing what may
be no moie than a caiicatuie of the capitalist jungle, in the hope that it
can help us iecognize dening featuies of its evolving conguiation.
ut ue c , c i os i i z t i ou, uo o c c i oc ut i i s v
Oui familiai geopolitical map of modein woilddened by such
classicatoiy devices as the thiee-woilds scheme, the division between
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the West and the non-West, and the opposition between capitalist and
socialist nationsis being iediawn by a numbei of piocesses associated
with the hegemony of neolibeial globalization. These include (I) the ie-
composition of tempoial and spatial ielations thiough new foims of
communication and pioduction, (:) the incieasing tension between the
national basis of states and the inteinational connections of national
economies, and (_) the giowing polaiization of social sectois both
within and among nations, togethei with the concentiation of powei in
tiansnational netwoiks. As a iesult of these changes, peoples and natu-
ial iesouices that have been tieated as exteinal domains to be colonized
by capital incieasingly appeai as inteinal to it, subjected to its hege-
monic contiol. In accoidance with the Ccmmunist Manifestcs famous
anticipation, capital, mobilized by its ielentless and tiieless dynamics,
seems to be melting all solid baiiieis that have stood in its way, expand-
ing its ieach ovei oui familiai mateiial woild, piopelling it towaid evei
moie immateiial domains, and subjecting all iealms undei its powei
to evei moie abstiact foims of contiol. My aim is to catch an image
of capitals expansive dynamics thioughout planet Eaith as well as into
cybeispace in oidei to exploie the signicance of its expansion foi the
oiganization and iepiesentation of cultuial dieiences.
Inspiied by the speculative spiiit of millennial thinking, I wish to
suggest that the cuiient phase of neolibeial globalization involves a sig-
nicant ieoideiing and iedenition of geohistoiical units. Dominant
discouises of globalizationiecast the centialityof theWest[Othei oppo-
sition that has chaiacteiized Euiocentiic iepiesentations of cultuial dif-
feience. Pievious Occidentalist modalities of iepiesentation have been
stiuctuied by a binaiy opposition between the Occident and its otheis.
As I aigue elsewheie, Occidentalist constiucts obscuie the mutual con-
stitution of Euiope and its colonies, as well as of the West and
its postcolonies, thiough iepiesentational piactices that sepaiate the
woilds components into bounded units, disaggiegate theii ielational
histoiies, tuin dieience into hieiaichy, and thus help iepioduce asym-
metiical powei ielations (Coionil I,,o: ,,).
My aigument in this essay is that dominant discouises of global-
ization constitute a ciicuitous modality of Occidentalism that opeiates
thiough the occlusion iathei than the aimation of the iadical dif-
feience between the West and its otheis. In contiast to the Westein
bias oi Euiocentiismof pievious Occidentalisms, what I call the global-
6
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centiism of dominant globalization discouises expiesses the ongoing
dominance of the West by a numbei of iepiesentational opeiations that
include: the dissolution of the West into the maiket and its ciystal-
lization in less visible tiansnational nodules of concentiated nancial
and political powei, the attenuation of cultuial antagonisms thiough
the integiation of distant cultuies into a common global space, and a
shift fiom alteiity to subalteinity as a dominant modality foi consti-
tuting cultuial dieience. These changes entail a consolidation of the
economy as the neolibeial ages cultuial dominant, which I see, build-
ing on Fiediic Jameson, as a stiuctuiing piinciple that counteis notions
of iandom dieience while allowing foi the piesence and coexistence
of veiy dieient, yet suboidinate featuies (Jameson I,,I: o). As an
economic cultuial dominant, discouises of neolibeial globalization
coexist with celebiatoiy discouises of cultuial diveisity, as well as with
wainings conceining the coming clash of civilizations, they subsume
the woilds multiple cultuies, and competing discouises about them,
as suboidinate elements within an encompassing, planetaiy economic
cultuie.
At a time when capitalism paiades as most univeisal and indepen-
dent of its mateiial foundations, I hope to show that a focus on its iela-
tion to natuie helps to iendei visible an emeiging impeiial caitogiaphy
of modeinity occluded by incieasingly abstiact modalities of domina-
tion.
ut ue c , c r i t i i s v, uo c oi oui i i s v
Acential dimension of post-Enlightenment discouises of modeinity
has been the establishment of a iadical sepaiation between cultuie
and natuie. These discouises of histoiical piogiess typically asseit the
piimacy of time ovei space and of cultuie ovei natuie. The sepaiation
of histoiy fiom geogiaphy and the supiemacy of time ovei space has
the eect of pioducing images of society cut o fiom theii mateiial en-
viionments. Dominant views take foi gianted the natuial woild upon
which societies depend. Despite the signicant woik of geogiapheis,
feminists, and ecologists who have examined the intimate ielation be-
tween the social and natuial domains, natuie is insuciently theoiized
in the discussion of capitalism.
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Among Westein theoieticians of capitalism, Adam Smith, David
Ricaido, and Kail Maix weie exceptional in the detailed theoietical at-
tention they paid to the social signicance of the natuial foundations
of social pioduction. Building on Smiths and Ricaidos insights, Maix
employed the categoiy land[ient as a way of conceptualizing the iole
of socially mediated natuial poweis in the constiuction of capitalism.
Yet his analysis of capitalism tended to piivilege the capital[laboi ie-
lation and to assume that land (by which he meant all the socially
mediated powei of natuie) would be absoibed by capital. In ciitical dia-
logue with libeial and Maixist discussions of natuial iesouices, I have
suggested that a fullei iecognition of natuies iole in the making of capi-
talism expands and modies the tempoial and geogiaphical iefeients
that have fiamed dominant naiiatives of modeinity (Coionil I,,,). I
piesent a biief veision of this ciitique now in oidei to fiame my ex-
amination of the iole of natuie duiing the piesent phase of neolibeial
globalization.
Maix claimed that the ielationship among capital-piot, laboi-
wages, and land-giound ient holds in itself all the mysteiies of the
social pioduction piocess (I,8I: ,,_). As if wishing to evoke simul-
taneously a celestial mysteiy and its eaithly iesolution, he called this
ielationship the tiinity foim. Yet few analysts, Maix included, have
seiiously applied this foimula to iesolve the enigma of the iole of land
in the making of capitalism. Looking at capitalism fiom a Euiopean
standpoint, Heniy Lefebvie is unusual in both noting this neglect and
suggesting ways of examining the iole of the social agents associated
with land, including the state, in the making of Euiopean capitalism
(I,,).
3
Lefebvie, howevei, conned his vision to Euiope, and did not
see the implications of his insight foi iecasting the ielationship between
capitalism and colonialism.
Given the impoitance of the (post)colonies as piovideis of natuial
iesouices that continue to be essential foi the development of capital-
ism, a view of capitalism fiom the (post)colonies helps modify con-
ventional undeistandings of capitalisms dynamics and histoiy in two
iespects.
Fiist, it helps theoiize moie fully the iole of natuie as a constitutive
dimension of modein wealth, iathei than simply as a foim of natu-
ial capitalas is the common view among libeial economistsoi as
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capitals necessaiy condition of existence, a limitation to its giowth, oi a
souice of entiopyas some Maixists have aigued (see OConnoi I,,).
Even thinkeis like Maix, who iecognize natuies iole in the foimation
of wealth, often foiget theii own insight in theii analysis of capitalist
pioduction. Diawing fiom William Petty (and iepioducing a common
identication of cultuie with man and natuie with woman), Maix ai-
gues that wealth must be seen as the union of laboi (the fathei) and
natuie (the mothei) (I,o,: _). Yet in an inuential section of Capital,
Maix aigues that the physical piopeities of commodities have noth-
ing to do with theii existence as commodities (I,o,: ,:). In his eoit
to demonstiate that laboi powei is the only souice of value and theie-
foie that a commoditys value iesides in the insciiption, not in the ob-
ject, Maix neglects his own insight that laboi insciibes value thiough
a mateiial medium, and that wealth is the joint iesult of laboi and
natuie. This neglect of natuie by capitalisms majoi ciitic has obscuied
the dynamics of capitalist wealth foimation. A iecognition that a com-
modity is insepaiable fiom its physical mateiiality, and that as a unit of
wealth it embodies both its natuial and its value foim, piesents a dif-
feient viewof capitalism. This peispective makes it possible to view the
specic mechanisms thiough which capitalist exploitation extiacts sui-
plus laboi fiom woikeis as well as natuial iiches fiom the eaith undei
dieient histoiical conditions. It also makes it possible to see lines of
continuity and change between modes of appiopiiating natuie undei
colonial and neolibeial iegimes of domination.
Second, a giounded viewthat complements the iecognized impoi-
tance of laboi with the neglected but no less fundamental signicance
of natuie in capitalisms foimation ieinfoices woiks that have sought to
countei Euiocentiic conceptions that identify modeinity with Euiope
and ielegate the peiipheiy to a piemodein piimitivity. By biinging out
a neglected stiuctuiing piinciple of capitalist development, this pei-
spective helps us to see capitalism as a global piocess iathei than as a
Euiopean phenomenon.
4
Since foi Maix land stands foi nature in its
socialized mateiiality iathei than in its independent mateiial existence,
biinging natuie back in iecasts the social actois diiectly associated
with it. Instead of iestiicting these agents to vanishing feudal loids oi
declining landowneis (the emphasis in Capital ), they may be expanded
to encompass the social agents that since colonial times have been in-
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volved in the commodication of what I have called ient-captuiing oi
natuie-intensive commodities, to distinguish them fiom commodi-
ties whose exchange value piedominantly ieects laboi powei iathei
than giound-ient. In (post)colonial nations, these agents include the
states and social classes that diiectly own natuial iesouices oi iegulate
theii pioduction and commeicialization (Coionil I,,,). Decipheiing
the mysteiy of the tiinity foim involves seeing the dialectical play
among capital, laboi, and land in specic histoiical situations.
Apeispective that iecognizes the tiiadic dialectic among laboi, capi-
tal, and land leads to a fullei undeistanding of the economic, cultuial,
and political piocesses entailed in the mutual constitution of Euiope
and its colonies, piocesses that continue to dene the ielation between
postcolonial and impeiial states.
5
It helps to specify the opeiations
thiough which Euiopes colonies, ist in Ameiica and then in Afiica
and Asia, piovided it with cultuial and mateiial iesouices with which it
fashioned itself as the standaid of humanitythe beaiei of a supeiioi
ieligion, ieason, and civilization embodied in Euiopean selves. As the
Spanish notion of puiity of blood gave way in the Ameiicas to dis-
tinctions between supeiioi and infeiioi iaces, this supeiioiity became
vaiiously incainated in biological distinctions that have been essential
in the self-fashioning of Euiopean colonizeis and continue to infoim
contempoiaiy iacisms.
6
Just as the colonial plantations in the Ameii-
cas, woiked by Afiican slave laboi, functioned as piotoindustiial fac-
toiies that pieceded those established in Manchestei oi Liveipool with
fiee Euiopean laboi (Mintz I,8,), the Ameiican colonies pieguied
those established in Afiica and Asia duiing the age of high impeiial-
ism. Colonial piimitive accumulation, fai fiom being a piecondition
of capitalist development, has been an indispensable element of its on-
going dynamic. Fiee wage laboi in Euiope constitutes not the ex-
clusive condition of capitalism but its dominant pioductive modality,
one histoiically conditioned by unfiee laboi elsewheie, much as the
pioductive laboi of wagewoikeis depends on the ongoing unpio-
ductive domestic laboi of women at home. Instead of viewing natuie
and womens laboi as gifts to capital (foi a ciitique of this view, see
Salleh I,,: II_), they should be seen as conscations by capital, as pait
of its colonized otheis, as its daik side. If colonialism is the daik side
of Euiopean capitalism, what is the daik side of globalization:
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c i os i i z t i ou uo o c c i oc ut i i s v
Theie has been much discussion about globalization, its oiigins, its
vaiious phases, and its cuiient chaiacteiistics. Theie seems to be agiee-
ment that what distinguishes the piesent phase of globalization is not
the volume of tiansnational tiade and capital ows, foi these have oc-
cuiied in similai piopoitions in othei peiiods, paiticulaily duiing the
thiee decades piecedingWoild Wai I (Hoogvelt I,,,, Weiss I,,8). What
seems signicantly new since the I,,os is that a tiansfoimation in the
volume, chaiactei, and concentiation of nancial ows (enabled by new
technologies of pioduction and communication) has led to a contia-
dictoiy combination of newpatteins of global integiation and a height-
ened social polaiization within and among nations.
I will use two iemaikable accounts of globalization to discuss these
changes. I have chosen them because they aie public statements,
giounded in scholaily ieseaich, that addiess globalization in teims of
its political eects fiom opposite political positions. Peihaps inspiied
by millennial numeiological spiiitualism, each one of these documents
uses seven subheadings to piesent its image of globalization.
The ist is a (I,,,) iepoit of the United Nations Confeience on
Tiade and Development (0c1.u) that documents iising woildwide
inequalities. The iepoit analyzes in detail seven tioublesome featuies
of the contempoiaiy global economyandaigues that they pose a seiious
thieat of a political backlash against globalization. I will identify these
featuies biiey, without summaiizing the evidence that suppoits them:
I. Global economic giowth iates have slowed.
:. The gap between the developed and developing countiies, as well
as within countiies, is widening steadily As suppoiting evidence,
the iepoit oeis a ievealing statistic: in I,o, the aveiage cv pei
capita foi the top :o peicent of the woilds population was thiity
times that of the pooiest :o peicent, by I,,o, it had doubled to
sixty times].
_. The iich have gained eveiywheie, and not just in ielation to the
pooiest sections of society, but also in ielation to a hallowed middle
class.
. Finance has gained an uppei hand ovei industiy, and ientieis ovei
investois.
,. Capitals shaie of income has incieased ovei that assigned to laboi.
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o. Employment and income insecuiity aie spieading woildwide.
,. The giowing gap between skilled and unskilled laboi is becoming
a global pioblem.
The second document, titled The Fouith Woild Wai Has Begun,
is an aiticle wiitten fiom the mountains of Chiapas, Mexico, by Sub-
comandante Maicos, the leadei of the indigenous Zapatista movement
izi (Ejicito Zapatista de Libeiacin Nacional), and published in
Le Mcnde Diplcmatique (I,,,). Since Maicoss aigument is both moie
complex and less familiai than the one piesented in the 0c1.uiepoit,
I will summaiize it moie extensively.
Accoiding to Maicos, neolibeial globalization must be undeistood
foi what it is, that is, as a new wai of conquest of teiiitoiies. He
thus cieates a new typology of twentieth-centuiy woild wais that de-
centeis metiopolitan conceptions of contempoiaiy histoiy. Maicos ie-
names the Cold Wai the Thiid Woild Wai, both in the sense that it
was a thiid global wai and because it was fought in the Thiid Woild. Foi
the Thiid Woild, the so-called Cold Wai was ieally a hot wai, made up
of I, localized wais that claimed :_ million deaths.
7
The Fouith Woild
Wai is the cuiient neolibeial globalization that, accoiding to Maicos,
is claiming the lives of vast numbeis of people subjected to incieasing
poveity and maiginalization. While Woild Wai III was waged between
capitalism and socialism with vaiying degiees of intensity in dispeised
localized teiiitoiies in the Thiid Woild, Woild Wai IV involves a con-
ict between metiopolitan nancial centeis and the woilds majoiities,
taking place with constant intensity on a global scale.
Accoiding to Maicos, Woild Wai IV has fiactuied the woild into
multiple pieces. He selects seven of these bioken pieces in oidei to put
togethei what he calls the rcmpecabezas (puzzle) of neolibeial global-
ization. I will biiey list themsome of the titles aie self-explanatoiy
omitting most of the data he oeis to suppoit his claims.
I. Concentiation of wealth and distiibution of poveity, which syn-
thesizes well-known infoimation conceining the extent to which
global wealth is being polaiized among and within nations.
:. The globalization of exploitation, which discusses howthis polai-
ization goes hand in hand with the incieasing powei of capital ovei
laboi woildwide.
_. Migiation as an eiiant nightmaie, which ieveals not only the ex-
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pansion of migiatoiy ows foiced by unemployment in the Thiid
Woild, but also by local wais that have multiplied the numbei of
iefugees (fiom: millioninI,,, to ovei :, millioninI,,,, accoiding
to United Nations guies).
. Globalization of nances and geneialization of ciime, which
shows the giowing complicity between megabanks, nancial coi-
iuption, and hot money coming fiom the illegal tiac in diugs
and aims.
,. The legitimate violence of an illegitimate powei: which answeis
this question by aiguing that the stiiptease of the state and the
elimination of its welfaie functions have ieduced the state in many
countiies to an agent of social iepiession, tiansfoiming it into an
illegitimate piotection agency at the seivice of megaenteipiises.
o. Megapolitics and Dwaifs, which aigues that stiategies diiected at
eliminating tiade fiontieis and at uniting nations lead to the multi-
plication of social fiontieis and the fiagmentation of nations, tuin-
ing politics into a conict between giants and dwaifs, that is,
betweenthe megapolitics of nancial empiies andthe national poli-
cies of weak states.
,. Pockets of iesistance, which claims that in iesponse to the pockets
of concentiated wealth and political powei, multiple and multiply-
ing pockets of iesistance aie emeigingones whose iichness and
powei ieside, in contiast, in theii diveisity and dispeision.
Despite theii contiasting peispectives, both accounts view neolib-
eial globalization as a piocess diiven by incieasingly uniegulated and
mobile maiket foices that polaiize social dieiences among and within
nations. While the gap between iich and pooi nationsas well as be-
tween the iich and the pooiis widening eveiywheie, global wealth
is concentiating in fewei hands, and these few include those of sub-
altein elites. In this ieconguied global landscape, the iich cannot
be identied exclusively with metiopolitan nations, noi can the pooi
be identied exclusively with the Thiid and Second Woilds. The closei
woildwide inteiconnection of iuling sectois and the maiginalization of
suboidinate majoiities has undeimined the cohesiveness of these geo-
political units. Although it also has had an impact on metiopolitan
nations, this weakening of collective bonds moie seveiely undeimines
Thiid Woild countiies as well as the ex-socialist countiies of the moii-
;z
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bund Second Woild (China iequiies sepaiate attention).
8
Paiticulaily in
the less populated oi less iesouiceful countiies, the polaiizing eects of
neolibeialismaie heightened by a steady piocess of capital expatiiation,
denationalization of industiies and seivices, biain diain, and the inten-
sication of migiatoiy ows. The piivatization of the economy and of
public seivices, oi what Maicos calls the stiiptease of the state, has led
not only to the ieduction of buieauciatic ineciency and in some cases
to incieased competitiveness and pioductivity, but also to the demise of
piojects of national integiation and the eiosion oi at least the iedeni-
tion of collective attachments to the nation. The social tensions iesult-
ing fiom these piocesses often lead to a iacialization of social conict
and the iise of ethnicities (Amin I,,,).
Foi example, in Venezuela the iepiession of the I,8, iiots against
the imposition of an imi (Inteinational Monetaiy Fund) piogiam was
justied in teims of a discouise of civilization that ievealed the sub-
meiged piesence of iacist piejudices in a countiy that denes itself as
a iacial demociacy (Coionil and Skuiski I,,I). Since then the ideal of
iacial equality has been eioded by intensied piactices of segiegation
and disciimination, including appaiently tiivial ones that show how
iacial boundaiies aie being iediawn (such as the exclusion of daikei-
skinnedVenezuelans fiomuppei-middle-class discotheques). The same
polaiizing piocess, with similai iacialized expiessions, is taking place
in othei Latin Ameiican countiies, such as Peiu, wheie the Supieme
Couit iecently judged in favoi of the iight of a club that had excluded
daik-skinned Peiuvians.
As has occuiied in many Thiid Woild countiies, neolibeial glob-
alization may piomote economic giowth and yet eiode a sense of
national belonging. In Aigentina, the piivatization of the national
petioleum company led to massive layos (fiom ,,ooo woikeis down
to ,oo) as well as to a signicant inciease in piotability (fiom losses
of so billion between I,8: and I,,o to piots of s, million in I,,o).
This typical combination of economic giowth that benets a fewpiivate
(often foieign) pockets and economic diead that coveis laige domes-
tic sectois has tiansfoimed the way many Aigentinians ielate to theii
countiy. In Januaiy I,,8, the New Ycrk Times iepoited that one of the
woikeis who was ied fiom the oil company now feels alienated fiom a
nation that oeis himfewoppoitunities: I used to go and camp oi sh,
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but now I heai that Ted Tuinei is heie, Rambo theie, the Teiminatoi
somewheie else. And I say, no, this is not my Aigentina.
Suboidinate sectois commonly iespond to theii maiginalization
fiom the globalized maiket with a deepening involvement in an in-
foimal local economy, which in its speculative aspects iecalls the
unpioductive dynamics of what Susan Stiange calls casino capital-
ism (I,8o). The piolifeiation of schemes and scams intended to make
money with money as well as the commodication of anything that can
be sold have become not just iegulai economic piactices but agonistic
suivival stiategies. Foi many who nd themselves at the meicy of mai-
ket foices and yet have little to sell, the maiket takes the foim of diug
tiade, black maikets, sex woik, and the tiade in stolen goods oi even in
body paits. This anomic capitalism is often accompanied by discouises
of ciisis, the spiead of moial panics, and the deployment of magical
means to make money in occult economies (Comaio and Comaio
I,,,, Veideiy I,,o). Although the incieasingly uniuly commodica-
tion of social life oeis possibilities foi some people, it tuins the woild
into a iisky and thieatening enviionment foi vast majoiities.
In contiast, foi the coipoiate sectois whose business is to make
money out of iisks, the uniegulated expansion of the maiket tuins the
woild into a landscape of oppoitunity. Coipoiate contiol of highly
sophisticated technologies peimits companies to intensify the com-
modication of natuie and to captuie foi the maiket such elements as
genetic mateiials oi medicinal plants. Fioma global coipoiate peispec-
tive, some countiies of the woild aie seen as souices of cheap laboi and
natuial iesouices.
Astiiking example illustiates hownewtechnologies make it possible
to deepen the appiopiiation of natuie in tiopical aieas foi an evei moie
exclusive maiket. In Gabon, thiough a blimp-and-iaft device used to
scoui the tieetops of iain foiests, Givaudan and Rouie, one of the lead-
ing coipoiations in the big business of fiagiances and tastes, appio-
piiates natuial aiomas and sells theii components to companies such
as Balmain, Chiistian Dioi, and Aimani. As natuie in coolei climates
has been fully exploied, the seaich foi new molecules has moved to the
tiopics (Simons I,,,: ,,).
9
Advanced technologies can also be used
not just to discovei natuial pioducts, but to cieate new ones, chang-
ing natuie into what Aituio Escobai calls technonatuie (I,,,). While
these humanmade natuial pioducts blui the distinction between the
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natuial and the cultuial, they also extend the signicance of natuie as
a maiket iesouice.
Foi many nations, the integiation of theii economies to the fiee
global maiket has led to a heightened ieliance on natuie-dependent
activities and to the eiosion of piojects of state-piomoted national de-
velopment. Natuie, in the foim of tiaditional oi new natuial iesouices
and of ecotouiismas natuie-dependent touiism, has become theii most
secuie compaiative advantage. The giowth of sex touiism as a souice
of foieign exchange and of piostitution as a stiategy of individual sui-
vival ieveals a link between the natuialization of maiket iationality and
the peiveise commodication of human beings thiough the tiansfoi-
mation of what aie geneially consideied natuial functions oi piivate
activities into a maiketed foim of laboi powei. As Chiles success
stoiy demonstiates, even when natuial iesouices become the founda-
tion of a neolibeial model of development based on the expansion of ie-
lated industiies and seivices, the piicedespite ielatively high iates of
economic giowthis social polaiization and denationalization (Mou-
lian I,,,).
In some iespects we could view this piocess of iepiimaiization (as a
ietuin to a ieliance on piimaiy expoit pioducts) as a iegiession to oldei
foims of colonial contiol. Yet this piocess is unfolding within a tech-
nological and geopolitical fiamewoik that tiansfoims the mode of ex-
ploiting natuie. If undei colonial globalization (by which I mean the
mode of integiation of colonies to the global economy), diiect political
contiol was needed to oiganize piimaiy commodity pioduction and
tiadewithiniestiictedmaikets, thenundei neolibeial globalization, the
uniegulated pioduction and fiee ciiculation of piimaiy commodities
in the open maiket iequiies a signicant dismantling of state contiols
pieviously oiiented towaid the piotection of national industiies. Be-
foie, the exploitation of piimaiy commodities took place thiough the
visible hand of politics, now it is oiganized by the ostensibly invisible
hand of the maiket in combination with the less piominent, but no less
necessaiy, helping hand of the state (foi an aigument conceining the
ongoing centiality of the state, see Weiss I,,8).
Piioi to this peiiod of neolibeial globalization, postcolonial states
sought to iegulate the pioduction of piimaiy commodities. Duiing
the postWoild Wai II peiiod of state-piomoted economic giowth
(ioughly the I,os to I,,os), many Thiid Woild nations used the foi-
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eign exchange obtained fiom the sale of theii piimaiy pioducts to di-
veisify theii pioductive stiuctuies. Piimaiy pioduction, often dened
as a basic national activity, was caiefully iegulated and biought undei
domestic contiol. As the maiket has become the dominant oiganiz-
ing piinciple of economic life, howevei, it has imposed its iationality
on society, natuializing economic activity and tuining commodities
into naiiowly economic things, stiipped of theii symbolic and politi-
cal signicance. In countiies such as Aigentina oi Venezuela, theie is
incieasing piessuie to tuin iesouices like oil, pieviously dened as a
national patiimony, into meie commodities subject to the fiee play of
maiket foices.
wc it u uo uc oi i s c e i c i os i i z t i ou
A telling symptom of the giowing dominance of maiket iationality
is the tendency not just to tieat all foims of wealth as capital in piac-
tice, but to conceptualize them as such in theoiy. Foi example, while
the Woild Bank has in the past followed conventional piactice in de-
ning pioduced assets as the tiaditional measuie of wealth, it now
suggests that we also include natuial capital and human iesouices
as the constituent elements of wealth. In two iecent books, Mcnitcring
Envircnmental Prcgress (I,,,) and Expanding the Measure cf Vealth. In-
dicatcrs cf Envircnmentally Sustainable Develcpment (I,,,), the Woild
Bank pioposes that this ieconceptualization be seen as a paiadigm shift
in the measuiement of the wealth of nations and the denition of devel-
opment objectives. Accoiding to the Woild Bank, expanding the mea-
suie of wealth entails a newpaiadigmof economic development. Now
development objectives aie to be met by the management of poitfolios
whose constituents aie natuial iesouices, pioduced assets, and human
iesouices (I,,,: v, I_). Iionically, as natuie is being piivatized and held
in fewei hands, it is being iedened as the natuial capital of denation-
alized nations iuled by the iationality of the global maiket.
It could be aigued that this new paiadigm only iephiases an oldei
conception accoiding to which land, laboi, and capital aie the factois of
pioduction. In my view, what seems signicantly new is the attempt by
leading nancial institutions to homogenize these factois, to tieat natu-
ial iesouices, pioduced assets, and human iesouices diiectly as capi-
tal. By disiegaiding theii dieiences and subsuming them undei the
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abstiact categoiy of capital, these iesouices aie tieated as equivalent
constituents of a poitfolio. The tieatment of people as capital leads
to theii valoiization stiictly as a souice of wealth. In eect, the second
iepoits opening line emphasizes this: Natuial iesouices count, but
people count even moie. This is the main lesson fiom the newestimates
of the wealth of nations contained in this iepoit (I,,,: I). Yet people
may count moie oi less than natuial iesouices only in teims of a
peispective that equates them, the value of people can be compaied to
the value of things only because both aie ieduced to capital. The de-
nition of people as capital means that they aie to be tieated as capital
taken into account insofai as they contiibute to the expansion of wealth,
and maiginalized if they do not. The same ciiteiia apply to the tieat-
ment of natuial iesouices as capital. They aie valued as souices of
piot. As human beings and natuie aie dened as capital, the logic of
capital comes to dene theii identity as assets.
The notion of pcrtfclic alieady entails the iequiiement to maximize
piots: development objectives aie to be met by the management of
poitfolios by expeits, iathei than thiough an inheiently political pio-
cess involving social contests ovei the denition of collective values.
Maiket technique ieplaces politics. The Woild Banks cuiient develop-
ment paiadigm posits development agents as investment biokeis and
development as a kind of gamble in iisky maikets iathei than as a pie-
dominantly political concein and moial impeiative.
10
This iedenition of wealth as a poitfolio of vaiious foims of capital
acquiies newsignicance in the context of the neolibeial global maiket.
In an insightful book that examines the joint evolution of the maiket
and the theatei in England fiom the sixteenth to the eighteenth cen-
tuiies, Jean C. Agnew (I,8o) aigues that the maiket evolved duiing
this peiiod fiom a place to a piocessfiom xed locations in the intei-
stices of feudal society to uid tiansactions dispeised thioughout the
woild. In this shift fiom place to piocess, the maiket iemained placed,
as it weie, within the limits of ieally existing geogiaphic space.
Analysts of globalization have noted howits contempoiaiy foims ie-
sult not in the extension of the maiket in geogiaphic space, but instead
in its concentiation in social space. As inteinational capital becomes
moie mobile and giows detached fiom its pievious institutional loca-
tions, Ankie Hoogvelt aigues, coie-peiipheiy is becoming a social ie-
lationship, and no longei a geogiaphic one (I,,,: I,). This shift fiom
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a geogiaphically expanding capitalism to an economically imploding
one is piopelled by nancial deepening, that is, the giowth but also
the concentiation of nancial tiansactions and theii dominance ovei
tiade in mateiial goods (I,,,: I::).
Coniming this analysis, the Febiuaiy I,,, New Ycrk Times set of
aiticles on globalization also highlights the signicance of the giowing
detachment of nancial tiansactions fiom the tiade of ieal goods. As
one of these aiticles pointed out, In a typical day the total amount of
money changing hands in the woilds foieign exchange maikets alone is
sI., tiillionan eightfold inciease since I,8o, an almost incompiehen-
sible sum, equivalent to total woild tiade foi foui months. The aiticle
quotes a Hong Kong bankei: It is no longei the ieal economy diiving
the nancial maikets, but the nancial maikets diiving the ieal econ-
omy. Accoiding to the aiticle, the amount of investment capital has
exploded: in I,,, institutional investois contiolled s:o tiillion, ten
times moie than in I,8o. As a iesult, the global economy is no longei
dominated by tiade in cais and steel and wheat, but by tiade in stocks,
bonds, and cuiiencies. This wealth is incieasingly stateless, as national
capital maikets aie meiging into a global capital maiket. It is signi-
cant that these investments aie channeled thiough deiivatives that have
giown exponentially: In I,,, they weie tiaded at a value of s_oo tiil-
lion, a guie equivalent to a dozen times the size of the entiie global
economy (Kiistof I,,,: AIo).
In my view, nancial deepening implies a signicant tiansfoimation
of the maiket: not just its concentiation in social space and its evei
laigei contiol ovei mateiial space both at the geogiaphical and sub-
atomic levels, but its extension in time. Now capital tiavels beyond the
constiaints of existing geogiaphical boundaiies into cybeispacethat
is, in time. This tempoial expansion of the maiket, oi if you piefei,
its extension into cybeispacepeihaps a fuithei development of what
David Haivey and otheis desciibe as the tiansfoimation of time into
spacegives new signicance to the iedenition of natuie as capital.
Thus, it is not just that fewei piivate hands, laigely unconstiained by
public contiols, hold moie wealth, but that in these hands wealth is
being tiansfoimed thiough a piocess of giowing homogenization and
abstiaction.
I have come to think of this piocess as the tiansmateiialization of
wealth. By this I do not mean the demateiialization of pioduction,
;8
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that is, a puipoited decline in the intensity of iaw mateiial use (Kouz-
netsov I,88: ,o, foi an alteinative view, see Bunkei I,8,), but the tians-
guiation of wealth thiough the evei moie abstiact commodication
of its elements acioss time and space. An aiticle fiom Time magazine
on the futuie of money highlights the signicance of both new foims
of wealth and new ways of thinking about them (Ramo I,,8). Wealth,
accoiding to this aiticle, is incieasingly tieated by investois and bank-
eis not as tangible commodities but as iisks assumed on them, such
as deiivatives. The Magna Caita of this new foim of conceptualizing
wealth, the authoi suggests, is a speech deliveied in I,,_ by Chailes
Sanfoid, then cio of Bankeis Tiust.
Inthis impiessive document, titledFinancial Maikets in:o:o, San-
foid iecognizes the novel complexity of the piesent situation. Although
acknowledging that ieality is moving fastei than oui categoiies, he self-
condently pioclaims that thiough a combination of ait and science
the coipoiate woild, including its own univeisities, will pioduce theo-
iies capable of accounting foi the changes that aie now taking place in
the woild. He uses the numbei :o:o to expiess his expectation of pei-
fect vision and the estimated date when it will be achieved. Despite the
bluiied vision of the piesent, Sanfoid anticipates that this peifect vision
will entail a iadical shift in peispective: We aie beginning fioma New-
tonian view, which opeiates at the level of tangible objects (summaiized
by dimension and mass) to a peispective moie in line with the non-
lineai and chaotic woild of quantum physics and moleculai biology.
Building on this analogy with quantum physics and modein biology,
he calls this theoietical ieconceptualization paiticle nance (Sanfoid
I,,: o).
Paiticle nance will allow nancial institutions to consolidate all
wealth and investments into wealth accounts, and to bieak down
these accounts into paiticles of iisk deiived fiom the oiiginal invest-
ment, which can be sold as bundles in a global, computeiized netwoik.
To help us visualize the natuie of the change, Sanfoid says: We have
always had tianspoitationpeople walked, eventually they iode don-
keysbut the automobile was a bieak fiomeveiything that came befoie
it. Risk management will do that to nance. Its a total bieak (cited
in Ramo I,,8: ,,). Echoing Sanfoid, the authoi of the Time aiticle ob-
seives that deiivatives, one of the main modes of managing iisk, have
changed the iules of the game foievei (Ramo I,,8: ,,).
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In oidei to imagine the new game, he asks us to think of the woild
as a landscape of oppoitunityeveiything fiom distiessed Japanese
ieal estate to Russian oil futuiesmaiketed and packed by giant banks
like Bankameiica oi by fund companies like Fidelity Investments and
the Vanguaid Gioup (Ramo I,,8: ,,). The examples of distiessed
Japanese ieal estate and Russian oil futuies aie geneial tiopesthey
could iepiesent as well Gabon aioma futuies, Cuban touiism, Nige-
iian foieign debt, oi any thing, fiagment, oi aioma of a thing that can
be tuined into a commodity. Echoing Sanfoid, Times Joshua Coopei
Ramo states that E-(lectionic) cash, wealth accounts, and consumei
deiivatives will have made these ims as essential as cash itself once
was. These changes will make these capitalist ims so indispensable
as to iendei them eteinal: If business immoitality can be puichased,
the aiticle concludes, these aie the people who will guie out how to
nance it. And they will be doing sowith youi money (Ramo I,,8: ,8).
ut or i u c e i t i quc or c i os i c c ut e i s v
r oe t uc c ovi uc vi i i c uui uv
While this coipoiate vision may be hypeibolic and ieect the
changes it wishes to biing about fiom a paitisan peispective, it helps
visualize the tiansfoimations in global powei I have discussed so fai.
In my view, two ielated piocesses aie shifting the commanding heights
of impeiial powei fiom a location in Euiope oi the West to a less
identiable position on the globe. On the one hand, neolibeial glob-
alization has homogenized and abstiacted diveise foims of wealth,
including natuie, which has become foi many nations theii most secuie
compaiative advantage and souice of foieign exchange. On the othei
hand, the deteiiitoiialization of Euiope oi the West has entailed its in-
visible ieteiiitoiialization in the elusive guie of the globe, which con-
ceals the socially concentiated but moie geogiaphically diuse tians-
national nancial and political netwoiks that integiate metiopolitan
and peiipheial dominant social sectois. As the West disappeais into the
maiket, it melts and solidies at once. The ascent of Euioland should
not obscuie its close aiticulation with Dollailand thiough nancial cii-
cuits that link dominant sectois fiomboth lands. As many ciitics have
noted, the tianspaiency demanded by pioponents of the fiee maiket
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does not include making visible and accountable the newcommanding
heights of global economic and political powei.
These two inteiielated piocesses aie linked to a host of cultuial and
political tiansfoimations that iedene the ielations between the West
and its otheis. The image of a unied globe dispenses with the notion of
an outside. It displaces the locus of cultuial dieience fiom highly Oii-
entalized otheis located outside metiopolitan centeis to diuse popu-
lations dispeised acioss the globe. Nations have become incieasingly
open to the owof capital, even as they iemain closed to the movement
of the pooi. Although the elites of these nations aie incieasingly inte-
giated in tiansnational ciicuits of woik, study, leisuie, and even iesi-
dence, theii impoveiished majoiities aie incieasingly excluded fiomthe
domestic economy and abandoned by theii states.
It is likely that, even undei these conditions, nations will iemain
fundamental political units and souices of communal imaginings in
the yeais to come (paiticulaily metiopolitan nations), but supiana-
tional and nonnational cultuial ciiteiia aie alieady playing an in-
cieasingly laige iole as maikeis and makeis of collective identities. In
pooiei nations, the emeigence of ethnic movements is the expiession
not only of theii giowing stiength, but also of the weakness of integia-
tionist nationalist piojects. At stake is the iedenition of the nation-
state, iathei than its decline. Cential Ameiican nations aie being ie-
conceptualized as multiethnic communities both by theii states and by
inteinational nancial institutions. In some cases, states that have en-
gaged in a stiiptease aie being foiced to put on new clothes by the
piessuie of discontented subjects oi the thieat of political upheaval.
Giowing concein with the political eects of global poveity at the high-
est level of the inteinational system, as expiessed in the 0c1.u iepoit
and in the iecent meetings of the Woild Bank, imi, and c,, may yet give
states a ienewed iole as cential agents in the constiuction of national
imaginaiies.
Since the conquest of the Ameiicas, piojects of Chiistianiza-
tion, colonization, civilization, modeinization, and development have
shaped the ielationship between Euiope and its colonies in teims of
a shaip opposition between a supeiioi West and its infeiioi otheis. In
contiast, neolibeial globalization conjuies up the image of an undiei-
entiated piocess without cleaily demaicated geopolitical agents oi tai-
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get populations, it conceals the highly concentiated souices of powei
fiom which it emanates and fiagments the majoiities on which it im-
pacts. Although neolibeial globalization entails the subjection of non-
Westein peoples, theii subjection, like the subjection of suboidinate
populations within the West, appeais as a maiket eect, iathei than as
the consequence of a Westein political pioject.
Unlike othei Occidentalist stiategies of iepiesentation that highlight
the dieience between the West and its otheis, discouises of neolibeial
globalization evoke the potential equality and unifoimity of all peoples
and cultuies. Insofai as globalization woiks by ieinsciibing social hiei-
aichies and standaidizing cultuies and habits, it is a paiticulaily pei-
nicious impeiialist modality of domination. But insofai as it decenteis
the West, eaces dieiences between centeis and maigins, and pos-
tulates, at least in piinciple, the fundamental equality of all cultuies,
globalization piomotes diveisity and iepiesents a foim of univeisality
that may pieguie its fullei iealization. Just as the foimal pioclama-
tion of human equality duiing the Fiench Revolution was taken at its
woid by Haitian slaves and given fullei content by theii actions, foic-
ing the abolition of slaveiy and expanding the meaning of fieedom
(Dubois I,,8), globalizations piofessed ideals of equality and divei-
sity may open spaces foi libeiatoiy stiuggles (just as they may give
iise to conseivative ieactions). In social spaces oiganized undei neo-
libeial global conditions, collective identities aie being constiucted in
unpiecedented ways thiough a complex aiticulation of such souices of
identicationas ieligion, teiiitoiiality, iace, class, ethnicity, gendei, and
nationality, but now infoimed by univeisal discouises of human iights,
inteinational law, ecology, feminism, cultuial iights, and othei means
of iespecting dieience within equality (Sassen I,,8, Alvaiez, Dagnino,
and Escobai I,,8).
The cuiient modality of globalization is unsettling not just geo-
giaphical and political boundaiies, but also disciplinaiy piotocols
and theoietical categoiies, iendeiing obsolete appioaches polaiized in
teims of oppositions between the mateiial and the discuisive, politi-
cal economy and cultuie, wholes and fiagments. Moie than evei, just
as so-called local phenomena cannot be undeistood outside the global
conditions undei which they unfold, global phenomena aie unintel-
ligible when the local foices that sustain them aie not accounted foi.
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We can hope that the eoit to make sense of the ielationship between
localization and globalization in the context of globalized conditions of
knowledge pioduction will decentei Westein epistemologies and lead
to moie enabling visions of humanity.
11
If the ciitique of globalcentiism is to be a iesponse to the connec-
tion between colonial and postcolonial violence, it must addiess the
new foims of subjection of postcolonial empiies. While the ciitique of
Euiocentiism has sought to piovincialize Euiope and to question its
piofessed univeisality, the ciitique of globalcentiismshould seek to dif-
feientiate the globe and show its highly uneven distiibution of powei
and immense cultuial complexity. Aciitique that demysties globaliza-
tions univeisalistic claims but iecognizes its libeiatoiy potential may
make less toleiable capitalisms destiuction of natuie and degiadation
of human lives and, in the same bieath, expand the spaces wheie altei-
native visions of humanity aie imagined, whethei in pockets of iesis-
tance to capital, in places still fiee fiomits hegemony, oi within its own
contiadictoiy locations.
uot c s
I would like to expiess my deep giatitude to the membeis of my giaduate seminai, Glob-
alization and Occidentalism, wintei I,,,, foi theii helpful comments on this essay and
stimulating discussions thioughout the semestei. I gieatly appieciate the detailed com-
ments by Genese Sodiko, Elizabeth Feiiy, and Maia Gonzlez. My thanks also to Julie
Skuiski and David Pedeison foi theii keen obseivations, and to the editoiial committee
of Public Culture that, thiough Jean and John Comaio, oeied me valuable suggestions.
Aneailiei diaft of this essay benetedfiomdiscussions at the ColonialityWoiking Gioup
at SUNY Binghamton.
1 The mass media have been a majoi avenue foi celebiatoiy discouises of global-
ization, fiom coipoiate adveitisements to songs. This tiend gained cuiiency with the
expansion of multinational coipoiations in the I,oos and was intensied by the bieak-
down of the socialist woild and the ensuing hegemony of neolibeialism.
2 It is impossible to do justice to the vast scholaily liteiatuie on globalization. Al-
though not all authois agiee on what chaiacteiizes it oi on its newness, most aie ciiti-
cal of the celebiatoiy discouises on globalization and suggest dieient ways in which
the piocesses commonly identied by this teim aie conictive oi exclusionaiy. Foi ex-
amples, see Amin I,,, and I,,8, Appaduiai I,,o, Aiiighi I,,, Coibiidge, Maitin, and
Thiift I,,, Dussel I,,,, Gieidei I,,,, Haivey I,8,, Henwood I,,,, Hiist and Thomp-
son I,,o, Hoogvelt I,,,, Lpez Segieia I,,8, Massey I,,,, Quijano and Walleistein I,,:,
Robeitson I,,:, Sassen I,,8, and Weiss I,,8.
3 Some Maixists, howevei, have noted the signicance of giound ient with iespect
to ceitain aspects of capitalism, such as uiban ieal estate, but few have used it to iecon-
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ceptualize the development of capitalism. Reecting on Maixist theoiizing on giound
ient, Jean-Claude Debeii, Jean-Paul Delage, and Daniel Hmeiy have noted that the
ielationship society[natuie was consideied only in the fiamewoik of puiely economic
theoiy, that of giound ient (I,,I: xiii). Theii own eoit is diiected at seeing this iela-
tionship in teims of a moie geneial conceptualization of eneigy use. In my view, land-
giound ient (just as laboi-wages and capital-piot) should not be ieduced to puiely
economic theoiy. A holistic analysis of giound ient would ieveal its many dimensions,
which include, as they have shown in theii woik, histoiical tiansfoimations in eneigy
use but also the foimation of the histoiical agents involved in the pioduction of land
as an economic categoiy.
4 Foi example, Oitiz I,,,, Dussel I,,,, Mignolo I,,,, and Quijano I,,_. My use of
the woid grcunded is inuenced by the confeience Touching Giound: Descent into the
Mateiial[Cultuial Divide, oiganized by the students in the doctoial piogiam in anthio-
pology and histoiy, Univeisity of Michigan, : Apiil I,,,. The confeience sought to ovei-
come, as its statement of puipose indicates, a pie-existing habit of dividing the analysis
of the cultuial fiom the economic and the symbolic fiom the mateiial. Textual and dis-
cuisive analyses, even when invoking a mateiial context foi ieadings of cultuial content,
still tend to avoid engaging diiectly with the study and theoiization of such phenomena
as woik, the stiuctuie and piactice of political domination and economic exploitation,
and the mateiial oiganization of patiiaichy.
5 Within anthiopology, the woiks of Sidney Mintz (I,8,) and Eiic Wolf (I,8:) have
signicantly contiibuted to illuminating the iole of colonial piimaiy commodities in the
making of the modein woild. I have sought to develop this peispective by building upon
the woik of Feinando Oitiz (Coionil I,,,, I,,,).
6 Numeious theoiists have examined the ielationship between colonialism and
iacialization. These comments diaw in paiticulai on the woik of Anibal Quijano (I,,_),
Waltei Mignolo (I,,,), and Ann Stolei (I,,,).
7 The categoiy Third Vcrld emeiged out of the piocess of decolonization connected
with Woild Wai II, as a iesult of which the Thiid Woild became the militaiy and ideo-
logical battlegiound between the capitalist Fiist Woild and the socialist Second Woild.
Now that this contest is ovei foi all piactical puiposes, the countiies of what used to be
called the Thiid Woild aie no longei the piized objects of competing political poweis,
but stiuggling actois in a competitive woild maiket. Foi an illuminating discussion of
the thiee-woild schema, see Pletsch I,8I.
8 The two iepoits on globalization I examine heie piesent evidence that shows the
existence of a giowing gap between the iich and the pooi in metiopolitan nations. A ie-
vealing iesponse to this polaiization is Reich I,,I, which aigues foi the need to integiate
the inteinationalized and the domestic sectois of the U.S. population.
9 My thanks to Genese Sodiko foi shaiing this aiticle.
10 I am giateful to Genese Sodiko foi these foimulations.
11 Theie is always the iisk that localization and globalization will be seen as a
ieied binaiy iathei than as a dialectical ielationship. Foi a ciitique of the local[global
binaiy, see Biiggs I,,,, Eiss I,,,, and Pedeison I,,,.
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Lived Eects of the Contemporary Economy:
Globalization, Inequality, and Consumer Society
Michael Stcrper
It is now commonplace to iefei to such diveise phenomena as glob-
alization, incieases in economic inequality, the decline of class-based
societies, the intensication of consumeiism, and global cultuial ho-
mogenization as though they weie all pait of the same pioblematic.
Indeed, all these elements seem in vaiious ways to chaiacteiize oui ex-
peiience of the cuiient eia. Yet theii connections iemain obscuie. Theie
is little consensus about how signicant the iecent incieases in income
inequality aie, and even less ovei theii ielationship to globalization. Be-
yond this, those who call attention to giowing inequality have a dicult
time explaining the absence of oiganized discontent in the political and
cultuial spheies. Those who associate globalization with a loss of di-
veisitya deepening massication of Westein cultuieaie at a loss to
account foi the stunning new vaiiety and iapid change in the outputs
of knowledge-based capitalism.
It is dicult to confiont these associations in any stiuctuied way be-
cause the phenomena they iefei to iemain the pieseives of specialized
academic elds. Each such eld documents a piece of the biggei pictuie,
and as a iesult we iemain unable to account foi seemingly contiadictoiy
aspects of the contempoiaiy expeiience. If oui standaid foi the analysis
of giowing income inequality is limited to the distiibution of money
income, foi example, we will nd it dicult to undeistand why, in the
ieal woild, people do not seem veiy upset about it.
One way to undeistand the connections between what economists
say about the economy and how the iest of us feel and act in ielation
to it is piovided by the concept of consumption and its coiollaiy in
the cultuial spheie, consumeiism. Many of the political eects of glob-
alizationwhat is iegietted, what is celebiated, what meets with pas-
sivitythat seem contiadictoiy when viewed in eithei exclusively cul-
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tuial oi economic teims can be undeistood in teims of the ielationship
between globalization and the evolution of consumei societies. But be-
yond this, I will aigue, the iise of consumeiist identities helps explain
the economic piocesses of globalizationmost notably, the diusion
of laboi-saving technologieswhich in tuin aie iesponsible foi much
of the iecent iise in inequality. These linkages do not appeai in standaid
analyses.
This essays ieasoning is diawn piimaiily fiom economics, with
elements fiom othei disciplines biought in as needed. Although I
have made eveiy eoit to keep technical language to a minimum, I
have found it helpful in places to situate my analysis within this well-
developed liteiatuie in oidei to identify the mechanisms that can link
globalization and inequality.
i uc ovc i uc qu i i t v uo c i os i i z t i ou
Increasing Inequality Income inequality has incieased in most of
the majoi industiial countiies of Westein Euiope and Noith Ameiica,
as well as in most of the middle-income developing countiies, ovei
the last twenty yeais, a peiiod that has also witnessed unpiecedented
giowth in woild tiade. The degiee of inequality inciease has shown
some vaiiation: highest in the United States and Biitain, lowei in most
of the economies of continental Euiope, still lowei in Scandinavia
(Ciafts I,,8, Johnson and Webb I,,_). Whethei measuied by the Gini
coecient oi by the iatio of the income of the lowest :o peicent to that
of the highest :o peicent, the tiend is similai (Kiugman I,,:, Kiug-
man and Lawience I,,_, Hanson and Haiiison I,,, Katz, Loveman,
and Blanchowei I,,,).
In viitually all the majoi developed economies, moieovei, a majoi
component of giowth in income inequality is the extiaoidinaiy giowth
of income at the top. We can summaiize the facts ioughly as follows: the
top :o peicent oi so of the population has seen veiy iapid giowth in its
ieal incomes and shaies of total income. Within this gioup, the income
shaie of the top I peicent of U.S. eaineis has moie than doubled since
I,,, (Fiank and Cook I,,,). In I,,,, the ninety-fth peicentile eainei
ieceived ten times as much as the fth, but in I,,,, the coiiespond-
ing iatio was moie than twenty-ve. As a iesult, the woith of the iich
and supeiiich, both absolutely and piopoitionately, has giown con-
8
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sideiably (Fiank I,,,). The middle oo peicent oi so had also enjoyed
giowth in ieal household income fiomthe late I,,os thiough the I,8os,
though at a iate much lowei than that of the top :o peicent.
1
In the
I,,os, howevei, the iesults have been quite dieient, the median house-
hold actually lost : peicent of its income in ieal teims (Fiank I,,,).
Theie is consideiable debate among economists about the chaiactei of
middle-class incomes. Some claim that what appeais to be ielative sta-
bility is attiibutable to the incieasing piesence of two-eainei house-
holds.
2
Otheis, howevei, maintain that aveiage wages have continued
to iise in most countiies, albeit at a much slowei iate than foi most
of the postWoild Wai II peiiod. But it is indisputable that the share
of this gioup in total income has declined. In othei woids, a gieat deal of
incomethe piopoition that would have been acciued had the gioups
iate of giowth but iemained constanthas in fact been foiegone by its
membeis.
The bottom :o peicent seems to oei a moie complex stoiy. In I,,o,
the peicentage of the total population living in poveity (dened by the
Oiganization foi Economic Coopeiation and Development oicu] as
subsistence on family oi individual income amounting to less than ,o
peicent of the national median) was about I peicent in Fiance and
the United States. The poveity iate is slightly lowei in Geimany and
the Noidic countiies, and highei in the United Kingdom (ca. :: pei-
cent in :ooo). Except in the case of Biitainwheie it exploded undei
Thatcheithe poveity iate in most countiies has iisen slightly, if at all,
ovei the last twenty yeais and is still well below its postwai peak, which
was attained in most countiies in the I,,os and I,oos (Jencks I,,:).
Given that oveiall absolute income has been iising, it follows that
at least some of the people in the bottom :o peicent, including some
ocially dened as pooi, might also have expeiienced ieal income in-
cieases ovei the past twenty yeais. Yet about a thiid of the pooi became
moie pooi in absolute teims (, to Io peicent of the population) (Jencks
I,,:). This piopoition is similai to that of the uiban ghetto population
in the United States. Thus, while most of the population is enjoying
highei absolute ieal incomes, and some pait of those living below the
poveity line is also bettei o in absolute teims, theie iemains a gioup
sueiing evei haidei and deepei poveity (Jencks I,,:, Wilson I,8,).
To sum up: The geneial pictuie in Westein Euiope, Noith Ameiica,
and a numbei of middle-income developing countiies is a combination
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of decline and stagnation at the bottom, modeiate giowth and ielative
loss in the middle, and big giowth at the top.
Vages and Occupaticns. The Glcbalizaticn Hypcthesis in Eccncmics
Explaining this inciease in inequality, howevei, tuins out to be dicult.
Some of the standaid explanations foi the inciease attiibute it diiectly
to globalization. In economics, the appioach is to examine the impact
of inteinational tiade in goods and seivices on the domestic laboi mai-
ket in teims of laboi demand and wages. Accoiding to tiade theoiy
going back as fai as David Ricaidoand adapted foi modein use as
the Heckschei-Ohlin modelinteinational tiade cannot aect domes-
tic wages diiectly, but does so indiiectly thiough the domestic piices of
impoited goods. If impoits come fiom an aiea with lowei wages, then
undei competitive conditions theii piice should decline. Eithei the do-
mestic laboi maiket meets the laboi piices of the foieign countiy, oi the
domestic ims aie pushed out of the maiket. In the lattei, moie likely
case, the woikeis so ieleased will have to nd othei things to do. In the
shoit iun, such xed skills as they can oei aie now in oveisupply. In
most of the liteiatuie, low-skilled, manual manufactuiing woikeis aie
consideied to belong to this categoiy. Oveisupply means that woikeis
become unemployed and then often accept jobs at lowei wages, because
the above-mentioned piice eects of tiade cieate new and lowei equi-
libiium piices foi the pioducts conceined. In othei woids, the eects
of tiade on ielative domestic pioduct piices aie ieected in a new set
of inteiindustiy wage dieientials.
This piocess, known as factcr price equalizaticn, is foimalized in the
Stolpei-Samuelson extension of Heckschei-Ohlin tiade theoiy: foi a
given factoi, tiade giadually biings about a conveigence of the factois
piices to the woild level. This model piovides a compelling explana-
tion foi income loss among those low-skilled woikeis in industiialized
countiies whose outputs can be made in the developing woild. But key
to this line of analysisas I will demonstiate latei onis the notion
that technologies of pioduction aie xed. In the Stolpei-Samuelson
model, theie is a xed ielationship between the outputs of goods and
the inputs of factois. This implies a similaily xed ielationship between
the piices of goods and the wages of factois. The model does not take
into account any dieience in pioduction functions in, say, the cloth-
ing industiies of the United States and Mexico. What vaiies is wheie
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the factois aie used and how the location of industiies aects domestic
factoi demands and piices.
But this is only the staiting point foi economists analyzing the pos-
sible eects of globalization on wages and incomes. The next step is
to pioceed to investigations of the complex inteiactions between such
sectoial laboi maiket eects and the laboi maikets of othei indus-
tiies, theii pioduct piices, and theii output levels. These aie known as
partial oi general equilibrium apprcaches. They geneially posit that a
wealthyeconomy facedwithimpoit competitionwill move upthe piod-
uct chain into moie sophisticated inteimediate and nal goods and sei-
vices. Accoiding to equilibiium theoiies, clothing and shoe pioduction
may go oshoie, foi example, but in compensation, moie high-tech
and advanced goods and seivices will be developed and expoited. In
the highly developed economy, then, theie is a shift to dieient goods
and to moie of thema global lteiing of activities into a new geo-
giaphical pattein. Laboi demand shifts with this change in specializa-
tion. Thus, the shock of tiade libeialization could lead initially to de-
clining wages in impoit-sensitive sectois and iising ielative wages in
expoit-oiiented sectois.
Foi example, if the United States impoited Io additional childiens
toys, which could be pioduced by Ameiican woikeis, the eective
supply of unskilled woikeis would inciease by ve (oi alteinatively,
domestic demand foi such woikeis would fall by ve) compaied with
the alteinative in which those Io toys weie pioduced domestically.
This ve-woikei shift in the supply-demand balance would put pies-
suie on unskilled wages to fall, causing those wages to fall in ac-
coid with the ielevant elasticity. Any tiade-balancing owof expoits
would, contiaiily, ieduce the eective endowment of skilled woikeis
(iaise theii demand) and thus inciease theii pay. (Fieeman I,,,: :_)
Most geneial equilibiium theoiies piedict a full absoiption of laboi
initially displaced by impoits. Once this is achieved, theie is no fuithei
changethe iatio of piices between impoit and expoit sectois iemains
constant (Richaidson I,,,). Ongoing tiade undei conditions of open-
ness will not aect ielative factoi piices because an economy in equi-
libiium moving fiom one endogenous state to anothei (along a given
pioduction possibility fiontiei) has no mechanism to change ielative
factoi iewaids.
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Empiiical ieseaich on the topic is quite dicult in teims of methods
and data and has tuined up veiy mixed iesults (see Bound and Johnson
I,,:, Fieeman I,,,, Nickell and Bell I,,,, Katz and Muiphy I,,:, Katz,
Loveman, and Blanchowei I,,,). In attempting to measuie the factoi
content of impoits to deteimine whethei they aie dominated by low-
wage, low-skill laboi, economists have foundveiy modest contiibutions
to Ameiican income inequality (Lawience and Slaughtei I,,, Boijas,
Fieeman, and Katz I,,:). When the piices of impoits aie measuied to
see if they aie falling ielative to domestically pioduced goods, the con-
clusion is that theie is an eect but that it is iathei small (Sachs and
Schatz I,,, Feenstia and Hanson I,,o).
3
In contiast with these nd-
ings, Beiman, Bound, and Giiliches (I,,) nd that the negative eect
on unskilled wages applies to all sectois, not just impoit-heavy ones. All
in all, William Cline (I,,,), in an attempt to synthesize the evidence,
suggests that somewheie between , and I, peicent of the obseived in-
ciease in inequality has to do with impoit competition fiom low-wage
countiies. Most estimates aie that at maximum, theie has been a , pei-
cent ieduction of unskilled laboi demand in the United States attiibut-
able to low-wage impoit substitutes. Manufactuied impoits fiom low-
wage countiies accounted foi only _ peicent of Ameiican cuv in I,,o,
and this is concentiated in ceitain highly visible consumei sectois such
as clothing (Cline I,,,). Studies such as these have led to the main-
stieam conclusion that it is impossible foi the tail of low-wage im-
poits to wag the dog of laboi maikets.
Theie aie dissenteis fiom this position, howevei. Adiian Wood
(I,,, I,,,) claims that in most of the empiiical ieseaich, the equality-
inducing eects of Noith-South tiade aie undeiestimated by a factoi
of up to foui. This disciepancy is iooted in dieient ways of calculat-
ing how much laboi is displaced when pioduction moves abioad. He
goes on to aigue that the static pictuie of technology as piesented in
standaid theoiy is incoiiect. A common ieaction to low-wage compe-
tition on the pait of ims in developed countiies has been piecisely
to seaich foi new methods of pioduction that economize on unskilled
laboi. With this aigument, Wood abandons a key element of standaid
geneial equilibiium models.
A few geneial equilibiium economists have come to the same con-
clusion via a dieient ioute. They hold that the sectois that expand as a
iesult of tiade shouldtake iniesouices fiomthe iest of the economy, but
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will neveitheless be unable to absoib woikeis likely to be ieleased fiom
othei sectois by the initial opening to tiade unless wages fall (Leamei
I,,, I,,,). Unlike in the Stolpei-Samuelson model, these falling wages
have eects on the pioduction techniques of the iemaining sectois. Foi
example, the developed economys expanding sectois might substitute
moie laboi foi capital because of the fiesh availability of cheap laboi,
and though this would absoib some displaced laboi, it would alsowiden
inteisectoial pioductivity gaps and hence maintain wage inequality in
spite of a ietuin to full employment.
Fuitheimoie, none of the standaid woik takes into account what
might be the most impoitant impact of tiade on wages. Pioduction
is incieasingly disintegiated into geogiaphically sepaiated tasks and
shaied among countiies. Robeit Feenstia desciibes this global out-
souicing thiough the example of the Baibie Doll:
The iaw mateiials foi the doll aie obtained fiom Taiwan and Japan.
. . . the molds themselves come fiom the United States, as do addi-
tional paints used in decoiating the dolls. Othei than laboi, China
supplies only the cotton cloth used foi diesses. Of the s: expoit value
foi the dolls when they leave Hong Kong foi the United States, about
_, cents coveis Chinese laboi, o, cents the cost of mateiials, and the
iemaindei coveis tianspoitation and oveihead. . . . The majoiity of
value-added is fiom US activity. (Feenstia I,,8: _,)
In othei woids, in many U.S.-made goods theie aie laige foieign com-
ponents with potentially big eects on U.S. laboi demand and wages.
Measuiing only nal pioducts fiomeach countiy is likely to mask these
eects, which aie upstieam in the value chain.
Finally, Wood calls attention to the laige piobable impact of tiaded
seivices on the wages of unskilled woikeis, none of which aie taken into
account by the standaid calculations that aie based only on manufac-
tuiing. All in all, Wood claims that a :o peicent decline in the demand
foi skilled laboi could be accounted foi by Noith-South tiade, not the
, peicent of the standaid appioaches.
The biggei pictuie of inequality piesents othei pioblems. Although
the eoits discussed above help desciibe the diop in ielative wages at
the veiy bottom, they do not explain what has happened to eveiyone
else. Thiee additional issues can be identied heie.
Fiist, absolute and ielative incomes have giown iapidly at the top of
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the distiibutionnot just among the supeiiich, but among the college-
educated classes in geneial (Mishel, Beinstein, and Schmitt I,,8). Yet
many of the advanced pioduct sectois, in which developed countiies
aie coming to specialize in the face of global tiade and which employ
the college educated, have occupational and wage compositions that
aie changing iapidly. Theie aie indications that some jobs aie being
downskilled. Moie impoitant, the supply of highly skilled, oi college-
educated, laboi has expanded iapidly, and this inciease should have
pushed down ielative wages in these jobs. Foi the moment, howevei,
this does not appeai to have occuiied.
Second, between the unskilled who aie aected by impoits and these
highly skilled college giaduates theie would seem to be a vast middle
giound of semiskilled laboi. Theie aie many industiies, oi paits of
industiies, in which semiskilled laboi is piominent, and these people
seemto have lost out in the last couple of decades. But most of the stan-
daid appioaches suggest that theii wages should have iisen with tiade
and ielocation. This is because in the kinds of industiies that tiadition-
ally employ semiskilled laboi (foi instance, capital-intensive manufac-
tuiing of consumei duiables), the assembly piocesses, which employ
unskilled laboi, have been ielocated to less developed aieas, but the
inteimediate goods poitions iemain laigely in the developed coun-
tiies. These inteimediate oi upstieampaits of the industiies nowexpoit
moie than theydid pieviously, and economists aigue that this should be
ieected in a iising ielative demand foi semiskilled laboi in these sec-
tois and coiiespondingly iising iewaids. Empiiical ieseaich does not
beai this out.
Thiid, inteioccupational wage dieientials aie not the only ones that
have changed. Even moie diamatic has been the shift of wages within
occupational categoiies. In many occupations, the spiead of wages has
iisen ovei the past decade, so that theie has been an individualiza-
tion of iemuneiations piovided to people peifoiming the same type of
woik, even within the same ims (Gottschalk and Mott I,,, Kia-
maiz, Lollivei, and Pele I,,). It is uncleai whethei and how this could
be ielated to globalization.
Technclcgical Change as the Scurce cf Increasing Inequality Tiade-
based explanations foi incieasing inequality aie geneially set against
the technological change hypothesis, which holds that it is automa-
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tion and oiganizational change that shift laboi demand away fiom the
less skilled and towaid the moie skilled, theieby widening the gap in
theii incomes. This aigument focuses on factoial oi occupational as op-
posed to sectoial skill dieiences. This can have a poweiful eect on
ielative sectoial output piices (and hence wages), but such develop-
ments aie seen as the iesult of vaiiable iates of technological change
between sectois. Theie aie two veisions of this stoiy. What might be
called the empiiical veision simply tiacks the elasticities of laboi de-
mand. But such commonsense ieasoning is iejected by most econo-
mists as being insuciently theoietical. They tuin to moie complex
equilibiium-based models of inteisectoial adjustments. These models
iephiase the technologyeect as dieiential iates of total factoi pioduc-
tivity (1iv) change between sectois, leading to duiable dieiences in
factoi iewaids (Richaidson I,,,). The factoi iewaids of skilled woikeis
aie incieasing ielative to those of unskilled woikeis in those sectois in
which advanced economies aie coming to specialize (high-technology
manufactuiing, capital goods, advanced seivices, high-quality goods),
because theii pioductivity is iising fastei than those sectois with a high
piopoition of unskilled woikeis.
Most of the liteiatuie favois this geneial peispective, whethei in its
factoial oi its sectoial focus, ovei the global-tiade-based explanation
of incieasing inequality (as noted in the ieview by Fieeman I,,,). But,
as seen above, theie aie obseiveis such as Edwaid Leamei (I,,, I,,,),
Feenstia (I,,8), and Wood (I,,, I,,,) who see technological change
and globalization as intimately ielated. This is a theme to which I will
ietuin shoitly.
The Fcur Tiers cf Glcbalizaticn I want to aigue that ceitain causes
of inequality can be undeistood only thiough a combination of the
technological change and globalization explanations. These appioaches
combined allow us to take into account two lacunae: (I) the bioad cate-
goiy of semiskilledas opposed to unskilledwoikeis, and (:) the
eects of tiade among developed countiies as well as between the Noith
and the South.
4
This combined appioach will in tuin yield the basis foi
a consideiation of the iole of consumeiism in globalization and tech-
nological change.
Befoie consideiing this alteinative explanation of inequality, how-
evei, it might be helpful to piesent a bioad-biush poitiait of sectois
6
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in the industiialized West in the age of globalization. At the top of a
contempoiaiy industiialized economy aie activities that aie globalized
because they aie iooted in scaice, unevenly distiibuted skills. Theie aie
ceitain sectois in which the highest-quality pioducts enjoy global mai-
kets. The maiket may be accessible to themat veiy lowoi zeio maiginal
cost thanks to the incieasing ieach of communications and infiastiuc-
tuie, alteinatively, the supply of the pioduct oi seivice in question may
be extiemely limited, so that, in the absence of a substitute, supplemen-
tal costs to maiket aie not an issue. The high-poweied coipoiate attoi-
ney, the lm oi television stai, and the inteinationally known medical
specialist aie examples of this inteinationalization of laboi seivices. The
piovideis of such seivices have eainings levels that aie veiy high ielative
to the aveiage in theii occupational categoiies. Though such piivileged
individuals constitute a veiy small peicentage of the total, theii abso-
lute numbeis and absolute and ielative eainings have been incieasing
iapidly in iecent yeais. When a spoits stai, iecoiding aitist, inteina-
tional lawyei, oi top executive gets fabulous compensation, it is because
hei oi his seivices now have woildwide maikets. Some of the ieshaping
of income distiibution towaid the top is a iesult of this winnei-take-
all phenomenon (Fiank and Cook I,,,).
Anothei pait of this ist economic tiei also feeds the top end of
the laboi maiket. Most industiialized economies have ceitain sectois
in which they specialize, they display high concentiations of ceitain
industiies (as ieected in a vaiiety of indicatois such as high loca-
tion quotients). This uneven distiibution of activities is due to the un-
even supply of the individual oi collective skills on which they de-
pend. Examples include aeiospace (United States, United Kingdom,
Fiance), high-quality shoes (Italy), machine tools (Geimany, Japan),
Hollywood lms (United States), specialized nancial pioducts (United
States, UnitedKingdom), andcivil engineeiing seivices (Fiance, United
States) (foi Fiance, Italy, and United States, see Stoipei and Salais I,,,,
foi a bioadei pictuie, see Poitei I,,o). These sectois aie geneially moie
laboi intensive and highei waged than the economy as a whole. It is the
highei oveiall wages in these sectois, along with eainings of the winnei-
take-all class, that diive the pieviously mentioned college[noncollege
educated wage gap in economies wheie the favoied industiies aie
science- and engineeiing-intensive (foi example, the United States).
The college[noncollege educated gap is less impoitant in places such as
;
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Italy, Geimany, oi Denmaik, owing to the medium-tech composition
of the industiies emphasized by these economies. In these cases, theie
is incieasing income inequality within manufactuiing occupations oi
sectois (Hanson and Haiiison I,,, Maskell et al. I,,8). Neveitheless,
in spite of the wage gap, it can geneially be said that these woild-seiving
industiial specialties iepiesent the good side of globalization foi any
countiy.
In the second tiei of the economy aie found the industiies that can
be ielocated to low-skill, cheap-laboi aieas, and which aie theiefoie
the focus of most anxiety about globalization. Aveiage wages and in-
come shaies have been diopping foi woikeis in these industiies in the
developed countiies. But, as noted above, they piobably account foi
no moie than , peicent of total laboi demand in the iich economies
and a maximum of Io to I, peicent of the change in income shaies
(in the United States) oi unemployment (in Euiope). The industiies
conceined aie geneially consumei nonduiables (such as clothing and
shoes) oi the assembly phases of duiable goods (such as electiical and
electionic goods). Most of the inteimediate goods (foi example, pio-
duction equipment, conception, maiketing seivices) aie still pioduced
in the iichei nations. This is globalization as depicted in the Stolpei-
Samuelson model.
The thiid tiei of industiies consists of seivices that aie paitly oi com-
pletely nontiadable. Fast food has to be piepaied close to the point of
consumption, so it cannot be oshoied, diy cleaning and cai iepaii
must be located close to the customei. It is not possible to ielocate these
activities to low-wage countiies. Nonetheless, because such jobs have
few educational iequiiements, and because theie is little tiadition of
unionization in many of the countiies undei consideiation, they often
pay veiy low wages. Euiopean countiies have tiied to iaise wages in
these sectois thiough minimum wage policy, but the piincipal eect
of this has been to make seivices moie automated than in the United
States. The jobs that do iemain aie at the lowend of the wage spectium.
Identifying a ieason foi the decline in ielative wages in this tiei is di-
cult. Is it due to incieasing competition fiom low-skilled woikeis shed
fiom the impoit-sensitive tiadable manufactuiing sectois: Oi is it due
to immigiation, which swells the laboi pool:
The fouith tiei is tiaditionally associated with the middle of the in-
come distiibution. It consists of sectois using semiskilled laboi in iou-
8
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tine manufactuiing (foi instance, consumei duiables) and ceitain sei-
vices that have not been oi cannot be oshoied to low-wage countiies.
These aie the sectois upon which the postwai middle-class miiacle was
laigely built. But it is faiily well accepted that in most cases, theii ie-
cent employment giowth has been infeiioi to theii pioductivity giowth
(Mishel, Beinstein, and Schmitt I,,8). A steep decline in ielative de-
mand foi theii laboi has iesulted in a weakening position foi semi-
skilled woikeis in the laboi maiket. Theii ieal wages have sueied stag-
nation, as in Euiope, oi outiight decline, as in the United States. And
while tiade and foieign diiect investment have been iising in these
sectois, the kind of globalization this iepiesents is altogethei diei-
ent fiom that chaiacteiizing the industiies discussed above. In gen-
eial, in this tiei, only a few phases in the commodity chain (foi in-
stance, assembly) aie ielocated to developing countiies. The gieat mass
of value-added iemains in the high-wage countiies. Globalization as
it emeiges heie essentially conceins cioss-investment among countiies
with high wages, most of it tiansatlantic, and impoits of manufactuied
goods fiom Japan to the West. Much of this is motivated by the iatio-
nalization of inteimediate inputs and pioduct dieientiation. Hence it
takes the foim of iapidly giowing intiaindustiy (and sometimes intia-
im) tiade.
5
This decline in the ieal wages of semiskilled, as opposed to unskilled,
laboi is thus chaiacteiistic of a bioad swath of industiies, to some de-
giee globalized but still piimaiily concentiated within the developed
countiies. This phenomenon is a majoi cause of incieasing income in-
equality.
6
In this context, the plight of semiskilled woikeis poses the
debate with its majoi unsolved question. It is unlikely that theii wages
have fallen because of a decline in theii ielative pioductivity, since theii
jobs aie disappeaiing piecisely because of pioductivity-enhancing tech-
nical change. In this light, the aigument made by Leamei (I,,, I,,,)
seems to apply to ceitain tiaditional impoit-competing sectois, but
not to many capital-intensive industiies. Foi the semiskilled occupa-
tions, then, declining ielative wages aie consistent with declining laboi
demand but inconsistent with iising pioductivity.
Technclcgical Change. A Result cf Glcbalizaticn by Ideas Why has
technological change continued to ieduce demand foi semiskilled
laboi, even though the combined pioductivity and wage eects should
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have leveled o the iate of change: A key to answeiing this question
comes by consideiing the piocess by which such technological change
might have come about. Most ciitically, why and how did such tech-
nological changes occui in so many dieient countiies at ioughly the
same time (Beiman, Bound, and Machin I,,,): Theie aie thiee pos-
sible iesponses. One would be to attiibute change to piessuies fiom
global nancial capital, but theie aie stiong doubts about the validity of
such an explanation, because investois aie inteiested in oveiall iesults,
not in detailed management of pioduction piocesses. A second would
claimthat countiies with similai piice levels should display similai pio-
duction techniques. It is conceivable that all the developed economies,
because they face similai developmental foices, have moved togethei
fiom one envelope of feasible pioduction possibilities (known as vvi,
oi pioduction possibility fiontiei) to anothei. But in this case, theie
is no ieason foi ielative factoi iewaids to change (the foimal model foi
this widely accepted point is piesented in Richaidson I,,,). Moieovei,
viitually all of the detailed histoiical studies of industiial technology
go against this notion of a spontaneous conveigence of technolo-
gies, showing iathei that conveigence happens because of the spatial
and tempoial diusion of such technologies, which have local oiigins
(Hounshell I,,, Scianton I,,,).
The thiid hypothesis can be intioduced with the following points:
I. Many economic sectois aie undeigoing a global diusion of ceitain
laboi-saving, capital-augmenting pioduction techniques.
:. Pioduceis implement new technologies defensively, because they
feai loss of maikets to foieign competitois if they do not. In this
sense, technological change and globalization aie not mutually ex-
clusive, but two sides of the same piocess. In othei woids, I amsug-
gesting that Woods aigument about technological change due to
low-wage impoit competition can also be applied to Noith-Noith
global competition (Westein Euiope, Noith Ameiica, Japan, and a
few othei places), and in dieient sectois oi paits of sectois than
foi the Noith-South case. Such technological change may be con-
sideied neutial acioss sectois, but biased against unskilled woikeis
in viitually eveiy sectoi it aects.
_. Globalizationielocation and tiademakes such defensiveness
iational. Even though industiialized countiies, piioi to tiade lib-
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eialization, may have had ioughly similai factoi costs and lim-
ited pioductivity dieientials, theie aie still big dieiences in theii
pioducts andtheways theyoiganize theii ims andpioductionsys-
tems, which could pose mutual thieats.
7
But these dieiences fall
laigely outside the puiview of standaid models.
. It cannot be known whethei all foims of defensive technological
change among advanced economies augment total factoi pioduc-
tivity and hence whethei they t within standaid economic think-
ing.
8
My guess is that they do not, but instead iepiesent a piocess
of mutual imitation acioss inteinational boideis, oi what I will call
globalization by ideas.
An Example cf Glcbalizaticn by Ideas In oidei to see what this theo-
ietical explanation means, considei the evolution of the Ameiican cai
industiy in the context of iising U.S.-Japan tiade fiom the mid-I,,os
until the piesent. In the United States, cai companies undeiwent a pio-
ductivity slowdown and piotability ciunch in the eaily I,,os and weie
stiongly shaken by Japanese impoits. The Ameiican stoiy is thus in
a sense one of impoit competition, not fiom a cheap oi uniegulated
laboi countiy, but fiom a high-wage countiy wheie new pioductivity
techniques and iesulting piices and pioduct qualities outcompeted the
Ameiican pioduceis. The manageiial elites in the United States initially
did not undeistand the impoit thieat in manufactuiing and simply let
theii maikets be ooded with bettei pioducts fiom Japan in the late
I,,os and eaily I,8os (Tolliday and Zeitlin I,,:, Abeinathy, Claik, and
Kantiow I,,:). Latei on, they did tiy to stem the tide with voluntaiy
impoit iestiictions and misguided attempts at iestiuctuiing theii ims,
but the damage was alieady done. The Ameiican pioduceis nally ie-
sponded to the new techniques in the late I,8os. Theie was no longei
any possibility of sticking with the old stiategies foi the Ameiican two-
thiids of the domestic maiket, because consumei loyalties weie being
eioded.
A veiy inteiesting geogiaphical piocess took place behind this se-
quence of events: the laige-scale, long-distance diusion and masteiy
of a set of laboi-saving and pioductivity-heightening pioduction tech-
niques that align Ameiican quality, pioductivity, and piice noims with
those of theii Japanese competitois (Abeinathy, Claik, and Kantiow
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I,,:). This phenomenon falls well into the standaid tiade theoiy notion
that tiade is a vehicle of knowledge diusion (Eaton and Koitum I,,,,
Beinstein and Mohnen I,,, Paik I,,,).
This expeiience may not be the most common. The moie typical
case may be that of Westein Euiope, which is made up of countiies that
aie on aveiage thiee to foui times moie open to foieign tiade than the
United States. In most of the Westein Euiopean cai maikets, Japanese
competition has not had a stiong diiect inuence. Today in Fiance, foi
example, Japanese cai impoits aie less than _ peicent of the total, and
viitually all othei impoits of cais come fiom othei Westein Euiopean
countiies that have similai laboi laws and wage levels often highei than
those of Fiance. Yet the Japanization of techniques, pioduct qualities,
and piice levels has assuiedly taken place in Westein Euiope. It would
be haid to apply heie the explanation advanced above foi the U.S.-Japan
casetheie isnt (yet) enough actual tiade to claim that Japanization
in Euiope is a way to ieclaim lost maiket shaies. Rathei, it is cleaily a
defensive, anticipatoiy stiategy.
Moieovei, this implementation of techniques that caiiy a poweiful
laboi-saving bias is taking place in countiies with stiong laboi laws
and laboi movements, and wheie until iecently theie weie substan-
tial foimal oi infoimal iestiictions on non-Euiopean tiade. In light of
these ciicumstances, why shouldnt ims andwoikeis inthese countiies
be able to sheltei themselves fiom such techniques, with theii extieme
laboi-saving and exibility bias, and theieby pieseive laboi demand,
maintain wage shaies, and iesist the inequality that would otheiwise
ensue: In othei woids, why do these countiies distinctive institutional
stiuctuies not keep theii stang, wage, and skill levels in a dieient
conguiation fiom that typically biought about by diusion of the new
technologies: What alteinative foim of globalization is it that has pei-
mitted this woildwide diusion of laboi-saving technologies:
9
In the Euiopean cases, woikeis did indeed iesist these techniques,
and even management did not show much inteiest in them in the be-
ginning (Tolliday and Zeitlin I,,:). Some national goveinments also
iesisted them because of the unemployment costs they would incui
undei the existing laboi-law iegimes theie. And yet, in ietiospect, theii
maich foiwaid seems to have been inexoiable. In Fiance, foi example,
both Peugeot and Renault diamatically incieased the quality of theii
cais, theii design, theii ieliability, the iange of models, they adapted
1cz
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models moie quickly tomaiket changes by the late I,8os, andieal piices
declined when adjusted foi quality. This stoiy is not unusual, the ieal
piices foi many goods and seivicessometimes in absolute teims as
well as in quality-adjusted teimshave diopped ovei the past fteen
yeais in the United States and Westein Euiope (Lebeigott I,,_, I,,o,
Schoi I,,,, Goidon I,,o). This is meiely a way of stating the conciete
consequences of what is assumed in eveiy theoiy of expanding woild
tiade andspecialization: by ieducing the inteinal piices of consumption
goods ielative to investment goods, expendituies aie shifted towaid
consumption.
In this view, moieovei, the vehicle of the cuiient globalization pio-
cess can be thought of as being quite dieient fiom what occuiied
eailiei in the twentieth centuiy. Instead of concentiating on diiect, oi
tiade-based, globalization, economists should also take into account
a non-tiade-based piocess of globalization that develops via ows of
knowledge and ideas. Even in maikets chaiacteiized by ielatively mod-
est shaies of foieign goodsand this is fiequently the caseit may be
these global idea ows that call the shots. This suggests the advisability
of a ieoiientation in howwe think about the economics of globalization
this time aiound.
10
c o us uvr t i ou uo c ous uvc e i s v
The account given above is about stiategies that take place within a
laige-scale collective action piocessthe conventional inteiaction be-
tweenpioduceis and consumeis. Onthe pioducei side, theie is leaining
to engage in defensive technological innovation as a way to head o
potential loss of maiket shaie.
11
On the consumei side, theie is a dif-
fusion of calculating, inteinationally infoimed, and consciously com-
paiative consumei behavioi. This space- and time-sensitive inteiaction
between pioduction noims and consumption noims has not been well
studied, to my knowledge. I believe that it holds the key to many di-
mensions of what might be called industiial hypeimodeinitythe evei
moie fiantic iace foi pioduct quality, vaiiety, iapidity of adjustment,
and cheapnessat the end of the twentieth centuiy.
In maikets, supply and demand tiansfoim each othei thiough a soit
of back-and-foith movement between the two, a kind of dance between
the pioducei and the consumei.
12
Given that the cuiient iapid iise in
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tiade began aiound I,,_, one can suimise that in cases such as the
automobile industiy examined above, consumeis began to be heavily
exposed to the piices and qualities of impoited goods in the I,8os.
This exposuie was acceleiated by incieased global adveitising. Domes-
tic pioduceis iesponded by imitating the piices and qualities of foieign
goods that weie taking away, oi weie poised to take away, theii maiket
shaies. In this way, ovei the I,8os and eaily I,,os, consumei expecta-
tions about the ielationship between piice and quality of many piod-
ucts changed. Though consumeis weie unawaie of it, theii expectations
now depended on methods of pioduction using the new laboi-saving
and quality-impioving techniques. A new demand stiuctuie, iooted in
these consumei expectations, has now made it much moie dicult
if not impossiblefoi any countiy to use local institutional stiuctuies,
such as laboi maiket stiuctuie oi piotectionism, to enfoice local tech-
nical noims that might deviate fiom woild pioductivity standaids foi
a given pioduct.
This demand stiuctuie piovides a staiting point foi undeistanding
the diusion of such pioduction techniques, in that ims in countiies
with stiong laboi laws and institutions may not initially have intended
to go head-to-head with those stiong social foices. Instead, they typi-
cally found themselves unable to adapt to changing maiket conditions
in the I,,os and eaily I,8os. The stoiy unfolded in dieient ways in
dieient places, but thiee elements may be identied as consistent fac-
tois: (I) the commitment of pioduceis to the newtechniques in ielation
to the laboi maiket iules and institutions as iefeiied to above, (:) the
degiee to which pioduceis suppoited open maikets, and (_) consumei
societys impact in the foim of consumption noims and conventions.
Incontiast withthe UnitedStates, inmost of the iest of the developed
woild, the identity of consumei is a veiy iecent oneif by that woid
is undeistood a social categoiy openly and favoiably acknowledged
by ims, politicians, the media, and indeed by individuals desciibing
themselves (Cioss I,,_, Lynn I,,I, Luiy I,,o, Slatei I,,,). Of couise, it
is dicult to sayexactly howandwhy this shift fiompioduceiist iden-
tities to consumeiist identities has happened intheWesteinEuiopean
countiies. But it might be pioposed that in the eaily days of the iapid
giowth of tiade (the late I,,os thiough the mid-I,8os), the selective
and limited impoitation of goods seived as a vehicle of diusion of new
standaids of piices and quality that subsequently became assimilated as
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expectations by consumeis. Incieasingly, ims appeal diiectly to con-
sumeis in oidei to biing about technological changes that sometimes
have damaging eects on the incomes of those veiy same people.
The Strengthening cf Ccnsumerism and Ccnsumer Identities Of
couise, one could aigue that consumeiism is nothing new, especially in
the United States. But a stiong case can be made that consumeiism has
become maikedly moie peivasive in the United States since the I,,os,
when the cuiient tiade expansion began, and that it became cultui-
ally dominant foi the ist time in Westein Euiope duiing this peiiod.
Psychological and economic as well as institutional and oiganizational
factois can all point to this conclusion.
Consumeiismhas long existed as aninstitutional eld, inthe sense of
a set of ioutinized social piactices anchoied in stiuctuied ielationships
between oiganizations (Powell and DiMaggio I,,:). Theie is abundant
ieason to believe that this eld has been expanding in many aieas of the
woild, including not only the developed countiies, but many develop-
ing aieas as well. Evidence of this includes the following: the explicit
education of consumeis by ims about the ways that they impiove theii
goods and seivices, the massive inciease in biand-name adveitising as a
peicentage of oveiall im expendituies, the iapid iise in the numbei of
consumei associations, and the neaily tenfold inciease in the numbei of
new pioducts intioduced yeaily in the United States between the I,,os
and the mid-I,,os (Madiick I,,o, Schoi I,,,). Mention must also be
made of the shopping expeiience itself, long exoticized foi the uppei
classes and now piesented as expeiiential foi wide swaths of middle-
class consumption as wellwhile at the same time ieaching peaks of
puie piice- and quantity-oiiented massication, such as the spiead of
discounting (Millei I,,8).
What is the iesult of these institutional piactices in teims of the be-
havioi of people and the ways in which they dene theii inteiests and
identify themselves in the woild: Theie is little haid oi quantiable
data iegaiding these complex intangibles. In my view, it would be a
mistake to hold that consumption is simply pushed on people, that
they aie duped into it by poweiful institutional foices such as advei-
tising. A moie plausible inteipietation is that consumeiism, howevei it
begins, ultimately sustains itself by becoming an intimate pait of the
action fiamewoiks of individuals, how they see themselves and dene
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theii inteiests, how they appioach the woild, and how they piesent
themselves to otheis (see Goman I,,o, Douglas and Isheiwood I,,o,
Rauschei I,,_, Slatei I,,,, Chao and Schoi I,,, Luiy I,,o). Such a
model of the institutional eld of consumeiism would consist of a set
of conventions that link and cooidinate the behaviois of pioduceis and
consumeis.
The notion that people might become hooked on consuming has a
im basis in psychology. Theie is now a consideiable body of ieseaich
in social psychology on the fundamental attiactions of aiousal (veisus
boiedom), pleasuie (veisus comfoit), and comfoit (veisus discomfoit),
and the human stiategies foi getting fiom less desiiable to moie desii-
able states. Key among these aie mateiial means, and in todays woild,
mateiial means aie usually consumed iathei than self-pioduced (see
Scitovsky I,,o, chaps. :). Pleasuie is apt to be induced by seduc-
tionlappetit vient en mangeantand this is the psychological taiget
foi the institutional eld mentioned above. Humans also have a ten-
dency to become addicted to ceitain foims of pleasuie oi aiousal. One
of the chief ways this addiction can be maintained is thiough novelty,
since pleasuie diminishes iapidlydue to habituation, and aiousal peaks,
declines, and must be ieignited again (Scitovsky I,,o).
Psychology can piovide a suggestive depaituie foi an inquiiy into
the desiie to consume. But what aie the dynamics of the inteiests that
come into play when consumeis meet pioduceis: The classical eco-
nomic appioaches to this question stiessed a piesumed ielationship be-
tween iising auence and consumeiism, often linked to the idea that
auence fiees up time. Consumption thus becomes a leisuie activity
that is stiongly linked to status dieientiation (Veblen I,,o, Tawney
I,,:, Galbiaith I,,8). Moie iecently, howevei, a cential piemise of these
analyses has been questioned, foi it is now widely iecognized that in-
cieasing auence does not geneiate incieases in fiee time. Indeed, the
pievailing tiend seems to be in the opposite diiection (Hochschild I,,,,
Schoi I,,I, Hiischman I,,_, Cioss I,,_).
In light of this disciepancy, Juliet Schoi (I,,,) suggests that the fun-
damental assumptions of mainstieam economics with iespect to con-
sumption aie fundamentally wiong. Economics has long assumed that
what we consume is necessaiily an expiession of what we wantthat
it is the objective expiession of oui subjective piefeiences. The two as-
sumptions behind this aie woikei soveieignty and consumei sovei-
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eignty. The foimei teim iefeis to the idea that woikeis actually choose
how much to woik and how much to eain, and competition ensuies
that what they want will be available in the laboi maiket. The lattei
iefeis to the piemise that consumeis choose the basket of goods and
seivices that maximize theii satisfaction, and competition ensuies that
what they want will be available foi sale. If these twinsoveieignties hold,
then consumeis consume to the point of optimal satisfaction. But if, foi
example, woikeis cannot in ieality tiade o consumption foi leisuie,
the ieasoning falls apait. And consideiable empiiical evidence is avail-
able to disciedit this notion of woikei choice (Kahneman, Slovic, and
Tveisky I,,,).
Such studies enable Schoi to aigue that because woikeis cannot
choose theii houis of woik, the cuiient tiade-o between leisuie, in-
come, and spending is not fiee and optimal. Rathei, since woikeis can-
not inciease theii leisuie time, they consume with the income they do
eain. The liteiatuie on the time bind suppoits the idea that in an
auent society, we consume because it is oui only iealistic choice. As
we spend oui highei incomes, habit foimation takes ovei and leads
to a soit of cumulative eect of consumption (endogenous piefeience
adjustment). These aie the stiuctuial ieasons consumeiism and con-
sumei society have found such feitile giound in contempoiaiy devel-
oped economies. When combined with the psychological motivations
and institutional foices noted above, the case appeais quite poweiful.
The Lived Eects cf Inccme Inequality. Ccnsumpticn and Ccnsumer
Surplus Economics has a concept, usually deployed as an eciency
measuie, that can help explain one of the lived dimensions of changes
in absolute and ielative income levels. Ccnsumer surplus is the teim foi
the gains consumeis ieceive when lowei pioduction costs aie passed on
in the foim of cheapei goods. If consumei suiplus is giowing, then, at
a given income level, it is possible foi the absolute mateiial standaid of
living to inciease.
Thus, in oidei to undeistand the lived eects of income distiibu-
tion changes, the evolution of the absolute mateiial standaids of living
of those aected must be consideied. The evidence in this iegaid gives
a somewhat dieient pictuie fiom that piovided by income distiibu-
tion guies alone. In Westein Euiope, Noith Ameiica, and Japan, ieal
mateiial standaids of living have continued to iise foi a veiy high pei-
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centage of the population, peihaps ,o peicent oi moie, thiough the last
:, yeais (Lebeigott I,,_, I,,o). This is all the moie iemaikable because
pioductivity giowth foi these economies in the same peiiod has avei-
aged only : peicent pei yeai, in contiast with the postwai aveiage of
about , peicent pei yeai up to I,,o. Viitually eveiy quality-of-life in-
dicatoi coiiesponds to this view: housing size and quality, the use of
duiable andnonduiable consumei goods, tiavel andleisuie, health, and
even schooling (Lebeigott I,,_, Buitless I,,o). As discussed above, the
same phenomenon that has caused income stagnation foi much of the
laboi foicediamatic laboi-saving technological change iesulting in a
diop in ielative demand foi the semiskilledhas also cheapened and
impioved most consumei goods and seivices. This is ieected in ieal
consumei piices (Goidon I,,o) and is expeiienced as a diamatic in-
ciease in consumei suiplus. Even foi that pait of the population whose
wages aie most negatively aected by globalizationthe unskilled
it is estimated that in the United States, a _ peicent diiect decline in
ieal wages has been compensated foi by a _ peicent consumei suiplus
(Cline I,,,).
Theie aie, howevei, moie disquieting signs foi a haid-coie gioup of
the pooi that was nevei eliminated in the United States but that almost
disappeaied in Westein Euiope in the eaily I,,os.
13
It appeais that the
pioduction of public goods (ioads, schools, and so foith) has declined
in some countiies due to policies that ieduce the tiansfei of income
fiom piivate to public hands, and this has undoubtedly had a gieatei
impact on the pooi than on the iich. Incieases aie also indicated in cei-
tainnegative exteinalities dispiopoitionately sueiedby the pooi (such
as pollution, violence). Still, the oveiall pictuie is not one of decline in
absolute mateiial standaids of living, but of incieases foi the vast ma-
joiity. This foices us to think veiy dieiently about how the eects of
income distiibution changes aie actually felt by the majoiity.
This iaises a collective action pioblem similai to the one iefeiied
to in the pievious section. Theie, I hypothesized that consumei intei-
ests and identities have played an incieasing iole in many countiies in
peimitting pioduceis to implement pioductivity stiategies that iun up
against poweiful oiganized inteiestsunions in paiticulai, oi wage-
woikeis in geneial. One of the ieasons theie may have been less piotest
ovei the emeiging income distiibution than might have been expected
fiom a stiaight ieading of the income guies is this: many of those who
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aie losing in ielativeand even in absoluteteims as woikeis, aie still
gaining in absolute, mateiial teims as consumeis.
The Lived Eects cf Inccme Inequality. Pcsiticnality Still, one might
ask, if consumei suiplus is giowing, sustaining highei mateiial con-
sumption, why do so many people feel dissatised: Why is theie a wide-
spiead impiession of decline oi inadequate piogiess in the standaid of
living in so many countiies: An answei to these questions might include
thiee elements.
Many of oui expectations about standaids of living aie deiived fiom
obseivation of the geneiation that piecedes us. In the postwai peiiod,
up until the eaily I,,os, theie was a veiy iapid and sustained inciease in
the standaid of living in the industiialized woild. Since then, the much
lowei iate of pioductivity giowth, fiom about , peicent pei yeai to half
of that, iepiesents an enoimous oveiall loss in outputwhethei expeii-
enced as income oi consumei suiplusfiom what would have been
obtained had oveiall giowth continued at the pievious iate (Madiick
I,,o).
As a second ieason foi widespiead dissatisfaction, it can be pioposed
that theie is a big dieience between the oveiall eects of technological
and oiganizational change on income in the economy and theii expeii-
ential eects on given individuals. Behind the fact that absolute aveiage
incomes foi low- and semiskilled people have declined oi stagnated is
a gieat deal of individual tuibulence. Many individuals have seen what
they consideied to be secuie jobs, with ceitain income expectations,
disappeai, and they have found themselves unemployed oi ieclassied
downwaid in teims of skill and income (Mishel, Beinstein, and Schmitt
I,,8). This is an impoitant coiiective to the use of aveiages in the stan-
daid analyses.
The thiid ieason is less appaient and has to do with the shape of con-
sumption. The malaise of the middle classes goes beyond the expeiience
of individuals who have been the victims of laboi-maiket displacement.
It aects many membeis of the middle class who have actually beneted
fiom the consumei suipluses alluded to above without incuiiing the
negative wage eects. And to these may even be added the people at the
top, who aie beneting fiom incieases in both income and consumei
suiplus. Yet empiiical ieseaich on subjective well-being in ielation to
ieal income has long conimed that once basic needs aie met, satisfac-
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tion fails to inciease. Robeit Fiank (I,,,: ,:), quoting iesults fiom the
National Opinion Reseaich Centei, shows that ieal pei capita cuv in
the United States iose by _, peicent between I,,: and I,,I, but the pei-
centage of iespondents iepoiting themselves to be veiy happy nevei
exceeded o peicentits I,,_ level. Ruut Veenhoven (I,,_), in a study
of Japan fiom I,oI to I,8,, shows that although pei capita income giew
fouifold, the aveiage level of iepoited happiness stayed at (see also
Kahneman I,,8). Indeed, this is an old theme in the ciitique of con-
sumei society (Tawney I,,:, Galbiaith I,,8, Sen I,8,), although it is
noweasiei to conimand to theoiize (Easteilin I,,,, Duncan I,,,,o).
But suiely the people at the top aie happiei as they consume away:
The appeaiance of gieatei numbeis of high-income eaineis has alteied
consumption patteins. At the veiy top, the winneis in winnei-take-
all maikets constitute, in teims of theii puichasing powei and habits,
something like a new aiistociacy (Fiank I,,,). Below this top _ pei-
cent aie anothei I, peicent oi so whose puichasing powei now peimits
them to acquiie veiy laige quantities of ne goods and seivices (Fiank
I,,,, Fiank and Cook I,,,, Schoi I,,,). One explanation that has been
oeied foi the stagnation in subjective well-being comes fiom the so-
cial psychologists notion of a xed hieiaichy of needs (Maslow I,,): a
laddei up which people move as they get iichei in absolute teims. The
implicationis that iichei peoplewill be moie satised, andeveiyone else
will be less satised. But empiiical ieseaich does not stiongly beai this
out. Fiank (I,,,: II) shows that the ielationship between well-being
and income is quite noisy, theie is a gieat deal of individual vaiiation
at all income levels. Factois othei than income aie impoitant, many of
them nonmateiial.
A moie poweiful explanation foi the stagnation of satisfaction, on
aveiage and at the top, comes fiom the notion of pcsiticnality in eco-
nomics. Apoition of the satisfaction we get fiomceitain kinds of goods
oi seivices has been shown to depend on theii position in a hieiaichy
of quality and status, and not on theii absolute qualities. Theie aie two
ways in which many consumei goods t this pattein. Fiist, they have
status attiibutes and not simply use-values. The enjoyment that comes
fiom them has to do in pait with how they compaie to what we know
is available. As noted above, one of the piincipal psychological dimen-
sions of consumeiism (and some of the othei pleasuies in life) is that
the pleasuie eect weais o with familiaiity, and change heightens it
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again. This is tiue also of the pleasuies of status-seeking: jockeying foi
position eventually yields to familiaiity, and the position itself is objec-
tively changed when otheis catch up. Both lead to ieduction of pleasuie
andienewal of the seaichfoi status. Psychological ieseaichsuggests that
status-seeking may have addictive piopeities (discussed in Hunt I,,o).
In addition, the absolute qualities of ceitain goods change with posi-
tion.
14
This is the case foi some of the most impoitant collective goods,
such as schools oi tianspoitation. If eveiyone goes to public schools,
they have a ceitain iange of qualities. If iichei oi bettei-piepaied chil-
dien go to piivate schools, then not only do public schools change in
ielative status, but theii absolute qualities may be changed as a iesult
of the withdiawal of piivileged students to piivate schools.
All of these aie examples of a condition that violates one of the
fundamental piecepts of the way the puisuit of satisfaction is viewed
in standaid economics: that each peisons piefeiences aie indepen-
dent, seveiable expiessions of theii wants, which they can combine and
tiansfoim optimally. The piesent analysis suggests that piefeiences aie
inteidependent (Tomes I,8o). Consideiations of status-seeking behav-
ioi (Duesenbeiiy I,,, Beaiden and Etzel I,8:, Chao and Schoi I,,,
Fiank I,,,, I,8,, Rauschei I,,_) and of the ieal ielationship of absolute
to ielative quality (Alessie and Kapteyn I,,I, Easteilin I,,,) can both
be deployed in suppoit of this moie iecent view.
Thus, along with the consideiable decieases in piice and incieases
in quality oeied by pioduceis as a iesult of the new pioduction paia-
digms and theii global piice noims, theie has also been an inciease in
positionality. The dissatisfaction of the middle classes has to do in pait
with this ip side of globalizationtheii stagnating money incomes
and positionality in consumption aie not entiiely oset by the cheap-
ening of many goods. They aie consuming moie but still losing out in
ciitical ways. These aie not optical illusions oi the psychological hang-
ups of spoiled people fiom wealthy countiies. They aie objective, ieal
eects. It follows, of couise, that the people at the bottom of the in-
come distiibution suei even moie egiegiously fiomthe newpositional
inequality in consumption.
Public Gccds and Pcsiticnality. The Priscners Dilemma One of the
biggest dieiences between most Westein Euiopean economies and the
United States is the peicentage of total economic output that goes to
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public expendituie. Theie is a vaiiation of almost :o peicent between
the United States (aiound _o peicent) and most of the high-public-
expendituie continental countiies (aiound ,o peicent). Consideiing
that militaiy expendituies account foi a ielatively high peicentage of
U.S. public expendituie and that laige amounts of these funds end as
piivate-sectoi piocuiement expenses, theie aie big dieiences in the
quantities of public goods piovidedto the citizens of these nations. Pub-
lic goods tend to be less positional than piivate goods, although theyaie
ceitainly not immune fiom positionality eects (this depends laigely
on how they aie pioduced and distiibuted). But public goods aie moie
fiequently nonstatus goods than piivate goods, although many desii-
able piivate goods (such as savings, some foims of education, hobbies,
and conviviality) do not have status qualities (Fiank I,,,). Public goods
aie often distiibuted so as to equalize access to ceitain kinds of neces-
sities, and thus some of the positionality eects of status consumption
should be oset.
Anothei way in which most Westein Euiopean economies (as well as
Japans) diei fiomthe United States is in the degiee of wage dispeision.
The multiple of aveiage occupational wages in the highly iemuneiated
occupations to the lowei-paid ones is much highei in the United States
than elsewheie (Ciafts I,,8).
15
In Euiope, the eect of winnei-take-all
laboi maikets has not been as piominent, in pait because of the diei-
ent sectoial specializations of Euiopean economiesless high-tech, foi
example. (The United Kingdom is something of an exception, with the
City of London and its coipoiate management stiatum featuiing wage
stiuctuies that aie closei to those of the United States than of continen-
tal Euiope.) Positionality eects seem to be giowing mildly in Westein
Euiope as the occupational wage stiuctuie comes to be inuenced moie
by inteinational tiends, aided by policy changes in many countiies.
One of the most woiiisome aspects of positionality, in the face of
giowing income inequality, is that it may tend to ciowd out nonstatus
goods in geneial and public goods in paiticulai. If status consumption
is insatiable, it will eat up much income that might otheiwise go to non-
status goods, even wheie absolute incomes aie iising. This is the pattein
at woik in the seeming paiadox of people getting iichei and still want-
ing to pay lowei taxes. The only way to slowdown status consumption is
collectively, with mechanisms that simultaneously limit what oui status
competitois aie doing.
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The classic example of this soit of scenaiio, in which iational indi-
vidual choices lead to collective outcomes that most would not pie-
fei, is known as the piisoneis dilemma. Two accused piisoneis in
dieient cells agiee to confess when piomised a lowei sentence in ie-
tuin foi ievealing theii paitneis ciime. Both will go fiee if neithei one
says anything, wheieas if eithei one confesses in oidei to obtain a lowei
sentence, they will both iemain impiisoned. In spite of abundant pii-
vate wealth in the United States, it is veiy dicult to peisuade even
membeis of the incieasingly piospeious uppei middle class to ieallo-
cate moie of theii income to public goods, because most of them do
not feel condent that otheis will do the same. In Euiope, with lowei
absolute giowth, moie modest aveiage incomes, and less inequality, it
is easiei to do sofoi the time being.
In sum, the consumption expeiience at the stait of a newcentuiy ie-
ects a tug-of-wai between a numbei of foices. The lowei piice of many
goods and seivices cieates consumei suiplus, but theie aie in addition
national foicescustoms, education(supplyeects), andiegulations
that poweifully shape the ways in which wage inequality due to global-
ization and technological change actually aects individual expeiience.
These include the degiee and shape of positionality in consumption, as
well as the split between piivate and collective consumption.
Hcmcgenizaticn and Diversity Contiadictoiy claims aie fiequently
made about the natuie of contempoiaiy mateiial cultuie. A commonly
heaid complaint is that theie aie so many options foi mateiial pui-
chases, seivices, and cultuial events that mateiial and cultuial life has
become excessively fiagmented. Otheis celebiate this appaiently dizzy-
ing vaiiety of possibilities (Millei I,,8, Luiy I,,o). Both advocates and
detiactois geneially iecognize that contempoiaiy capitalismhas gieatly
incieased its capacity to suppoit a diveisied mateiial cultuie with
much gieatei vaiiety than evei befoie.
Some examples: Many moie consumei pioducts aie intioduced each
yeai today than in the I,,ospeihaps six to ten times moie (Fiank and
Weiland I,,,). The iate of pioduct changeovei in many fashion and
seasonal industiies is now so iapid that it is often said that the fashion
business has gone fiom foui to nine seasons pei yeai. In many maikets,
theie aie moie veisions of competing pioducts that meet a given type
of function (cais of similai hoisepowei and size, foi instance) than evei
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befoie. Even the numbei of specialized cultuie festivals in the United
States has iisen moie than tenfold since the I,,os. Much of the manage-
ment and industiial economics liteiatuie is consistent with this viewof
things: Manageis aie conceined to cope with incieased iisks of maiket
shifts, and industiial economics has become pieoccupied with pioduct
and piocess innovation and continuous leaining (Poitei I,,o, Lund-
vall I,,o).
Just as fiequently, howevei, we heai lamentations about the loss of di-
veisityabout a woild that seems moie and moie homogeneousthat
echo the longstanding postwai concein with mass consumei cultuie
(Scitovsky I,,o). Foi the puiposes of the piesent analysis of globaliza-
tion, theie appeai to be two ielevant dimensions to this phenomenon,
which aie quite often confused with each othei.
The ist has to do with the geogiaphical iescaling and integiation
of consumei capitalism. Thioughout the advanced economies, and in
the biggest cities of the iest of the woild, theie has been a considei-
able diusion of ceitain similai dimensions of mass cultuie: fast food,
lms, youth fashion, and shopping centeis come immediately to mind.
Whethei we go to a jazz club in Gieenwich Village oi Paiis, to a gay
disco in San Fiancisco oi London, oi to a big iock conceit oi standaid
symphony hall, high-cultuie event anywheie, the venues iesemble each
othei, in the lattei instances, they might not only piesent the same acts,
they aie often oiganized by the same people. To be suie, beyond such
inteinationalized aspects of consumeiism, gieat local dieiences ie-
main, but theie is a denite conveigence in ceitain kinds of consumei-
ismand coiiesponding ways of life foi ceitain social classes. This is even
tiue of vacationing, which has tiaditionally been the activity by which
we puisue the dieient oi exotic: the aveiage beach iesoit in Mexico
looks a lot like the aveiage beach iesoit in Tunisia oi the Costa Biava,
with its chains of hotels, iestauiants, shops, and nightclubs (Uiiy I,,,).
Many smallei U.S. cities now typically featuie a vaiiety of ethnic and
specialty iestauiants, touiing theatei companies, and even ait lms.
These places have become at once moie inteinally diveisied and moie
like theii metiopolitan counteipaits. The loss of authentic local cul-
tuie in these places is a constant lament. But on the othei hand, foi the
iesidents of such placesoi of Paiis, Columbus, oi Belo Hoiizonte, foi
that matteitheie has been an undeniable inciease in the vaiiety of
mateiial, seivice, and cultuial outputs. In shoit, the peiceived loss of
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diveisity would appeai to be attiibutable to a ceitain iescaling of teiii-
toiies: fiom a woild of moie inteinally homogeneous localities wheie
diveisity was to be found by tiaveling between places with signicantly
dieient mateiial cultuies to a woild wheie one tiavels between moie
similai places but nds incieasing vaiiety within them.
The pievailing condition is not maiked just by vaiiety, howevei,
theie aie foices that pull in the othei diiection. Foi example, advances
in communications and infoimation piocessing have made it possible
to manage laige seivice-deliveiy oiganizations with a gieat diveisity
of pioducts and fiequent changeoveis. Such scope used to be ieseived
to the most gigantic companies, and even they used to be limited to
ielatively stable maikets, but this is no longei the case.
To cite an uppei-middle-class example: In U.S. cities, it is now pos-
sible to nd many cafs seiving specialty coees, often many kinds in
the same caf. But at the same time, we nd the same chainStai-
bucksin thousands of locations acioss the countiy, often eveiy few
blocks in the same city. In Califoinia, the joke today is that in the gentii-
ed uibanneighboihoods that aie supposed to featuie the most diveisi-
ed specialty consumption, the most piotable specialists have simply
ciowded eveiything else out, iesulting in a familiai clustei of coipo-
iate logos to be iepeatedeveiy fewblocks: StaibucksBanana Republic
Noahs BagelsGapBaines & Noble. This is simply massication with
a dieient, moie small-scale look. The mateiial context of consump-
tionthe places wheie we do itgives us an impiession of sameness,
even as we aie confionted with a plethoia of pioduct choices. And lest
it be thought that this is only a chaiacteiistic of uppei-income aieas, it
might also be mentioned that chain stoies have been taking ovei food
maiketing in heavily Latino East Los Angeles, wheie the big competi-
tion is between the Mexican chain Gigante and local chains staited by
ethnic entiepieneuis, to the detiiment of independent, locally owned
shops (Rosenbeig I,,,).
It is tiue that stiaightfoiwaid economies of scale in managing oiga-
nizations, which can now extend and ieplicate themselves ovei widei
teiiitoiies, aie pait of the stoiy. In othei woids, to be huge, Wal-Mait
is only one, and peihaps not the most impoitant, model today. Huge-
ness can come thiough numeious widely scatteied outlets iathei than
a smallei numbei of huge outlets. This is the point at which maiketing
and management can usually wiap up theii happy stoiy about how the
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consumei can nowbe seived a huge vaiiety of high-quality and special-
ized pioducts with all the benets of both scale and pioximity to the
consumei.
But theie is anothei foice at woik in ceitain maikets that encoui-
ages a loss of diveisity tcut ccurt. This is a concept known to econo-
mists as Hctellings ducpcly. It conceins the paiable of a beach, foui
kilometeis long, with two ice cieam vendois. If the vendois weie to
choose theii locations with an eye to pioviding optimal seivice to the
sunbatheis spiead equally along the foui kilometeis, they would take
up position at kilometeis I and _. No bathei would be moie than a kilo-
metei away fiom ice cieam, and only a small numbei, positioned iight
at kilometei :, would evei shift loyalties. But that isnt what happens.
When the two vendois compete, they shift positions to cut into each
otheis maikets. Aftei seveial iounds of moving towaid kilometei : in
oidei to giab some of the otheis customeis, they both end up clusteied
aiound kilometei :, so they each get half the customeis foi the entiie
length of the beach. The sunbatheis at eithei end of the stiip lose out,
because they have to go much faithei to get ice cieam. The iesult is bad
foi eveiybody, but its the outcome of iational competitive behavioi.
This is a locational metaphoi foi a bioadei economic phenomenon.
In ceitain pioduct maikets, a small numbei of pioduceis will act in
a duopolistic way, eectively ieducing the iange of outputs to clustei
aiound the middle of the demand stiuctuie. Majoi Hollywood lm
studios, foi example, have guied out that they can make a lot moie
money by pioducing middle-taste oi foimula lms. Filmgoeis may see
lms that featuie dieient stais andsome slight vaiiations ona common
theme, but as fai as the decision makeis in the industiy aie conceined,
they could be iolling out installments in a seiies. Moieovei, the piice
of making and distiibuting a successful foimula lm has iisen geomet-
iically, ieducing the amount of studio capital available foi othei kinds
of lms. The iesult is that pioduceis aim theii pioducts incieasingly
towaid the middle of the maiket.
This is often incoiiectly desciibed as oligopolistic maiket contiol,
but the maikets aie in fact highly competitive.
16
Such conveigence,
chaiacteiistic of many contempoiaiy maikets, helps to explain the
sense on the pait of consumeis that many pioductsmost notably cul-
tuial pioducts such as lms and music, but also even ceitain kinds
of manufactuied goodslack vaiiety. A fantastic numbei of options,
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colois, and ceitain kinds of functional dieiences may be available,
but middle-of-the-ioad maiketing ciiteiia neveitheless dominate the
selection.
Theie aie exceptions, one might piotest. Theie is a piolifeiation of
independent lms, you can nd specialty manufactuied pioducts in
specialty stoies if you knowwheie to look. Foi the lattei, howevei, piice
piemiums must be paid (Scitovsky I,,o), foi the foimei, almost in-
supeiable baiiieis exist to the high-level nancing pieiequisite foi the
technical sophistication that has become the noim foi the mass mai-
ket. U.S. jouinalism, both piint and bioadcast, displays the chaiactei-
istics of Hotelling dynamics, with eice competition focusing on the
coveiage of mateiial whose newswoithiness is dened by a seldomcon-
tested middlebiowattitude. Evidently, theie is a veiy complex ieal mix-
tuie of vaiiety-enhancing and vaiiety-ieducing changes occuiiing in
the maikets of even the iichest economies. Oui appaiently contiadic-
toiy impiessions may veiy well be entiiely accuiate. The point is that
these contiadictoiy eects have to do with globalization in two ways:
the iescaling of maikets, and Hotelling dynamics within enlaiged and
deepened maikets.
sv wv or c ouc i us i ou
The aigument heie has ianged widely acioss issues often dealt with
in sepaiate academic elds, so it may be helpful to diaw the thieads
togethei. I began by exploiing a paiadox at the heait of economic glob-
alization: Why have pioduceiist countiies (as iepiesented by the
social demociacies of Westein Euiope) essentially iestiuctuied theii
industiies along the same lines as the nonlaboiist Ameiicans, incoi-
poiating laboi-saving and inequality-piomoting changes in pioduc-
tion techniques: I investigated how consumei society has been mobi-
lized in favoi of such changes, theieby ieinfoicing the ability of ims
to implement defensive technological changes. In this way, I hope to
have shown the ielationship between globalization and incieasing in-
come inequality to be bioadei than it is iepiesented in many economic
analyses.
An inquiiy intowhy incieasing inequality has stimulated only minoi
social piotest identied eects on mateiial consumption and ieal stan-
daids of living that oset some of the income lost by ceitain gioups due
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to contempoiaiy economic iestiuctuiing. The contempoiaiy citizen at
times acts as a consumei, at othei times as a pioducei. His oi hei be-
haviois seem inconsistent if evaluated only in teims of standaid class
oi income (pioduceiist) ciiteiia.
Yet oveiall satisfaction levels in the advanced economies have not in-
cieased with giowing mateiial wealth. My thiid point was, theiefoie,
that even as consumeiism has been widened and deepened and its logic
extendedfaithei downthe social hieiaichy, consumptionpiactices have
become incieasingly shaped by a status hieiaichy. This yields the im-
piession that living standaids aie declining even as wealth incieases in
ieal teims and cieates a stagnation in satisfaction levels. Fouith, al-
though globalization and technological change make it possible foi
industiialized economies to pioduce and maiket a hugely incieased
vaiiety of goods, they also push ceitain industiies to concentiate on
middle-of-the-ioad outputs, these two tendencies cieate the simulta-
neous and contiasting impiessions of gieatei vaiiety and gieatei homo-
geneity. Finally, the dieiences between public and piivate consump-
tion, which vaiy fiom place to place, give dieient local avois to these
global tiends.
Many complex issues iemain to be iesolved. Most impoitant, in dis-
cussions of globalization and inequality and of the contempoiaiy ex-
peiience, economists must avoid simplistic depictions of social behav-
ioi. Economic actois aie not only wage eaineis, but also consumeis, not
to mention citizens (Inkeles I,8_). Though the consumei society has
been long in the making, I believe that it has enteied a newand qualita-
tively dieient phase fiom the peiiod piioi to I,8o. Within this deepei
and widei consumei society, pioducei identities appeai to be cium-
bling, especially in Westein Euiope wheie they have tiaditionally been
stiongei than in the United States. Scholais have yet to considei the im-
plications of this tiansfoimation in identity foi the economic eects of
globalization and the feelings that people have about them, and hence
the complex political and social piocesses they may set into motion.
uot c s
1 At the end of the I,8os, theie was consideiable opinion that middle-class incomes
had actually fallen in the United States since the late I,,os. But the Boskin Commis-
sions (Boskin I,,o) ieevaluation of the consumei piice index showed that ination had
actually been consideiably lowei than had pieviously been thought. Though the details
of the commissions ndings piovoked consideiable contioveisy, theie was little chal-
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lenge to the oveiall conclusion. In the second half of this aiticle, I will discuss one of
the ieasons foi the ination iates ieevaluation downwaid: the advent of highei piod-
uct quality in many aieas of the economy, so that piices ieect not ination pei se, but
quality impiovements.
2 See the special issue of the uarterly }curnal cf Eccncmics, Febiuaiy I,,:, and
Mishel, Beinstein, and Schmitt I,,8.
3 In this iegaid, Wood (I,,,: ,_) notes: This heteiogeneity of goods within sta-
tistically dened sectois is a majoi limitation of all the piice data and one which has
become woise ovei time. Manufactuied impoits fiom developing countiies used to be
concentiated on a few sectois, such as appaiel and footweai, but aie now spiead acioss
many sectois, paitly because, foi a wide iange of goods, the pioduction piocess has been
split up, with the laboi-intensive stages peifoimed in developing countiies, and the skill-
intensive ones at home. See also Wiight, in this volume.
4 Statistically speaking, Noith-South tiade is a diop in the bucket compaied with
tiade among the industiialized countiies: The foimei is about I, peicent of the total,
with the lattei moie than 8o peicent.
5 This is piedicted by tiade and location theoiy. See Kiugman I,,,, which I ieview
in Stoipei I,,,.
6 The woikeis who aie ieally being iefeiied to in this aigument aie the popula-
tion that coiiesponds with the postwai middle class, oi, in othei woids, semiskilled
woikeis. The pioblem with most of the empiiical and theoietical liteiatuie that has been
ieviewed in this aiticle is its simplistic distinction between skilled and unskilled laboi.
Pait of the ieluctance to considei semiskilled woikeis must be attiibuted to the diculty
of dening them as a disciete categoiy with the indicatois available.
7 Theie is a voluminous liteiatuie on compaiative advanced capitalisms. Foi an
inteiesting populaiization, see Albeit I,,_.
8 But standaid models do envisage the possibility that inteinational migiation of
technological capital would aect ielative piices: Richaidson I,,,: .
9 Although the accounts of some histoiians suggest that laboi saving is the piincipal
motivation of employeis who adopted these technologies in the eaily days, many othei
accounts focus on the need to change piactices of laboi utilization in oidei to get the
othei benets of the newtechniques, in these studies, laboi saving emeiges as something
like a secondaiy and oppoitunistic benet of adoption, not its sole oi piimaiy puipose,
as is often assumed (Abeinathy, Claik, and Kantiow I,,:, Utteiback I,,o). Theie is a
lively debate ovei this. Some excellent analyses claimthat manageis aie awaie of, and aie
explicitly piomoting, a declining technology-skill complementaiity. See, foi example,
Lazonick and OSullivan I,,,.
10 I have wiitten moie extensively about this issue in Stoipei I,,,, Stoipei and
Chen I,,,.
11 Expiessed moie technically, theie is consideiable evidence that Euiopean pio-
duceis aie adjusting to globalization not only by becoming moie specialized in what
economists call intiaim tiade but also by making similai pioducts and competing
head to head, and that this is an impoitant peicentage of tiade among the advanced
countiies (Stoipei and Chen I,,,).
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12 I tianslate this back-and-foith movement fiom Lon Waliass use of the Fiench
teim ttcnnementsomething like a back-and-foith method of nding ones way and
adjusting to signals.
13 Some Westein Euiopean countiies ieduced theii poveity iates to less than : pei-
cent at that time, but the iates have since tended to iise. Poveity ieduction pioceeded in
the United States with iapidity fiom I,,, until I,,,. Since then, contiaiy to the popu-
lai impiession, the iate has iisen by only I., peicent. What this indicates is the piesence
in both Euiope and the United States of a gioup that has iemained miied in peisistent
poveity.
14 A classical veision of this comes fiom locational oi land-use economics, wheie
Ricaidian land ient is the iesult of a limited numbei of spots at a given location and
at a given pioximity to othei locations. Although theie is some possibility of expan-
sion, thiough intensication of land use (highei buildings) oi bettei tianspoitation, the
potential is not innite and the usei-attiibutes of the land change with expanding supply,
often iemaining infeiioi to the best locations, which aie alieady used up and cannot be
expanded.
15 Although total income distiibution is not hugely dieient in the United States,
because in othei countiies inheiited wealth oi income on piopeity compensate foi moie
egalitaiian wage stiuctuies. Moieovei, the low wage-dispeision iates of some countiies
ieect a pattein in which the bottom income biackets aie biought closei to the middle
while aveiage wages aie left low ielative to the U.S. aveiage. This is the case foi Fiance,
foi example, wheie the minimum wage, much highei than the U.S. one, is oo peicent of
aveiage wages, and the aveiage is in tuin a lot lowei than that of the United States.
16 The state-of-the-ait teim is ccntestable maikets, a foim of competitive maikets
with a small numbei of pioduceis (Baumol, Panzai, and Willig I,8:).
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demogiaphic eects in the almost ideal demand system. Eccncmic }curnal IoI: o
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logical change: Inteinational evidence. Unpublished manusciipt. Cambiidge, Mass.:
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nese R&D Intensive Sectois. Woiking Papei no. o8:. Cambiidge, Mass.: viv.
Boijas, Geoige, Richaid Fieeman, and Lawience Katz. I,,:. On the laboi maiket eects
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and Richaid Fieeman. Chicago: Univeisity of Chicago Piess.
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I,,_. Eastern Eccncmic }curnal ::: :,I,o.
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The Dialectics of Still Life:
Murder, Women, and Maquiladoras
Melissa V. Vright
Ambiguity is the pictcrial image cf dialectics, the lawcf dialectics seen at a stand-
still. This standstill is utcpia and the dialectical image therefcre a dream image.
Such an image is presented by the pure ccmmcdity. as fetish. Such an image are
the arcades, which are bcth hcuse and stars. Such an image is the prcstitute, whc
is saleswcman and wares in cne.Waltei Benjamin, Reecticns
Ovei a peiiod of ve yeais in the late I,,os, almost two hundied
women weie found muideied and dumped along the deseit fiinges
of the Mexican industiial city of Ciudad Juiez.
1
On :I Maich I,,,,
anothei young woman was found half-buiied in the deseit and beaiing
signs of iape and toituie. Most of these women ianged in age fiomtheii
teens to theii thiities, and many woiked in the expoit-piocessing ma-
quila factoiies that have been opeiating in Mexico foi moie than thiee
decades.
2
As inteinational and national attention occasionally tuined
to these biutal muideis, a numbei of stoiies emeiged to explain the
tioubling phenomenon.
o i i c c t i c i s us rc us i ou
In this essay, I examine the image of the Mexican woman foimed
within these naiiatives with Waltei Benjamins notion of a dialectical
image.
3
The dialectical image is one whose appaient stillness obscuies
the tensions that actually hold it in suspension. It is a caesuia foiged by
clashing foices. With this dialectical image in mind, I see the Mexican
woman depicted in the muidei naiiatives as a life stilled by the dis-
coid of value pitted against waste. I focus on the naiiative image of hei,
iathei than on the lives of the muidei victims, to ieveal the intimate
connection binding these stilled lives to the iepioduction of value in
the maquiladoias located in Ciudad Juiez. Thiough a compaiison of a
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maquiladoia naiiative of categoiical disavowal of iesponsibility foi the
violence with anothei maquila naiiative explaining the mundane piob-
lem of laboi tuinovei, the Mexican woman fieezes as a subject stilled
by the tensions linking the two tales.
In the tale of tuinovei that is told by maquila administiatois, the
Mexican woman takes shape in the model of vaiiable capital whose
woith uctuates fiom a status of value to one of waste. Vaiiable capital
iefeis to the laboi poweiwhat the woikei piovides in exchange foi
wagesthat pioduces a value in excess to itself (see Haivey I,8:). The
excess coalesces into suiplus value. Maix says that laboi powei is a foim
of vaiiable capital since it is woith less than the value of what it pio-
duces. In the tuinovei stoiy, the value of the Mexican womans laboi
powei declines ovei time even as hei laboi piovides value to the im.
Fuitheimoie, this deteiioiation pioduces its own kind of value as she
fuinishes a necessaiy owof tempoiaiy laboi. Hei laboi powei is subse-
quently woith less than the value of hei laboi in a numbei of ways, given
that hei laboi is valuable also foi its inevitable absence fiom the laboi
piocess. Wheie the maquila spokespeople deny any similaiity between
the women desciibed in the tale of tuinovei and those desciibed in the
stoiies absolving the maquilas of any iesponsibility in theii muideis, I
endeavoi heie to locate the connections.
Tuinovei iefeis to the coming and going of woikeis into and out
of jobs, and it often comes up duiing inteiviews in ielation to the piob-
lem of woikei unieliability. Industiy analysts and administiatois cite
tuinovei as animpediment to a complete tiansfoimationof the maquila
sectoi fioma low-skilled and laboi-intensive industiy to one with moie
sophisticated pioceduies staed by highly skilled woikeis (see Villa-
lobos, Beiuvides, and Hutchinson I,,,). Woikeis who tuin ovei, that
is, who do not demonstiate job loyalty, aie not good piospects foi the
tiaining necessaiy foi cieating a skilled base. This foimof vaiiable capi-
tal is theiefoie the tempoiaiy kind. The tuinovei pioblem, howevei,
has not completely inhibited the development of a highei technologi-
cal base in the maquilas because some woikeis aie not of the tuinovei
vaiiety. Tiaining piogiams, combined with an emphasis on inculcating
loyalty among woikeis, have cieated a two-tieied system within ma-
quila ims foi distinguishing betweenthe untiainable andtiainable
woikeis. Gendei is a ciitical maikei foi dieientiating between these
woikei biands.
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Benjamin (I,o,) piovides a good point of depaituie foi this feminist
inteiiogation into one of Maixs (I,,,: 8I) staple conceins: the de-
humanizing piocess behind foiming vaiiable capital, which, he wiites,
conveits the woikei into a ciippled monstiosity. Thiough the image
of dialectical stillness, Benjamin helps explain howthis piocess involves
not only the cieation of value at the woikeis expense but also a value
that is valoiizedonly insofai as it is counteiposedtowhat it is not: waste.
The kinship between discouise and mateiiality is key. In the maqui-
las, manageis depict women as untiainable laboieis, Mexican women
iepiesent the woikeis of declining value since theii intiinsic value nevei
appieciates into skill but insteaddissipates ovei time. Theii value is used
up, not enhanced. Consequently, the Mexican woman peisonies waste
in the making, as the mateiials of hei body gain shape thiough the dis-
couises that explain how she is untiainable, unskillable, and always a
tempoiaiy woikei.
4
Meanwhile, hei antithesisthe masculine subjectemeiges as the
emblem of that othei kind of vaiiable capital whose value appieciates
ovei time. He is the tiainable and potentially skilled employee who will
suppoit the high-tech tiansfoimation of the maquila sectoi into the
twenty-ist centuiy. He maintains his value as he changes and develops
in a vaiiety of ways. She, howevei, is stuck in the endless loop of hei
decline. Hei life is stilled as hei depaituie fiom the woikplace iepie-
sents the coipoiate death that iesults logically fiom hei demise, since
at some point the accumulation of the waste within hei will oset the
value of hei laboi. And aftei she leaves one factoiy, she typically enteis
anothei and begins anew the debilitating jouiney of laboi tuinovei.
The wasting of the Mexican woman, theiefoie, iepiesents a value
in and of itself to capital in at least two iespects. Fiist, she establishes
the standaid foi iecognizing the pioduction of value in people and in
things: Value appieciates in what is not hei. Second, she incoipoiates
exibility into the laboi supply thiough hei tuinovei. To use Judith
Butleis foimulation, this piocess ieveals how discouises of the subject
aie not conned to the nonmateiial iealm oi easily shunted o as the
meiely cultuial (Butlei I,,,). Rathei, and as I endeavoi to show heie,
the manageiial discouises of noninvolvement in the seiial muideis of
young female employees is indeed linked to the mateiialization of tuin-
ovei as a cultuially diiven and waste-iidden phenomenon attached to
Mexican femininity. The link is the value that the wasting of the Mexi-
1z;
*
t uc o i i c c t i c s or s t i i i i i r c
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canwomanthioughbothhei liteial andhei coipoiate deathsiepie-
sents foi those invested in the discouise of hei as a cultuial victim im-
mune to any inteivention.
In what follows, I begin by desciibing some of the stoiies commonly
told to piovide explanation foi the muideis. Then I piesent an analysis
of the tuinovei naiiatives.
t uc vue oc e s t oe i c s
Ciiculating thiough the media and by woid of mouthas onlookeis
tiy to deteimine if the muidei victims weie piostitutes, dutiful daugh-
teis, dedicated motheis, women leading double lives, oi iesponsible
woikeisis the question: Was she a good giil: The question points
to the mattei of hei value as we wondei if she is ieally woithy of oui
concein.
When news of these muideis ist captuied public attention in I,,,,
Fiancisco Baiiio, then goveinoi of the State of Chihuahua, iaised this
question when he advised paients to know wheie theii daughteis weie
at all times, especially at night. The implication was that good giils
dont go out at night, and since most of these victims disappeaied in the
daik, they piobably weient good giils. The local police have iegulaily
posedthis issue whenbeieavedpaities seek ocial assistance inlocating
theii daughteis, sisteis, motheis, cousins, and family fiiends. The police
fiequently explain how common it is foi women to lead double lives
and ask the giieving and fiightened family and fiiends to considei this
possibility (Limas Heinndez I,,8). By day, she might appeai the duti-
ful daughtei, wife, mothei, sistei, and laboiei, but by night she ieveals
hei innei piostitute, slut, and baimaid. In othei woids, she might not
be woith the woiiy.
Related to this stoiy of excessive female heteiosexuality is a foieign
seiial killei plot woven by the special piosecutoi appointed to the case.
In this tale, we heai of how these muideis aie fai too biutal foi a Mexi-
can hand and iesemble events moie common to the countiys noithein
neighboi. The idea heie is that a suave foieignei appeals to a young
womans yen foi sexual adventuie, luies hei into his cai, and then mui-
deis hei aftei having sex. On this theoiy, an Egyptian with U.S. iesident
status, woiking in the maquiladoia industiy, was aiiested in I,,o, but
since then anothei hundied bodies have suifaced.
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This veision ties into the long-standing Mexican tiadition of cast-
ing Ciudad Juiez as a city whose cultuial values have been contami-
nated by gieedy and libeial foices emanating fiom the United States
(Tabuenca Cidoba I,,,,o). Such was the naiiative woven by a Span-
ish ciiminologist, Jos Paiia Molina, contiacted by Mexican ocials in
I,,8 to examine the ciimes. He suimised that Ciudad Juiez was ex-
peiiencing a social shock due to an eiosion of its tiaditional values
iesulting fiomcontact with a libeial Ameiican society. Consequently,
he concluded, you now see in the maquiladoia exits . . . the women
woikeis seeking adventuie without paying attention to the dangei
(Oiquiz I,,8: _C).
5
The logic inteinal to this naiiative explains that
exposuie to the United States has eioded tiaditional Mexican values
to such a degiee that young women aie oeiing themselves, thiough
theii impudent behavioi, to theii muideieis. This ciiminologist, among
otheis, suggested that these women and giils could also be walking into
tiaps set by an inteinational oigan-haivesting iing that kills the vic-
tims foi theii oigans, which aie sold in the U.S. maiket. The pioblem
heie, accoiding to this stoiy, is a cultuial one. In such a cultuial climate,
such muideis aie bound to happen, and thus, a cultuial shift is iequiied
to sanitize the enviionment in which women along the boidei live
and woik. The cultuial decline is found within the giils themselves. As
the Spanish ciiminologist asked in iefeience to the discoveiy of a giils
body, What was a thiiteen-yeai-old giil doing out at night anyway:
Evidence of hei piesence outside hei home in the nighttime does not
piove hei economic need oi a city full of nighttime commuteis. Rathei,
hei piesence in the night points towaid a cultuial decline within which
hei death, a foim of absence, can be logically anticipated. Indeed, hei
absence amelioiates, to some degiee, the cultuial decline iepiesented
by hei piesence in the night since it takes hei o the stieet foi good. Hei
death is explained as a cultuial coiiective to the decimation of tiadi-
tional values. As the Spanish ciiminologist said, these giils out at night
aie like putting a caiamel in the dooi of an elementaiy school. When
somebody gobbles themup, like childien with candy, at least the souice
of the tawdiy temptation is destioyed.
I chaiacteiize this iendition as a death by cultuie naiiative, which
points to foices inteinal to a cultuial system that aie diiving the de-
viant behavioi. Death by cultuie is Uma Naiayans (I,,,) chaiacteiiza-
tion of the global discouises foi explaining womens death in the Thiid
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Woild as somehow embedded in tiadition, inteinally diiven, and ie-
sulting fiom the distoition of tiaditional cultuial values. The above
muidei naiiatives iecieate the possibility that these women and giils
aie not only victims of a cultuie gone out of whack but also emblems of
the loss of values. They iepiesent cultuial value in decline and in conse-
quence aie possibly not valuable enough in death to waiiant much con-
cein. When we nd giils and women out on the stieets at night, seeking
adventuie, dancing in clubs, and fiee fiom paiental vigilance, we nd
evidence of diminished value in theii wasted innocence, theii wasted
loyalty, and theii wasted viiginity. The logical conclusion is, theiefoie,
not to seek the peipetiatois of the ciime as much as to iestoie the cul-
tuial values whose eiosion these women and giils iepiesent.
A numbei of }uarense activists and local womens gioups have coun-
teied these muidei naiiatives with a veision of the victims as pooi and
haidwoiking membeis of the community who deseive moie public at-
tention than they aie ieceiving. Thiough editoiial wiiting and public
appeaiances, these advocates wain that a climate of violence against
women peivades the city. They identify male jealousy of wives[giil-
fiiends economic independence and sexual and social libeity as mo-
tivating factois behind the ciimes as well as behind police ieluctance
to tieat the muideis seiiously. And they have met with the piincipal
maquiladoia tiade association (.m.c) in the city to ask foi assistance
in cuibing the violence. Duiing one meeting, the diiectoi of .m.c ex-
plained that he saw no connection between the industiy and the mui-
deis. The message was that, even though thousands of woikeis have to
cioss unlit, unpatiolled, and iemote stietches of deseit as they make
theii way to the buses that stop only on main thoioughfaies, and even as
many victims disappeai while on such commutes, theie is nothing that
the industiy can do to stop the violence. Rathei, the industiys stance
is that no degiee of funding foi secuiity peisonnel, oi outlays foi im-
pioved stieetlighting, oi in-house self-defense woikshops, oi changes
to pioduction schedules will help.
This position has not changed noticeably even in light of moie obvi-
ous connections linking maquiladoia industiial activity with the mui-
deis. Foi instance, in Maich I,,,, when the diivei of a maquiladoia
bus iaped, beat, and left a thiiteen-yeai-old giil who woiked in an
Ameiican-ownedmaquiladoia todie inthe deseit (she miiaculously ie-
coveied and named hei attackei), activists imploied the maquiladoias
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to acknowledge some connection between the muideis and the citys
industiial activity. One activist, Esthei Chavez Cano, who is also the di-
iectoi of the citys new iape ciisis centei, said, This case is absolutely
hoiiible. The maquilas should have as much tiust in the bus diiveis as
they have in the manageis. This is an example of how teiiible things
aie in this city (Stack and Valdez I,,,). The maquiladoias have yet
to iespond to this indictment, and theii position appeais to be much
the same as it was when the spokespeison foi .m.c was inteiviewed in
Januaiy I,,, by .vc.
6
He cited female sexuality and nighttime behavioi
as the piincipal issues. In making this point, he queiied, Wheie weie
these young ladies when they weie seen last: Weie they diinking: Weie
they paitying: Weie they on a daik stieet: Oi weie they in fiont of theii
plant when they went home: The silent coiollaiy to this statement is
the undeistanding that men will be men, especially macho men, and
if a woman is out diinking oi paitying oi dancing on Juiez Avenida,
then she should be piepaied foi the iisks.
The .m.c spokespeison is invoking a death by cultuie naiiative to
absolve the maquiladoia industiy of any implication in the violence.
The maquila naiiative depicts the muideied women as cultuial vic-
tims of machismo combined withThiid Woild female sexual diives and
iuial migiant navet. It gains puichase with the citys long-standing
ieputation as a cultuial wasteland, wheie Ameiican contamination and
loose women have led to moial decay (Sklaii I,,_, Tabuenca Cidoba
I,,,,o). And in such a cultuial milieu, the muideiing of women can-
not be avoided. Theii deaths aie only symptoms of a wasting piocess
that began befoie the violent snung-out of theii lives. All the soit-
ing thiough of the victims lives illustiates the deep, cultuial ioots of
waste, foi, as we sciutinize the victims sexual habits and sift thiough
the skeletal and clothing iemains, we aie supposed to wondei all the
while, What was she doing theie anyway: What soit of cultuie de-
vouis its own:
My inteiest lies in the similaiities linking this death by cultuie nai-
iative with desciiptions of laboi tuinovei. In the stoiy of tuinovei, the
Mexican woman also plays a leading iole. She is the culpiit of extieme
tuinovei as well as the ieason some measuie of tuinovei is necessaiy
foi piot. She emeiges in this stoiy as a dialectic image built of both
waste and value. Hei odd conguiation has ioots in the cultuial con-
stiuction of female sexuality, motheihood, and a eeting woik ethic. It
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also has ioots in the physiognomy of the Mexican female foimin hei
nimble ngeis and shaip eyes that eventually, and always eventually,
stien and lose theii focus. The managei of any maquila faces the chal-
lenge of having to monitoi this wasting piocess, which, again, accoiding
to the tuinovei naiiative, is a cultuially diiven cycle whose deleteiious
eects on womens woiking lives aie inevitable. The maquila industiy
is helpless to diveit this cultuially diiven, coipoiate death.
t ue uov c e uo c oe r oe t c o c t u
To undeistand how, in the maquiladoia context, the stoiy of tuin-
ovei pioduces a female Mexican subject aiound a continuum of declin-
ing value, we must examine it in ielation to the value-enhancing pio-
cess of tiaining. As tuinovei iefeis to the coming and going of woikeis,
tiaining iefeis to the cultivation of woikei longevity and imloyalty.
Both piocesses unfold thiough the mateiialization of theii coiiespond-
ing subjects: a tempoiaiy, unskilled laboi foice and tiained, loyal em-
ployees, iespectively. Tiained woikeis aie those whose intiinsic value
has matuied and developed into a moie valuable substance, wheieas
tempoiaiy woikeis do not develop oi tiansfoimovei time. They simply
leave when theii value is spent.
Seeing tuinovei and tiaining in this light adds anothei dimension
to Maixs analysis of vaiiable capital. The value of laboi powei vaiies
not only because it pioduces value, as Maix uiges us to considei: Laboi
powei vaiies also because it pioduces waste. The laboiei who is woith
less than hei laboi is, in the stoiy of tuinovei, eventually woithless even
as she cieates value. The tiained subject, by contiast, is one whose in-
tiinsic value incieases ovei time and matuies into a moie valuable foim
of laboi powei, one that is skilled. As one Ameiican managei of a U.S.
automobile manufactuiei in Mexico put it, Oui goal is to take some-
one who just walked in the dooi and tuin this peison into a dieient
kind of woikei. Someone whose basic abilities have matuied into some-
thing special.
7
Skilled laboi powei does not vaiy fiom the value that
it pioduces to the extieme degiee that unskilled laboi does. Of couise,
theie is some vaiiation, otheiwise piot would not be pioduced. At
issue heie is not the piecise calculation of the dollai amount of piot
that skilled laboi cieates but instead a sense that the moie valuable
the laboi that goes into the pioduction piocess, the moie valuable the
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commodities emeiging fiom it. The Geiman geneial managei of a hi-
sound systems manufactuiei explained the situation to me this way:
To make quality goods, you need quality woikeis. . . . We still need
some unskilled woikeis. Some of this woik is still just assembly. But
now weve got pioducts that iequiie people who aie willing to leain
something new.
Maix begins his analysis of capital with the commodity piecisely to
demonstiate that the pioducts of capital cannot be undeistood without
seeing theii intimate ielationship to the people who make them. He,
too, was extiemely conceined with subjectivity even though he ovei-
deteimined the paiameteis foi consideiing what soits of subjects mat-
teied in his analysis. My view of skill as a negotiated quality of value
assigned to laboi powei takes its cues fiom feminist analyses of the val-
oiization of woikeis and woik and the foimation of skill categoiies.
Feminist scholais have demonstiated that we must considei how pei-
ceptions of the subject infoim peiceptions of the value piomised by
that subjects laboi powei and how skill is key foi the dieiential val-
oiization of the laboi foice (McDowell I,,,, Cockbuin I,8,, Elson and
Peaison I,8I). This feminist contiibution does not ieplace a Maixian
analysis but iathei, as I hope becomes cleai in the following, ieveals
how poststiuctuialist theoiizations of subjectivity aie not necessaiily at
odds with a Maixian ciitique of capital (see Joseph I,,8). Ciitical foi
Maix was an exploiation of how value mateiializes as it does in capital,
as we continually make abstiact connections linking human eneigies
with inanimate objects. Maix made this point cleaily, but he failed to
iecognize how the many foims of laboi abstiaction that aie categoiized
vaiiably as degiees of skill complicate the ielationship, linking the value
peiceived in laboieis to the value peiceived to be embodied in the com-
modities they make.
Events ovei the last decade ieveal how maquiladoia boosteis and
manageis iecognize the tight connection between peiceptions of
woikei quality and iecognition of the soits of pioducts woikeis can
make. Theie aie nowabout thiity-one hundiedmaquiladoia facilities in
Mexico, with a total employment of moie than one million woikeis. Al-
most one-fouithof thesewoikeis aie employedinmaquiladoias located
in Ciudad Juiez, and appioximately oo peicent of these employees aie
women. Since the late I,8os, eoits to skill up the maquiladoia laboi
foice in the maquila industiy have coincided with a conceited push
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by city developeis and industiy spokespeople to stiess the laboi mai-
kets ability to accommodate the global focus on pioduct quality ovei
quantity (Caiillo I,,o). Industiy pioponents, mindful of the height-
enedcompetitionfoi foieigndiiect investment by Asiancountiies guai-
anteeing even lowei minimum wage iates foi an immense laboi supply,
have emphasized that the city oeis not only vast amounts of unskilled
laboi but also a sizable laboi foice that is tiainable in just-in-time oiga-
nizational systems, computei technologies, and even ieseaich and de-
sign capabilities. Oui woikeis can do anything heie with some tiain-
ing, make the best pioducts in the woild, the diiectoi of a Juiez
development im told me. Raiely is the claim made that this laboi
foice already exists in the city. Instead, emphasis iests on the pctential
tiansfoimation of the existing laboi maiket into one that will one day
be biimming with skilled woikeis. In I,,, the administiatoi at one
of the laigest and most piestigious maquiladoia development consul-
tant ims explained the potential this way: We know that if Juiez is
going to piospei into the futuie, we have to adapt. And we alieady aie.
You dont nd sweatshops opening heie like befoie. Now we have high-
technology companies, and they aie looking foi woikeis who can be
tiained. We aie having moie of these woikeis now, and they will help
this city giow in the iight diiection. One highly lauded example of
this soit of giowth has been the Geneial Motois Delphi Centei, which
opened its doois in I,,,. In a Twin Plant News Sta Repcrt aiticle,
Biain School, the diiectoi of Chihuahuas Economic Development
Oce exclaimed, The Delphi centei will ievolutionize industiial pio-
duction in oui aiea. His view was seconded by a maquila managei
who explained: Without a doubt the most signicant change has been
the high technology manufactuiing. . . . It just pioves how the Mexi-
can woikei has been able to assimilate the ways of Ameiican business
(I,,,: _,).
Soiting subjects into tiainable and untiainable gioups, then, is a ist
step towaid upgiading that minoiity of the maquila laboi foice that will
eventuallyassimilate to the demands of a dynamic global economy. Dis-
tinguishing between the tiainable and the untiainablethe quitteis
and the continueis (Luckei and Alvaiez I,8,)iequiies an evalua-
tion of employees eaily in theii caieeis in oidei to put them on the
iight tiack, eithei the unskilled oi the skilled one. The Biazilian man-
agei of a factoiy that manufactuies automobile iadios explained, We
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can tell within one week if the opeiatoi is tiaining mateiial. Its obvi-
ous fiom the beginning. The piincipal maikei of the untiainable sub-
ject is femininity. As feminist histoiies of industiialization have noted,
the notion of womens untiainability has a genealogy fai beyond the
maquila industiy (Feinndez-Kelly I,8_). The specicities of this un-
tiainable condition vaiy depending upon how the ielations of gendei
unfold within the matiices of othei hieiaichical ielations found within
the woikplace: the family, heteiosexuality, iace, and ageto name but
a few. In the maquilas, the discouise of female untiainability plays out
thiough explanations that desciibe what women do well as natuial
(dexteiity, etc.) and that explain the cultuial constitution of Mexican
femininity as adveise to tiaining. Most of the giils aient inteiested in
tiaining. They aient ambitious, the same managei of the automobile
iadio manufactuiei told me. I have tiied to get these women inteiested
in tiaining, the Ameiican managei of an automobile im explained,
but they dont want it. They get neivous if they think they will have to
be someone elses boss. Its a cultuial thing down heie. And if theyie
not ambitious, we cant tiain them.
This cultuially ingiained lack of ambition, neivousness with iespon-
sibility, and agging job loyalty cieate the piole of an employee whose
untiainable position cannot be shifted thiough tiaining. When I asked
the human iesouices managei of a television manufactuiei how he
could iecognize those woikeis who weie involved with in-house tiain-
ing piogiams, he said, Well, most of the woikeis in the chassis assem-
bly all aie women] aient taking tiaining. Theyie not as inteiested.
Most of oui tiained woikeis come fiom the technical and mateiials
handling completely male-staed] aieas. The gendeiing of woik posi-
tions in this paiticulai im, as in many otheis, also ievealed a gen-
deiing of tiainability and the skilling-up of the maquila laboi foice.
Theie aie no statistics calculating the peicentage of women paiticipat-
ing in the multitude of tiaining piogiams oeied thioughout the city
in addition to in-house tiaining oppoitunities. Howevei, my inteiviews
with the manageis of seven high-tech maquilas and with instiuctois
who oei maquila tiaining piogiams indicatedthat womeniepiesented
fewei than , peicent of those eniolled in any type of skills tiaining. The
iate of female piomotion into positions dened as skilled in thiee high-
tech ims was even less than that.
As a iesult, Mexican women aie said to be the piincipal contiibu-
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tois to tuinovei, because untiainable woikeis aie those who demon-
stiate the lowest degiee of longevity on the job. If you have a plant
full of these giils, the Mexican geneial managei of a sewing opeiation
explained, then youie gonna have high tuinovei. And you cant tiain
woikeis in that kind of enviionment. Although the tiade jouinal lit-
eiatuie iaiely mentions gendei as a vaiiable in any maquiladoia-ielated
phenomena, manageis aie quick tomentionsex dieience as a keycom-
ponent of theii tuinovei pioblem. The Biazilian plant managei of a
television manufactuiei elaboiated on this connection. We have about
,o peicent females heie. That means high tuinovei. Sometimes :o pei-
cent a month. Now the guys also sometimes leave but if they get into a
technical position . . . they usually stay longei. Oui tuinovei is high be-
cause we have so many giils. The Ameiican human iesouices managei
of this same imsaid, Youcant tiainwoikeis if they wont stayaiound.
Thats the pioblem with these giils. You cant tiain them. They dont
undeistand the meaning of job loyalty. The tautology desciibed in this
tuinovei naiiative ievolves aiound the following syllogism: Women aie
not tiainable. Tiained woikeis iemain with the same im longei than
untiained ones. Theiefoie, women do not have any coipoiate loyalty.
Minimized, if not completely missing, fiom this naiiative, and fiom
the many aiticles dedicated to the tuinovei pioblem in the industiy
liteiatuie (see Beiuvides, Villalobos, and Hutchinson I,,,, Villalobos,
Beiuvides, and Hutchinson I,,,) is a consideiation of how the pigeon-
holing of women into the lowest-waged and dead-end jobs thioughout
the maquilas contiibutes to theii high tuinovei iate. Instead, within the
maquila naiiative of female unieliability, we heai how hei intiinsically
untiainable condition cannot be alteied thiough tiaining. Theie is no
iemedy foi hei situation, at least none that the maquila industiy can
concoct. Even though tiade jouinal aiticles abound that make the con-
nection between tiaining and enhancing woikei loyalty, these lessons
do not apply to hei. Meanwhile, Mexican men who aie ielative new-
comeis to the industiy aie the ones climbing the ianks into skilled and
highei-salaiied positions, while Mexican women iemain wheie they
have been foi moie than thiee decades, in the positions with the least
skill, least pay, and least authoiity. In fact, iecent piess attention to the
skilling-up of the maquila laboi foice and ienovation of the industiy ie-
veals the masculine image of the newmaquila tiainedandtiainable sub-
ject (Wiight I,,8). Things aie changing in the maquilas, we know, not
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because women aie changing but because Mexican men aie. They have
added a masculine and tiainable dimension to the once only unskilled,
feminine laboi foice. As the Ameiican human iesouices managei of a
television manufactuiei put it, The men aie moie involved in the new
technologies heie. They aie changing the industiy. The women, mean-
while, in theii status as untiainable employees, iepiesent what does
not change about the maquilas.
Howevei, it is ciitical to beai in mind that the untiainable Mexi-
can woman is not completely woithless to the im, foi if she weie,
she would not continue to be the most sought-aftei employee in the
maquiladoia industiy. Local iadio stations fiequently aii adveitise-
ments piomising good jobs, the best benets, and a fun social atmo-
spheie foi young women seeking employment. Some maquilas contiact
agencies to ieciuit women thioughout the citys scatteied neighboi-
hoods and migiant squattei settlements. These agencies geneially seek
female employees and sometimes aie often expected to ieciuit one hun-
died women foi a paiticulai im in a single day. As an employee of one
such agency explained in an inteiview with a local newspapei in July
I,,8 (Guzmn I,,8: ,), The agency oeis jobs to both sexes, masculine
and feminine, but foi the moment, they aie looking only foi women to
woik in the second shift.
Women aie so explicitly in demand foi a numbei of ieasons. Dis-
couises that detail a blend of natuial qualities combined with cultuial
pioclivities establish the Mexican woman as one of the most sought-
aftei industiial employees in the Westein Hemispheie. Foi one thing,
as thioughout industiial histoiy, Mexican women aie still coveted foi
what aie constiucted to be the feminine qualities of dexteiity, atten-
tion to detail, and patience with tedious woik (Elson and Peaison I,8,).
They aie, theiefoie, peifectly suited foi the minute, iepetitious tasks
that still constitute muchof contempoiaiy manufactuiing andinfoima-
tionpiocessing. Adding to the attiactiveness of theii supposedly natuial
abilities is the widespiead peiception of theii cultuial piedisposition to
docility and submissiveness to patiiaichal guies. These discouises out-
line a guie who is not only aptly designed foi assembly, sewing, and
data entiy but who, unlike hei noithein counteipaits, is also seen to
be thankful foi the woik, unlikely to cause tiouble, and easily cowed
by male guies should thoughts of unionization cioss hei mind. Dis-
couises of this soit explain, in pait, why, since the passage of .i1.,
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maquilas have been setting up opeiations at an unpiecedented pace and
have continued to employ moie women than men acioss the industiy,
even as they emphasize tiainability.
Anothei piopeity undeilying the Mexican womans populaiity
among maquiladoia executives is the inevitability of hei tuinovei. Hei
lack of coipoiate loyalty is, in the piopei piopoition, a valuable com-
modity since hei tendency to move into and out of factoiy complexes
ieinfoices hei position as the tempoiaiy woikei in a coipoiate climate
that iesponds to a ckle global maiket. This need is well explained in
a I,,8 Vall Street }curnal aiticle (Simison and White I,,8) about the
Geneial Motois Delphi opeiation: Delphi says it ielies on iapid tuin-
ovei in boidei plants to allow it to cut employment in lean times and
add woikeis in boomtimes. Pait of what is sovaluable about the Mexi-
can woman is the piomise that she will not stick aiound foi the long
haul. Hei absence iepiesents foi the imthe value that exibilityaoids
it in a exible maiket economy.
Tuinovei itself is, theiefoie, not necessaiily a waste but the by-piod-
uct of a piocess duiing which human beings tuin into industiial waste.
The tiick facing maquila manageis is to maintain tuinovei at the piopei
levels. Excessive tuinovei means that women aie leaving at too high a
iate foi the im to extiact the value fiom theii dexteious, attention-
oiiented, patient, and docile laboi. An insucient degiee of tuinovei,
howevei, iepiesents anothei foim of waste: an excessive pioductive ca-
pacity. Foi this ieason, aiticles appeai iegulaily inthe piincipal industiy
jouinal, Twin Plant News, oeiing advice on how to manage the veiy
ieal pioblem of high tuinovei (see Beiuvides, Villalobos, and Hutchin-
son I,,,, Villalobos, Beiuvides, and Hutchinson I,,,). Tuinovei that
is too high (as opposed to tuinovei that is just iight) means that un-
skilled woikeis aie leaving befoie they have exhausted theii value to the
im. The desiied iate of tuinovei most often quoted to me was , pei-
cent annually, and that iequiies that most of the new woikeis iemain
at least one yeai. If we could get these giils to stay heie two yeais, the
human iesouices managei of the automobile iadio factoiy said, then
I would be happy . . . aftei that they always move on and tiy some-
thing new. The pioblemwithtuinovei, theiefoie, is not that the women
leave. Rathei, the pioblemhas to dowiththe timing of theii depaituie in
ielation to the iate at which theii value as woikeis declines with iespect
to the value of theii tuinovei.
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This task of monitoiing the coiiect tuinovei iate iequiies a mea-
suiement of the amount of value iesiding in the laboi of the Mexican
woman who labois in unskilled woik. Such measuies aie necessaiy in
oidei to balance the value of hei pioductive capacity as an active laboiei
with the value of hei tuinovei. Howdoes the value of hei piesence mea-
suie against the value of hei absence: This is the question that maquila
manageis constantly pose, and they iely upon a cadie of supeivisois
and engineeiing assistants to guie it out. These lowei-level manageis
tiack the maich of iepetitious tasks thiough the bodies of the female
laboieis who occupy the majoiity of such jobs thiough the industiy.
They watch foi signs of slowei woik iates iesulting fiom sti ngeis,
iepetitive stiess disoideis, headaches, oi boiedom (Wiight foithcom-
ing). And they note declining woik peifoimance in oidei to justify a
dismissal without eligibility foi seveiance pay. As the Biazilian man-
agei of a television manufactuiei told me, This is not the kind of woik
you can do foi yeais at a time. It weais you out. We dont want the giils
heie aftei theyie tiied of the woik. In this, as in many othei maqui-
las, an elaboiate system of suiveillance focuses on the woik piimaiily
peifoimed by women woikeis on the assembly line (Salzingei I,,,).
Fuitheimoie, accoiding to my infoimants, any woikei who ieveals an
inteiest in expiessing giievances oi oiganizing woikei committees is
ioutinely subject to haiassment if not immediate dismissal. The Mexi-
can human iesouices managei of an outboaid motoi company said,
We have a policy not to allow woikeis to oiganize. Its like that in all
the factoiies. . . . These lawyeis the ones involved in union activities]
aie lying to the woikeis and tiying to tiick them. We tiy to piotect them
fiom this. Woikeis with feisty attitudes aie thus not veiy valuable to
the im eithei. So if a Mexican woman loses hei docility, one of hei
values has been spent.
Anothei method foi monitoiing the depletion of value in the bodies
of women woikeis involves the suiveillance of theii iepioductive cycles.
Women seeking employment in a maquiladoia commonly have to
undeigo piegnancy tests duiing the initial application piocess (U.S. De-
paitment of Laboi I,,8, Castaon I,,8). The sciutiny of theii iepio-
ductive cycles, howevei, does not end theie. Also common is the con-
tinued monitoiing of theii cycles once they begin woik. Repoits vaiy
depending upon the age of the employee and the paiticulai factoiy,
but a numbei of women have desciibed to me and to otheis how on a
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monthly basis they aie foiced to demonstiate that they aie menstiuat-
ing to the company doctoi oi nuise. In seveial facilities, women have
been piessuied to show theii soiled sanitaiy napkins. They even make
the sencras do it, one woman explained. They tieat us like tiash. This
piegnancy test is haidly fail-safe, and a numbei of women explained
how they got aiound it. One who woiked foi a television manufactuiei
said, I was piegnant, so I spiinkled liveis blood on the napkin. They
nevei knew. But whenI staitedto show, my supeivisoi got ieally mean.
She was then moved into an aiea that iequiied that she stand on hei feet
all day and lift heavy boxes. I left because I was afiaid foi the baby. Ha-
iassment of piegnant women is common, although illegal, and demon-
stiates that once a woman displays a piegnancy, she is iipe foi tuinovei.
This is not a place foi piegnant women, one supeivisoi in a machine
shop told me. They take too many iestioom bieaks, and then theyie
gone foi a month. It slows us down.
These pioceduies ievolve aiound a dialectic deteimination of the
female subject as one continuously suspended in the ambiguity sepa-
iating value fiom waste. She is a subject always in need of soiting be-
cause eventually the value of hei piesence on the pioduction ooi will
be spent while the value of hei absence will have appieciated. The soit-
ing must occui in oidei to maximize the extiaction of hei value befoie
declaiing hei to be oveicome with waste. This inevitability, accoiding
to the death by cultuie logic, is diiven by a tiaditional Mexican cul-
tuie whose intiinsic values aie in conict as women spend moie time
outside the home. The many chaiacteiistics that the manageis attiibute
to Mexican women as a way to explain high tuinovei, such as a lack
of ambition, oveiactive wombs, and agging job loyalty, iepiesent cul-
tuial tiaits that aie designed to check hei independence. She might be
subveiting some cultuial tiaditions by woiking outside the home, but
hei cultuie will ensuie that she not go too fai aeld by inculcating hei
with a disposition that makes hei impossible to tiain, to piomote, oi
to encouiage as a long-teim employee. The maquilas aie helpless to di-
veit the foices of a cultuie that, in eect, devouis its own, as womens
caieeis aie subsumed to such ineluctable tiaditional piessuies.
Hei disposability, then, iepiesents hei value to the im since hei
laboi powei eventually, as it is a cultuial inevitability, will not be woith
even the cost of hei own social iepioduction, which is the cost of hei
ietuin to the woikplace. And she, the individual who comes to life as
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this depleting subject, expeiiences a coipoiate death when hei waste
oveiiides hei balance, because, as David Haivey (I,8:: _) put it, The
laboiei ieceives . . . the value of laboui powei, and that is that. Tuin-
ovei is, theiefoie, this tuining ovei of women fiom those oeiing value
thiough theii laboi powei to those oeiing value thiough the absence
of theii laboi. And as they iepeat theii expeiiences on this continuum
while occupying jobs foi seveial-month stints in dieient maquilas,
theii ownlives aie stilledas they move fiomone maquiladoia tothe next
in a caieei built of minimum-wage and dead-end jobs. These women
expeiience a stilling of theii coipoiate lives, theii woik futuies, and
theii oppoitunities inside and outside the woikplace that might emeige
weie they to ieceive tiaining and piomotions into jobs with highei pay
and moie piestige.
All the manageis cited above agieed that the tuinovei iate could not
be diminished by coipoiate measuies such as highei salaiies and bene-
ts. The Ameiican human iesouices managei of the television manu-
factuiei iesponded, These giils aient heie foi a caieei. If we iaise the
wages, that would have a negative eect on the economy and wouldnt
pioduce any iesults. Tuinovei comes with the teiiitoiy down heie.
The Ameiican geneial managei of the motoiboat manufactuiei said,
Tuinovei is a seiious issue heie, especially in the electionic woik that
the female opeiatois do. But thats how they aie. Theyie young and
looking foi expeiiences. You just have to get used to it down heie. . . .
I dont think wages would make any dieience. The Mexican gen-
eial managei of the television manufactuiei ieplied, Wages aient the
answei to eveiything, you know. Most of these giils aie fiom othei
places in Mexico. They dont have much expeiience with Ameiican atti-
tudes about woik. Andthats why we have pioblems withtuinovei. The
Geiman geneial managei of the electionic assembly plant explained,
We always tiy to cut down on tuinovei, but we dont expect to get iid
of it. That wouldnt be iealistic. Not in Juiez.
Within such inteiviews luiks a death by cultuie naiiative, which ab-
solves the maquila industiy of any iesponsibility in the iepeated coipo-
iate deaths expeiienced by most of theii female woikeis. By spinning a
tale full of vague iefeients to the obstinate tuinovei condition of Mexi-
can women, they aie explaining how tuinovei is pait and paicel of a
cultuial system immune to maquiladoia meddling. The specicities of
that cultuie aie not the issue. Instead, it is the exculpation of the ma-
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quila industiy fiom any iesponsibility in guiding a tuinovei piocess
that seives theii puiposes in some ciitical ways. Consequently, maquila
pieventive measuies would be fiuitless oi even a fuithei waste. Com-
petitive wages, tiaining piogiams foi women woikeis, day caie, exible
woik schedules, attention to iepetitive stiess disoideis, oi a compas-
sionate stance towaid mateinity would not, accoiding to this naiiative,
make one whit of dieience. These Mexican giils and women aie going
to tuin ovei, as they always do, because of who they aie. Tuinovei is pait
of theii cultuial constitution. And, as the women come and go, one aftei
anothei, day aftei day, the manageis exclaim theii impotence against
the wasting of women woikeis. These women, they maintain, aie vic-
tims of theii cultuie. Theii eventual coipoiate deaths aie evidence of
death by cultuie.
oc t u sv c uit ue c
In a Maich I,,, inteiview, a ieseaich psychiatiist fiom Texas Tech-
nical Univeisity who specializes in seiial muideis commented to the El
Pasc Times that these Juiez muideieis tend to discaid theii victims
once they get what they want fiomthem (Stack and Valdez I,,,). Such
a vision of the Mexican woman as inevitably disposable is common to
both the muidei and tuinovei naiiatives. At the heait of these seem-
ingly dispaiate stoiy lines is the ciafting of the Mexican woman as a
guie whose value can be extiacted fiom hei, whethei it be in the foim
of hei viitue, hei oigans, oi hei eciency on the pioduction ooi. And
once they, hei muideieis oi hei supeivisois, get what they want
fiom hei, she is discaided.
The vision of hei disposability, the likelihood that this condition
could exist in a human being, is what is so valuable to those who extiact
what they want fiomhei. Whenshe casts the shadowof the consummate
disposable laboiei whose laboi powei is not even woith the expense of
its own social iepioduction, she is a utopian image. In this paiticulai
manifestation, the Mexican woman is the utopian image of a cultuially
victimized vaiiation of laboi who guaiantees hei ieplacementaftei
being woin down by iepetitive stiess syndiome, migiaines, oi haiass-
ment ovei piegnancieswith fiesh ieciuits who aie, peihaps, leaving
anothei place of employment foi one of the same ieasons. That the same
women aie tuining ovei as they move fiom one place to anothei does
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not disiupt the utopian image of theii constant decline as pait of theii
continuum towaid disposability. Quite the contiaiy, theii value ciicu-
lates thiough theii continual ow fiom one factoiy to the next, since
as a woman leaves one place of woik, peihaps having been dismissed
foi missing a menstiual peiiod, and then enteis anothei once hei men-
stiual owiesumes, she againiepiesents value. Hei uctuationbetween
value and waste is pait of hei appeal foi hei employei.
This image of the female woikei as the subject foimed in the ux be-
tween waste and value piovides hei contouis as a vaiiation of capital.
With such a constitution, she can be nothing othei than a tempoiaiy
woikei, one whose intiinsic value does not matuie, giow, and inciease
ovei time. And theiefoie, as a gioup, Mexican women iepiesent the
peimanent laboi foice of the tempoiaiily employed. The individual in-
stances of this subject come and go, as women deemed wasteful to a
ims pioject aie ieplaced by new ieciuits. Hei cultuial constitution
is inteinally diiven and immune to any diveisionaiy attempts by the
industiy to put Mexican women on a dieient path. Instead, she will
iepeat the pattein of women befoie hei and peipetuate the pioblem of
tuinovei so valuable to the maquilas.
Such a utopian image of the Mexican woman as a guie peimanently
and ineluctably headed towaid decline, always piomising that hei laboi
powei will be woith less than the cost of hei own social iepioduction,
evokes Benjamins elaboiation of the fetish. Benjamin ienovated Maixs
analogy of the fetish as phantasmagoiia to iefei not only to the so-
cial ielations of the maiket embedded in the commodity but also to
the social ielations of iepiesentation that weie sustained in the com-
modity. Accoiding to Susan Buck-Moiss (I,8,: 8:), Benjamins concein
with uiban phantasmagoiia was not so much the commodity-in-the-
maiket as the commodity-on-display. Benjamins point is that the me-
chanics of iepiesentation aie as ciitical to the cieation of value as the
actual exchange of use values in the maiketplace.
The fetish of the Mexican woman as waste in the making oeis evi-
dence foi Benjamins view of the fetish as an entity on display. As a
guie of waste, she iepiesents the possibility of a human existence that
is peihaps ieally woithless, and this iepiesentation is valuable in and
of itself. If we ieally can see and believe in hei wasted condition, then
she opens up a numbei of valuable possibilities foi numeious people.
Foi the manageis of the maquiladoia industiy, hei woithlessness means
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they can count on the tempoiaiy laboi foice that they need in oidei to
iemain competitive in a global systemof exible pioduction. The image
of the muidei victimsmany of them foimei maquila employees ab-
ducted on theii commutes between home and woikalso iepiesents
value foi the industiy as cultuial victims. Thiough the desciiptions
of Mexican cultuial violence, jealous machismo, and female sexuality,
maquiladoia exculpation nds its backing. No degiee of investment in
public infiastiuctuie to impiove tianspoitation ioutes, nance lighting
on stieets, boost public secuiity, oi hold safety seminais in the woik-
place will make any dieience. Otheis can also benet fiom the wide-
spiead and believable iepiesentation of the Mexican woman as waste
in the making. The peipetiatois of seiial muideis, domestic violence,
and iandom violence against women can count on a lack of public out-
iage and ocial insouciance with iegaid to theii captuie. And the city
and state ocials in Chihuahua who aie conceined about theii politi-
cal caieeis, undei the public sciutiny of theii eectiveness in cuibing
ciime, can defei iesponsibility.
The stoiies of this wasting and wasted guie must always be told
since, to adapt Butleis (I,,_: 8) calculation to my puiposes, the naming
of hei as waste is alsothe iepeatedinculcationof the noim. The iepeti-
tive telling of the wasting woman in the tuinovei and muidei stoiies is
iequisite because of hei ambiguity: the waste is nevei stable oi complete.
The possibility of hei valueof ngeis still exible oi of a muideied
young woman who was cheiished by manyluiks in the backgiound,
and so the soiting continues as we seaich foi evidence of the wasted
value. Hei dialectic constitution is suspended thiough the pitting of the
two antithetical conditions that she invaiiably embodies. We nd this
dialectic condition thiough the questions that ask: Is she woithy of oui
concein: Aie hei ngeis nimble oi sti, hei attitude pliant oi angiy, hei
habits chaste oi wild: Thiough the posing of such questions, hei ambi-
guity is soited as if it weie always piesent foi the soiting. Meanwhile,
she hangs in the balance.
uot c s
I would like to thank Rosalba Robles, Miianda Joseph, Esthei Chavez Cano, Saiah Hill,
Felicity Callaid, Eiica Schoenbeigei, David Haivey, David Kazanjian, Michael Denning,
Alys Weinbaum, Bient Edwaids, Neil Smith, Caiol A. Bieckeniidge, the anonymous
ievieweis at Public Culture, and the paiticipants at the Univeisity of Chicago Centei
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foi Gendei Studies woikshop foi theii comments on eailiei veisions of this essay, al-
though any inconsistencies oi lapses aie mine alone. Reseaich foi this pioject was pai-
tially funded by the National Science Foundation.
1 The numbei of muideis vaiies, depending upon the souices, fiom about one hun-
died foity to moie than two hundied. Local activists in Ciudad Juiez have voiced a
suspicion that not all of the muideis aie biought to public light, and foi this ieason I am
peisuaded that the laigei numbei iepiesents a moie accuiate assessment of the scope of
the pioblem. My mateiial foi this essay deiives fiom inteiviews and ieseaich conducted
ovei a seveial-yeai peiiod of ethnogiaphic eldwoik in Ciudad Juiez, Chihuahua.
2 The woid maquila is a shoitened foim of maquiladcra, which iefeis to the expoit-
piocessing factoiies located in Mexico that assemble appliances, electionics, and cloth-
ing, it also iefeis to data piocessing in high-technology opeiations.
3 Much of my discussion of Benjamins theoiy of dialectics diaws on Susan Buck-
Moisss (I,8,) account.
4 My discussion of the woman as waste in the making is infoimed by the conceptu-
alization of waste as a continual negotiation elaboiated by Saiah Hill (I,,8).
5 All tianslations aie piovided by the authoi.
6 John Quinones inteiviewed Robeito Uiiea, piesident of .m.c, on the :o[:o tele-
vision piogiam of :o Januaiy I,,,.
7 I conducted this and othei inteiviews that I diaw on thioughout the text duiing
a seveial-yeai peiiod of ethnogiaphic ieseaich within specic maquiladoias located in
Ciudad Juiez. I specify the nationality of the manageis in this text in oidei to demon-
stiate how a cultuial explanation is widespiead thioughout the industiy among man-
ageis of many nationalities. All the inteiviewees iepoited on heie aie men, with the
exception of one human iesouices managei. I also use the pioblematic iefeient of Amei-
ican as it is used by my infoimants and commonly along the Mexico-U.S. boidei to
identify iesidents and citizens of the United States who do not identify themselves as
Mexican.
e c r c e c uc c s
Benjamin, Waltei. I,o,. Reecticns. Essays, aphcrisms, autcbicgraphical writings, edited
by Petei Demetz and tianslated by Edmund Jephcott. New Yoik: Haicouit Biace
Jovanovich.
Beiuvides, M. G., J. R. Villalobos, and S. T. Hutchinson. I,,,. High tuinovei: Reduce the
impact. Twin Plant News I_ (_): _,o.
Buck-Moiss, Susan. I,8,. The dialectics cf seeing. Valter Benjamin and the arcades prcject.
Cambiidge: mi1 Piess.
Butlei, Judith. I,,_. Bcdies that matter. On the discursive limits cf sex. NewYoik: Rout-
ledge.
-. I,,,. Meiely cultuial. Sccial Text ,:,_: :o,,,.
Caiiillo, Joige V., ed. I,,o. La nueva eia de la industiia automotiiz en Mxico. Tijuana:
coiii.
Castaon, A. I,,8. Buscan igualdad laboial. El Diaric de Ciudad }urez, Io Octobei, _C.
1
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Cockbuin, Cynthia. I,8,. Machinery cf dcminance. London: Pluto Piess.
Elson, Diane, and Ruth Peaison. I,8I. Nimble ngeis make cheap woikeis: An analysis
of womens employment in Thiid Woild expoit manufactuiing. Feminist Review 8:
8,Io,.
-, eds. I,8,. Vcmens emplcyment and multinaticnals in Eurcpe. Basingstoke, U.K.:
Macmillan.
Feinndez-Kelly, Maia Patiicia. I,8_. Fcr we are scld, I and my pecple. Vcmen and in-
dustry in Mexiccs frcntier. Albany: State Univeisity of New Yoik Piess.
Guzmn, R. I,,8. Empiesas maquiladoias buscan mano de obia en colonias. El Diaric
de Ciudad }urez, : July, ,.
Haivey, David. I,8:. The limits tc capital. Oxfoid: Basil Blackwell.
Hill, Saiah. I,,8. Puiity and dangei on the U.S.-Mexico boidei. Centei foi U.S.-Mexican
Studies discussion papei, Univeisity of Califoinia, San Diego.
Joseph, Miianda. I,,8. The peifoimance of pioduction and consumption. Sccial Text,
no. ,: :,o:.
Limas Heinndez, A. I,,8. Despiotecin ciudadana. El Diaric de Ciudad }urez, Io July,
IIA.
Luckei, G. William, and A. Alvaiez. I,8,. Contiolling maquiladoia tuinovei thiough
peisonnel selection. Scuthwest }curnal cf Business and Eccncmics : (_): IIo.
Maix, Kail. I,,, I8o,]. Capital. Acritique cf pclitical eccncmy. Vol. I. NewYoik: Vintage.
McDowell, Linda. I,,,. Capital culture. Gender at wcrk inthe city. Oxfoid: Basil Blackwell.
Naiayan, Uma. I,,,. Dis-lccating cultures. Identities, traditicns, and Third Vcrld femi-
nism. New Yoik: Routledge.
Oiquiz, M. I,,8. Asesinatos de mujeies: Como dejai un dulce en un colegio. El Diaric
de Ciudad }urez, : August, _C.
Salzingei, L. I,,,. Fiom high heels to swathed bodies: Gendeied meanings undei pio-
duction in Mexicos expoit-piocessing industiy. Feminist Studies :_: ,,,.
Simison, R., and G. White. I,,8. Mexicos giowth may explain GM buildup theie. Vall
Street }curnal, I_ July.
Sklaii, Leslie. I,,_. Assembling fcr develcpment. The maquila industry in Mexicc and the
United States. San Diego: Centei foi U.S.-Mexico Studies.
Stack, M., and D. W. Valdez. I,,,. Juiez giil accuses diivei in attack. El Pasc Times,
I, Maich.
Tabuenca Cidoba, Maiia-Socoiio. I,,,,o. Viewing the boidei: Peispectives fiom the
Open Wound. Disccurse I8: Ioo8.
Twin Plant News Sta Repcrt. I,,,. Biain school. I: (8): _,I.
U.S. Depaitment of Laboi. I,,8. Public iepoit of ieview of NAO submission no. ,,oI.
I: Januaiy.
Villalobos, J. R., M. G. Beiuvides, and S. T. Hutchinson. I,,,. High tuinovei: What it
does to pioduction. Twin Plant News I_ (:): I.
Wiight, MelissaW. I,,8. Maquiladoia mestizas, and a feminist boidei politics: Revisiting
Anzalda. Hypatia I_ (_): II_I.
-. :ooI. Desiie and the piosthetics of supeivision. Cultural Anthrcpclcgy Io.
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Freeway to China (Version 2, for Liverpool)
Allan Sekula
Today the ielationship between the sea and the land is incieasingly
the opposite of what it was in the nineteenth centuiy. Sites of pio-
duction become mobile, while paths of distiibution become xed and
ioutinized. Factoiies aie now like ships: They mutate stiangely, mas-
queiade, and sometimes sail away stealthily in the night in seaich of
cheapei laboi, leaving theii foimei employees bewildeied and job-
less. And caigo ships now iesemble buildings, giant oating waie-
houses shuttling back and foith between xed points on an unielenting
schedule.
The contempoiaiy maiitime woild oeis little in the way of ieassui-
ing and nostalgic anthiopomoiphism, but suiiendeis instead to the
seiial discipline of the bcx. The caigo containei, an Ameiican innova-
tion of the mid-I,,os, tiansfoims the space and time of poit cities and
makes the globalization of manufactuiing possible. The containei is the
veiy con of iemote laboi powei, beaiing the hidden evidence of ex-
ploitation in the fai ieaches of the woild.
The adjacent poits of Los Angeles and Long Beach aie the biggest
in the Ameiicas, taken togethei they now iank thiid oi fouith in the
woild in containei volume. Massive public investments in new iail
lines, biidges, and containei and coal-expoit teiminals, costing moie
than thiee billion dollais, will moie than tiiple the caigo capacity of
the poit of Los Angeles. These infiastiuctuie piojects aie laigely hidden
fiom public sciutiny, and the poit iemains uniecognized and invisible.
In this sense, the poit of Los Angeles is the veiy exemplai of the post-
modein poit: vast functionalized tiacts foi containei opeiations built
upon evei expanding landll, fai fiom the metiopolitan centei. No one
would desciibe Los Angeles as a maiitime city. A poit with a piesent
and an optimistic futuie, but oddly indieient to its own past.
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Plans foi Los Angeles poit expansion weie based on optimistic pio-
jections of continued manufactuiing giowth in East and South Asia.
The iecent Asian economic ciisis has called these piojections into ques-
tion. Falling cuiiencies may iaise hopes of expoit-diiven iecoveiy on
the backs of impoveiished woikeis, but the complex global logistics of
the system cieate new blockages and economic sinkholes. The balance
of tiade slips iadically, with many containeis ietuining to Asia fiom
Los Angeles holding nothing but aii.
Ciisis oi boom, with its low wages, south China is now a piimaiy
industiial hinteiland foi the poit of Los Angeles. The deliiious (oi cyni-
cal) ocial claim that the sunken iail lines of the new Alameda coiii-
doi piomise to cieate ,oo,ooo jobs iings hollow and begs the ques-
tion, Wheie:
As one Los Angeles dockwoikei put it, gazing out at the iising bul-
waik of Piei oo, diedgedupfiomthe bottommuck of the outei haiboi,
Pietty soon theyll just diive the containeis ovei fiom China.
It would be too easy to say, ioughly boiiowing an old idea fiom Auden
about the dieiences between Euiopeans and Ameiicans, that the poit
of Liveipool embodies a past without a piesent, while the poit of Los
Angeles embodies a piesent without a past (this being known to opti-
mists and ocial boosteis as the future).
Los Angeles holds its own pasts in the shadow-zones of ocial mem-
oiy: evicted native coastal sheis conveited into mission slaves foi
the eaily-nineteenth-centuiy Spanish and Mexican hide tiade, hooded
Klansmen attacking anaicho-syndicalists outside the Wobbly hall in
I,:_, stiiking longshoiemen shot and heided into pens by the Los
Angeles police in I,_, Japanese immigiant sheimen sent packing to
deseit inteinment camps in I,:, most of these last nevei to sh again.
Of this avaiicious and often bloody coastal past, we have some souve-
niis, including a laige billboaid looming ovei Hollywood, a phalanx of
slim young models weaiing Dockeis tiouseis, a tting counteipoint
to Ronald Reagans pseudomemoiies of a seciet longshoiemens plot to
take ovei the Hollywood studio unions in the name of inteinational
communism.
And Liveipool has its own veision of a Los Angelesstyle invisible
maiitime futuie: the headquaiteis of the Meisey Docks and Haiboui
Company ietieats fiom the tiiumviiate of giand edices at Pieihead, a
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modein coipoiation seeking cowaids sheltei in a glass bunkei shielded
behind the Seafoith gates. Inside, the companys oceis iene an
Oiwellian discouise, eiasing theii own agency: woikeis ie them-
selves.
But I would like to think that theie aie oddei and moie idiosyn-
ciatic connections between the poits of Los Angeles and Liveipool, less
obvious than the intimate tiansatlantic links long established between
Liveipool and New Yoik.
Oceans apait, each poit had its iostei of iemaikable woiking-class
wiiteis and intellectuals fiom the I,_os and I,os: the Slovenian immi-
giant Louis Adamic, souice of inspiiation foi a new geneiation of iadi-
cal wiiteis on Los Angeles, whowiote while cleiking at the old pilot sta-
tionat the mouthof the mainchannel inSanPedio, oi the novelists John
Fante and Chestei Himes, all thiee iionists with senses of the absuid
to match those iened by Liveipools gieat woiking-class expiessionist
seafaiei wiiteisJames Hanley, Geoige Gaiiett, and Jim Phelan.
And yet anothei link: halfway to the piesent, a junioi-high-school
student stiuggling in vain to imitate the accent of Ringo Staii, and latei
playing clumsy stieet football with the Music Machine, who piacticed
loudly down the stieet in a one-cai stucco gaiage, unknown then to be
the missing link between the Biitish Sound and the futuie L.A. undei-
giound iock of the I,,os. Sean Bonniwell fading back as quaiteiback,
lit cigaiette dangling fiom his mouth, and telling us all to call iadio
stations and iequest Talk Talk.
And despite the musically hippei neighbois, I haiboied a seciet
fondness foi Geiiy and the Pacemakeis, because, aftei all, the San
Pedio feiiy was about to be ieplaced by a suspension biidge I disliked
and feaied, especially aftei coming to school to leain that a cheiished
fiiends fathei had been electiocuted while woiking on its looming
gieen toweis, so like the Golden Gate, but the coloi of seasickness and
money iathei than blood oianges. Ellen Rodiiguez sitting theie, sto-
ically, in piole at hei school desk, iemembeied all too vaguely as if she
weie an eithei studious oi giieving guie in a Riveia muial, and my not
knowing then and still not knowing what to say.
So heies the idea this time, no compensation foi still not knowing.
Tiace a line of dockeis solidaiity acioss the Pacic, fiom Fieemantle
and Sydney to Los Angeles. Set that line against the heaviei line of tians-
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national coipoiate intiigue, the line that seeks to stiangle and divide
and endlessly cheapen the cost of laboi, the line that iespects only the
degiadation of the bottom line. Reveise the diiection of the poet
Chailes Olsons ieading of Melvilles modeinism: Melvilles line tiacing
the Ameiican fiontieis outwaid extension acioss the Pacic, his foie-
knowledge, in I8,o, of the Pacic as sweatshop. Tiace the thin line of
iesistance faithei in ieveise, ciossing Ameiica and the Atlantic to Livei-
pool, gieat cityof woiking-class toil, depaituie, iefusal, and enjoyment.
The Liveipool dockeis and theii wives and families insist that theiis
has been a veiy modein stiuggle, iefuting the smug neolibeial dis-
missal of dock laboi as an atavistic thiowback to an eailiei meicantile
age. Postmodeinists, who fantasize a woild of puiely electionic and in-
stantaneous contacts, blind to the slow movement of heavy and neces-
saiy things, may indeed nd this insistence on meie modeinity quaint.
(How did youi tennis shoes get heie fiom Indonesia, Mi. and Ms. Jog-
gei:) But against the peinicious idealist abstiaction teimed global-
ism, dockeis enact an inteinational solidaiity based on intiicate physi-
cal, intellectual, and above all sccial ielationships to the owof mateiial
goods. The dockeis line of contact extends outwaid fiom what is im-
mediately at hand, to be lifted oi stowed, and ciosses the hoiizon to
anothei space with similai immediacies. To sustain this solidaiity, based
on woik, when woik has been ciavenly stolen away, is all the moie ad-
miiable, sustaining hope foi a futuie distinct fiom that fantasized by
the engineeis of a new woild of wealth without woikeis. The dockeis
iecognize this fantasy, and knowing full well that theie can be no fully
automated futuie, fathom its ugly seciet motto: Eveiyone a Scab.
And ask Dave Sinclaii to show his pictuies, because hes been heie
in Liveipool all along the way, and has been thinking with the cameia
about the impoitance of the fence, and of giief.
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}can, Val, and Anne, three dcckers wives, in the pub the afternccn the dccks dispute ended, }anuary
:;;8. Phctc Dave Sinclair
Texts and phctcgraphs
in this essay :ooo
Allan Sekula.
All rights reserved.
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The cld American President
Lines terminal, San Pedrc, Pcrt
cf Lcs Angeles, December :;;:
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Undei the Hook (Tiiptych)
Ooading containeis fiom the President Adams,
inbound fiom Hong Kong.
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American President Lines terminal, Pier ,oo, Terminal Island, Pcrt cf Lcs Angeles, February :;;,
Fieeway to China I
Geiman engineei supeivising the unloading of new
containei cianes fiom the heavy-lift caigo ship Teal.
The cianes weie manufactuied foi the Geiman paient
company at a dockyaid in Abu Dhabi, employing
Filipino and South Asian migiant laboieis, then
loaded aboaid the Teal foi the long, top-heavy voyage
acioss the Indian and Pacic Oceans. Belgian owned,
the Teal is iegisteied in the Netheilands Antilles, a
peivasive legal iuse that peimits the hiiing of a
cheapeiin this case Russianfoieign ciew.
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Fieeway to China : (Poitiait I)
Mason Davis, weldei and shipbuildeis union shop
stewaid on the TealPiei _oo pioject. Foimeily
employed as a jouineyman machinist at Los Angeles
last iemaining shipyaid. Now most of the shipyaid
woik is gone: This is my ist ieal job in ovei a yeai.
When I tiy to tiack him down to give him a piint
of this photogiaph, Im told that hes left town foi
New Yoik, in seaich of woik.
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New Brightcn, }uly :;;;
Shipspottei
The Canadian containei ship Cast Perfcrmance enteis
the Meisey inbound fiom Montieal.
Late the next night I join a tug ciew as they delicately
pull the same ship thiough the naiiow Seafoith locks
and back out into the Meisey on its continuing
voyage. The woik is dicult and as idiosynciatic as
the Meisey tides, and it seems evident thatdespite
company thieats to biing in ieplacement tugs fiom
Hambuighad the tug ciews felt empoweied to stop
woik in suppoit of the dockeis, the poit of Liveipool
would have come to a standstill.
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Liverpccl, }uly :;;;
Dockeis Listening
Sacked Liveipool dockeis listen to a iadio call-in show
iesponding to the Channel Foui bioadcast of Dcckers,
the lm they cowiote.
c.iiiv #I: Dont dockeis know any othei woid but
the F-woid:
c.iiiv #:: Weie becoming a Thiid Woild countiy.
c.iiiv #_: A lot of factoiies have gone down in
Liveipool because we weient so militant.
Latei that week I oveiheai two youngei men discussing
the lm in fuitive and embaiiassed tones while they
stand in line at McDonalds, giabbing a fast bite befoie
they head o to theii new jobs on the docks.
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7
Capitalism and Autochthony:
The Seesaw of Mobility and Belonging
Peter Geschiere and Francis Nyamnjch
A stiiking aspect of iecent developments in Afiica is that demociati-
zation seems to tiiggei a geneial obsession with autochthony and ethnic
citizenship invaiiably dened against stiangeisthat is, against all
those who do not ieally belong. Thus political libeialization leads,
somewhat paiadoxically, to an intensication of the politics of be-
longing: eice debates on who belongs wheie, violent exclusion of
stiangeis (even if this iefeis to people with the same nationality who
have lived foi geneiations in the aiea), and a geneial aimation of ioots
and oiigins as the basic ciiteiia of citizenship and belonging.
Such obsessions aie all the moie stiiking since histoiians and anthio-
pologists used to qualify Afiican societies as highly inclusive, maiked
by an emphasis on wealth-in-people (in contiast to Euiopes wealth-
in-things) and a wide aiiay of institutional mechanisms foi including
people (adoption, fosteiage, the bioad iange of classicatoiy kinship
teiminology). In many Afiican political foimations piioi to libeializa-
tion, theie was an impoitant social distinction between autcchthcns and
allcchthcns, but its implications weie stiikingly dieient fiom today.
Often iuleis came fiom allochthon clans who emphasized theii oiigin
fiom elsewheie, yet had piivileged access to political positions. Since
the late I,8os, in contiast, autochthony has become a poweiful slogan
to exclude the Othei, the allcgene, the stiangei. Political libeialization
seems to have stiengthened a decidedly nonlibeial tendency towaid
closuie and exclusion (cf. Bayait I,,o).
In ceitain iespects, issues of autochthony and theii violent impact on
politics aie a continuation of a much oldei pieoccupation with ethnic
dieiences: at least in some paits of Afiica, the incieasing cuiiency of
slogans about autcchtcnes veisus allcgenes can be seen as maiking a new
foim of ethnicity. In piinciple, ethnicity evokes the existence of a moie
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oi less cleaily dened ethnic gioup with its own substance and a spe-
cic name and histoiy. Piecisely because of this specicity, ethnicity is
open to debate and even to eoits towaid deconstiuction by alteina-
tive inteipietations of histoiy. Notions of autochthony have a similai
eect of cieating an us-them opposition, but they aie less specic. They
aie equally capable of aiousing stiong emotions iegaiding the defense
of home and of ancestial lands, but since theii substance is not named,
they aie both moie elusive and moie easily subject to political manipu-
lation. These notions can be applied at any level, fiom village to iegion
to countiy. Autochthony seems to go togethei veiy well with global-
ization. It cieates a feeling of belonging, yet goes beyond ethnicitys
specicity. Piecisely because of its lack of substance, it appeais to be a
tempting and theiefoie all the moie dangeious ieaction to seemingly
open-ended global ows.
This emphasis on autochthony and belonging in politics is ceitainly
not special to Afiica: eveiywheie in oui globalized woild the incieas-
ing intensity of global ows seems to be accompanied by an aimation
of cultuial dieiences and belonging. Unfoitunately, eiuptions of com-
munal violence seem to be the ip side of globalization. Foi instance,
theie is a stiiking paiallel between, on the one hand, attempts in Ivoiy
Coast, Tanzania, and Zambia to disqualify eminent politiciansinclud-
ing Kenneth Kaunda, the fathei of the Zambian nationon the giounds
of foieign ancestiy and, on the othei hand, the stienuous eoits of poli-
ticians like Jean-Maiie Le Pen in Fiance oi Joig Haidei in Austiia to ex-
clude stiangeis fiom citizenship (although both politicians iun into
gieat diculties when they have to dene who ieally belongs). In othei
modein demociacies, and in Euiope and Noith Ameiica as well, au-
tochthony and ioots have become majoi issues. They always weie so
in the Caiibbean and othei pluial societies that can be consideied
pioducts pai excellence of globalization.
How is this upsuige of autochthony in veiy dieient paits of oui
globalized woild to be explained: It may be ieassuiing to explain it
awayas the last ickeiing of some soit of tiaditionalist iesistance against
modein developments, but it is becoming evei moie blatant that these
movements aie pait and paicel of globalization piocesses as such. As
many authois have stiessed, the iapidly acceleiating ows of people,
goods, and images on a tiuly global scale not only lead to globaliza-
tion, they tiiggei equally potent tendencies towaid localization.
1
Glccal-
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rc t c e c c s c ui c e c uo r e uc i s uv vu( ou
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izaticnto boiiow an ugly but evocative shoithand foi this ambiguity
fiom Roland Robeitson (I,,:)seems to be a hotbed foi pieoccupa-
tions of belonging and autochthony. In such a peispective, cosmopoli-
tanism and autochthony aie like conjoined twins: a fascination with
globalizations open hoiizons is accompanied by deteimined eoits
towaid boundaiy-making and closuie, expiessed in teims of belonging
and exclusion (cf. Appaduiai I,,o).
Theie is some uigency in tiying to gain moie insight into such stiik-
ing paiadoxes of ow and closuie (Meyei and Geschieie I,,,), that
is, into how globalization goes togethei with fiantic attempts towaid
closuie oi how political libeialization in many paits of the woild (and
ceitainly in Afiica) tiiggeis an obsession with the exclusion of stiangeis
and a highly nonlibeial imaginaiy of autochthons veisus allochthons as
the basic political opposition. Aftei all, millennial capitalism is maiked
not only by an acceleiated opening of new peiipheiies foi the woild
maiket, but even moie stiongly by fiightening explosions of communal
violence.
2
It is tempting to analyze such paiadoxes in teims of the tensions be-
tween, on the one hand, the incieasing tiansnational chaiactei of capi-
talism that piomotes an evei gieatei mobility of people, and on the
othei hand, the tenacity of the nation-state as a model that imposes
boundaiies and a tendency towaid piotectionism. Indeed, it is cleai
that Le Pens and Haideis xenophobia is pait of a despeiate attempt
to gain contiol ovei the nation-state, seen as the last defense of its citi-
zens against the thieat of globalization. In a somewhat dieient sense,
it is quite stiiking that in Afiica national iegimes encouiage peoples
obsession with belonging. Instead of piomoting national citizenship, as
implied by the idea of nation-building that dominated politics in the
I,,os and I,8os, these iegimes now seem to be moie intent on pioduc-
ing autochthons.
Yet it might be helpful to ietuin globalization to histoiy and to place
its (oi iathei glocalizations) paiadoxes in a longei histoiical peispec-
tive. In this iespect, the focus of this volume on capitalisma teim that
foi some time seemed to go out of fashion among social scientists
is veiy ielevant. In a longei time peispective, piesent-day dialectics of
ow and closuie in piocesses of globalization seem to be closely con-
nected with ceitain contiadictions in the unfolding of capitalism. Since
the so-called victoiy of capitalism aftei the end of the Cold Wai, in-
161
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cieasingly simplistic models of the maiket, with libeialization as its un-
equivocal gospel, have become cuiient (but cf. Bayait I,, and Dilley
I,,:). Foi some, this victoiy is even supposed to biing the end of his-
toiy. All the moie impoitant to emphasize in contiast that capitalism
(oi the maiket) still iepioduces its own contiadictions and theiefoie
still pioduces histoiy. One contiadiction is of special impoitance to
oui theme of autochthony: Capitalism appeais to be about the fiee-
ing of laboi as a necessaiy condition foi cieating a mobile mass of
wage-laboieis, yet in many instances it has also biought with it de-
teimined eoits to compaitmentalize laboi, imposing classications
evei changing, but all the moie poweifulin oidei to facilitate contiol
ovei the laboi maiket. Homogenization and exclusion aie two sides of
one coin in capitalist laboi histoiy, and this histoiical ambiguity seems
to be a ciucial factoi in todays enigmatic inteitwinement of globaliza-
tion and autochthony.
In this essay we focus on Cameioon, and notably on its Southwest
Piovince, which has iecently become a hotbed of confiontations ovei
autochthony and exclusion in diiect ielation to national politics. The
southwest is one of the moie economically developed paits of the coun-
tiy. Alieady in the I8,os, the Geimans (the ist colonizeis) had cie-
ated a laige-scale plantation complex heie on the volcanic slopes of
Mount Cameioon, neai the coast. Thioughout the twentieth centuiy,
these plantations attiacted laboieis fiom othei paits of Cameioon and
even fiom Nigeiia. Capitalist agiicultuie did, theiefoie, lead to incieas-
ing mobility of laboi in this iegion as much as elsewheie. To undeistand
why autochthony has become such a eice political issue in this pai-
ticulai aiea, howevei, it is as impoitant to emphasize that the specic
ways in which laboi was made available maintained and foimalized dif-
feiences within this laboi foice that would maik social ielations in the
iegion up until the piesent.
Southwest Cameioon ceitainly has its specicities, yet theie aie in-
tiiguing (and quite woiiying) paiallels with developments elsewheie
in Afiica and in Euiope. Fiom a compaiative peispective, this specic
example may help to highlight the pioblems of a simplistic, but unfoi-
tunately pievalent, equation of capitalism with libeialization and ho-
mogenizing notions of the individual. Histoiically, capitalist inteiests
weie as much involved in piomoting the mobility of laboi as in foi-
malizing cultuial dieiences within the laboi foice (and thus fieezing
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the boundaiies of what used to be quite uid communities). The ex-
ample of southwest Cameioon illustiates this ambivalence paiticulaily
well. Closei attention to the seesaw in the evolution of capitalist iela-
tions between mobilizing and homogenizing the laboi foice on the one
hand and foimalizing dieience on the othei may help to explain the
inheient link between globalization and communalism in its vaiying
tiajectoiies.
ut o c ut uouv i u c vc e o ou:
t uc i v c i u ev uo t uc i w
On I Febiuaiy I,,,, a tiain cai full of gasoline capsized in the cen-
tei of Yaound, the capital of Cameioon, spilling it onto a city squaie.
This seemed to be a windfall foi the many people who ciowded the acci-
dent scene to ll tanks and bottles with the fuel. But when one man
was so impiudent as to light a cigaiette, theie was a huge explosion that
killed and wounded dozens of people. The same day radic trcttcir (as
the giapevine is called in Yaound) staited to iesonate with the iumoi
that all victims weie autochthons. Accoiding to oui infoimant, this
had a simple explanation: Local people had chased les allcgenes fiom
the spot of the accident, saying that it was theii gasoline since it was
theii city. Consequently theie weie haidly any stiangeis left when the
accident took place.
3
It is stiiking that iadio tiottoii consideied even a
hoiiible accident like this in teims of autcchtcnes and allcgenes.
The backgiound to the incieasing cuiiency of these teims is the
mounting tension in Yaound between the Beti people, who considei
themselves locals, and the Bamileke people fiom westein Cameioon,
who aie consideied immigiants.
4
This tension is as old as the develop-
ment of Yaound as the capital of the colony in the I,:os, when the city
began to attiact a giowing numbei of people fiom the populous Giass-
elds aiea of westein Cameioon. The exact numeiical balance between
the two gioups within the citys piesent population is a subject of con-
stant speculation, but the Beti feai that they have become a minoiity in
theii owncity. Since I,,o this feai has attained newheights undei politi-
cal libeialization, because demociatization evokes the spectei of being
outvoted by these stiangeis (many of whom have actually lived in the
city foi geneiations, some since I,I8). It is in this context that notions
like autcchtcnes and allcgenes have become so poweiful in eveiyday life.
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Indeed, the ietuin of the countiy to multipaityism in I,,oin
the context of the geneial wave of demociatization in Afiica and de-
spite the tenacious iesistance of Piesident Paul Biya (who iemains
in powei)made the idea of autochthony a cential political issue.
Since then, theie has been a constant piolifeiation of political paities.
The most impoitant paities aie Biyas Cameioon Peoples Demociatic
Movement (cvum), the Social Demociatic Fiont (sui), with its main
suppoit among anglophones and fiancophones fiom the west, and
the noithein-suppoited Union Nationale poui le Dveloppement et
le Piogis (0uv).
5
Demociatization iapidly developed into a politi-
cal stalemate between the cvum, which iemained in powei (thanks to
laige-scale iigging of successive elections), and the sui, as the main
opposition paity. Moie impoitant than this piolifeiation of paities was
the emeigence of local and iegional elite associations that weie often ac-
tively suppoited by the Biya iegime. These associations, although pui-
poitedly cultuial and woiking foi the development of the community,
weie usually moie conceined with weakening the nationwide appeal of
opposition paities like the sui. Thus political libeialization was tians-
foimed into an eeivescence of a new type of politics of belonging,
often explicitlyencouiaged by the iegime (see Nyamnjoh and Rowlands
I,,8, Geschieie and Guglei I,,8).
This tiansition ieceived piegnant expiession in a seiies of new laws
in the I,,osnot only in the successive electoial laws, but even in the
I,,o constitution. A novel aspect of this constitution is that it mentions
explicitlyin the pieamble and in aiticle ,,, _the states obligation
to piotect minoiities and pieseive the iights of indigenous popula-
tions. Moieovei, it iequiies that the chaiipeison of each iegional coun-
cil shall be an indigene of the Region while its Buieau shall ieect
the sociological components of the Region. Theie is a glaiing contiast
heie with the pieceding constitution (I,,:), which stated in the English
veision of its pieamble:
The people of Cameioon, pioud of its cultuial and linguistic divei-
sity . . . piofoundly awaie of the impeiative need to achieve complete
unity, solemnly declaies that it constitutes one and the same Nation,
committed to the same destiny, and aims its unshakeable deteimi-
nation to constiuct the Cameioonian Fatheiland on the basis of the
ideal of fiateinity, justice and piogiess. . . . Eveiyone has the iight
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to settle in any place and to move about fieely. . . . No one shall be
haiassed because of his oiigin.
The I,,o constitution ieplaced this emphasis on the iights of eveiy
national citizen with an emphatic iespect foi the iights of mincrities and
indigenes. These lattei teims have a specic discuisive backgiound: they
aie boiiowed fiom the discouise of the Woild Bank, which since the
I,8os has incieasingly stiessed the need to piotect disappeaiing cul-
tuies. In the Woild Bank discouise, mincrities and indigenes iefei, foi
instance, to Pygmees and othei huntei-gatheieis, oi to pastoialists.
In Cameioon, howevei, these teims acquiie a veiy dieient meaning
and political impact (especially as the constitution makes no attempt
to dene them).
Stiiking illustiations aie to be found in the successive electoial laws
of the I,,os that seem to be intended mainly to piotect locals fiom
being outvoted by stiangeis. An elaboiate set of iules and stipulations
deteimines who may vote wheie. Foi piesidential elections, section 8 of
Law No. ,:[oIo (I, Septembei I,,:) iequiies that candidates be Cam-
eioonian citizens by biith and show pioof of having iesided in Camei-
oon foi an uninteiiupted peiiod of at least I: (twelve) months. One has
to piove six months of continuous iesidence ina givenlocality to qualify
to vote theie, and to stand foi elections in that locality one must be
an indigene oi a long-staying iesident (this lattei teim is not fuithei
specied). Othei iequiiements, not explicitly foimulated in the law, aie
invoked by the Ministiy of Teiiitoiial Administiation (mi.1), which
is both playei and umpiie.
6
Duiing the consecutive piesidential, pai-
liamentaiy, and municipal elections of the I,,os, mi.1 devised addi-
tional pieconditions oi used othei diveisionaiy tactics foi deteimin-
ing who is allowed to stand candidate. The complicated electoial laws
piovide the goveinment with piecious oppoitunities to manipulate the
electoial iolls in its favoi while making matteis extiemely dicult foi
the opposition. Foi instance, it is common foi opposition suppoiteis to
be told in the city wheie they live that they have to vote in theii home
aiea (village of oiigin), but once theie they aie infoimed by the local au-
thoiities that they have to vote wheie they live (in the city). In this way,
many potential voteis nevei make it to the polling station on election
day. Duiing eveiy election, the newspapeis caiiy stoiies about opposi-
tion voting lists that have been disqualied by mi.1, eithei foi failuie
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to ieect the sociological components of the locality oi foi including
candidates that did not quite belong in the aiea.
The diiect political ielevance of such legislative touis de foice is illus-
tiated by the fact that the I,,o constitution was adopted just befoie the
municipal elections that the sui opposition was cleaily going to win
in seveial key uiban constituencies in Douala and even in Yaound. In
Douala, the main poit and the economic capital of Cameioon, the sui
victoiy led to the cieation of a foimal movement of all coastal peoples
(Sawa) who piesented themselves as an autochthonous minoiity that
sueied political and economic maiginalization by ungiateful and
unsciupulous allcgenes fiomthe Giasselds.
7
As inYaound, the local
people feel thieatened by the immigiation of the Bamileke (which in
this city dates back to the Geiman peiiod). But in Douala, unlike
Yaound, it had been cleai foi decades that the small Douala gioup was
fai outnumbeied by the Bamileke immigiants. The Sawa movement ie-
acted, theiefoie, all the moie eicely.
The sui had won the mayoial seat in ve Douala distiicts, and in
all but one of these distiicts its candidate was a Bamileke. Thus the sui
victoiy tiiggeied laige-scale demonstiations in the city. The Sawa dem-
onstiatois displayed placaids saying Demociacy: Yes. Hegemony: No,
No Demociacy without Piotection foi Minoiities and Indigenes, and A
Majoiity Based on Ethnic Votes Is a Sign Not of Demociacy but of Ex-
pansionism. They weie singing songs like these in Douala: This Shall
Not HappeninOui Homeland, These People Liedto Us, andWheie
Aie They Going to Dump Us.
8
The diiect iefeiences to the newconstitution in the Sawa slogans led
to a eiy debate in vaiious newspapeis and jouinals. Sawa and Beti
authois, wiiting foi piogoveinment papeis in Yaound such as Camer-
cun Tribune, Le Patricte, and LAnecdcte, hailed the new constitution
as a necessaiy step to piotect minoiity gioups fiom the asphyxiating
giip of expansionist and demogiaphically supeiioi migiants such
as the Bamileke (see note 8). In contiast, aiticles by mainly Bamileke
and anglophone authois in the antigoveinment piess bianded the con-
stitution as a iecipe foi national disintegiation. Zognong (I,,,: I:,
I:,), foi instance, emphasized that instead of piomoting national con-
sciousness, it encouiaged ethnic disciimination and theiefoie a false
consciousness, substituting an ethnic citizenship foi the civic citi-
zenship defended by the I,,: constitution. He emphasized also that
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the teim mincrity was delibeiately ambiguous and theiefoie open to
manipulation. Otheis (Tatah Mentan I,,,, Jua I,,,) wained of a tiivi-
alization of the notion of minoiity and blamed the cvum goveinment
foi championing politics of divide-and-iule to the detiiment of nation-
hood.
The Sawa demonstiations, howevei, led not only to a public de-
bate, they weie also the occasion foi the Biya iegime to inteivene in
a mannei that giaphically illustiated the impoitance of the issues in-
volved. Invoking the new constitution, the goveinment made it cleai
that the Sawa and Beti minoiities could indeed iely on it foi piotection
against a hegemony of stiangeis. Soon aftei the Sawa demonstiations in
Douala, Piesident Biya signed a deciee appointing indigenes as govein-
ment delegates in the metiopolitan councils wheie the sui had won the
municipal elections. The installation of these delegates in towns con-
sideied Sawanot only coastal cities such as Douala oi Limbe, but
also Kumba in the inteiioiwas the occasion foi laige Sawa meetings
to congiatulate the head of state foi heeding theii call to put a check
on the hegemony of non-natives in theii cities (Yenshu I,,,). Thus,
undei the guise of piotecting minoiity inteiests, the cvum iegime was
able to impose its own people at the head of key uiban councils, even
in constituencies wheie it had lost the elections.
The message to sui and othei opposition politicians was cleai: They
stood to gain moie by seeking piestige and powei within the con-
nes of the home iegion oi villagein elite associations oi cultuial
movementsthan by competing with the dominant political paity in
national politics. The caieei of Jean-Jacques Ekindi fiom Douala illus-
tiates this shift fiomnational politics to cultuialist movements. In I,,I,
Ekindi split o fiom the cvum to found his own paity, the Mcuve-
ment Prcgressiste, and in I,,:, he even daied to stand foi the piesidency
against Biya (of couise, without success). Howevei, in I,,o, aftei foui
yeais of political anonymity, he enthusiastically accepted the leadeiship
of the Sawa movement in oidei to make his political comeback, albeit
undei the cvumumbiella. Othei cultuialist movements foi the defense
of autochthony seem also to oei some soit of second chance to politi-
cians who failed to consolidate theii position in national paity politics.
The contiast with the iecent, aboitive political caieei of the famous
Cameioonianauthoi Mongo Beti is stiiking. InI,,, he decidedto stand
as sui candidate foi the pailiamentaiy seat of Mbalmayo, his biith-
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place in the heait of Beti (that is, cvum) countiy. In the fties, Mongo
Beti had gained inteinational ienown foi his novels on life undei colo-
nial iule in Cameioon. But aftei independence he went into exile in
Fiance, feaiing aiiest by the authoiitaiian iegime of Ahmadou Ahidjo,
the countiys ist piesident. Neaily thiity yeais latei, aftei political lib-
eialization, he decided to ietuin. Unfoitunately, the scope foi opposi-
tion still pioved to be faiily limited. The idea that a piominent membei
of the Beti elite would stand candidate foi the sui was deeply shocking
to most of the elite people of his own gioup, and Mongo Beti was sub-
jected to a smeai campaign as tiaitoi of his own people (Nyamnjoh
I,,o: I). As duiing the Sawa iiots, this was the occasion foi the gov-
einment to inteivene in a most diastic way: Invoking section I, of the
electoial code, it simply declaied Mongo Betis candidacy invalid since
he had gained Fiench nationality duiing his yeais in exile. Although
many Cameioonians, politicians included, have a second nationality,
this was not peimitted foi a Beti standing candidate against his own
biotheis.
The cultuial associations aie cleaily the goveinments alteinative
to opposition paities, but it would be too simple to see theii owei-
ing only as a pioduct of manipulations by political elites in theii quest
foi powei. The omnipiesence of the autcchtcnes-allcgenes opposition
and the obviousness it has acquiied in eveiyday life indicate that deepei
issues aie involved. Undei demociatization, questions such as Who
can vote wheie: and even moie impoitant, Who can stand candidate
wheie: acquiied a piessing uigency and iaised vital issues of belong-
ing and citizenship. Cameioonians aie acutely awaie of what is at stake.
The public debate, tiiggeied by the new constitution and the subse-
quent Sawa demonstiation, was joined by a bioad scale of Cameioo-
nianintellectuals, including academics andpeople abioad. At the endof
I,,o, foi instance, civivi[Ethoneta Cameioonian ieseaich buieau
that includes academics fiom vaiious univeisitiesoiganized a laige-
scale suivey in vaiious iegions of the countiy on issues of autochthony
and belonging in politics. The ieseaicheis weie happybut appaiently
also quite suipiisedto iepoit that, at least accoiding to the ieplies
to theii questions, the majoiity of Cameioonians did not suppoit the
giowing emphasis on the tandem autcchtcnes-allcgenes. Moie than half
the iespondents said they opposed the use of such notions, and less than
a fouith stated that such issues inuenced theii voting behavioi (Zog-
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nong and Mouiche I,,,a: Io). Howevei, the authois themselves weie
cleaily somewhat woiiied that the suivey might have elicited noima-
tive ieplies iathei than actual political piactices. And indeed, the ovei-
all tiend in the othei contiibutions in the volume they edited indicates
howdicult it is to escape fiom the conceptual tandem of autcchtcnes-
allcgenes (Zognong and Mouiche I,,,b).
Eailiei, in May I,,o, the Cameioonian jouinal La Ncuvelle Expres-
sicn had dedicated an entiie issue to the topic of Mincrites, autcchtcnes,
allcgenes, et demccratie (I,,o). This issue oeied a seiious and consis-
tent attempt to deconstiuct these notions and to highlight theii dan-
geious political implications. An essay by Piofessoi Ngijol Ngijol of
Yaound Univeisity piovided a histoiical analysis of consecutive vei-
sions of autochthony and emphasized the dangeis of including such
an ambiguous notion in the veiy constitution of the countiy. Beitiand
Toko showed how dicult it is to apply the notion of autochthony
in cities that, like Douala and Yaound, fiom the veiy stait of theii
uiban development weie populated by immigiants. He noted that it
is all the moie woiiying that it is piecisely in these cities that people
invoke autcchtcnie as a self-evident basis foi political and economic
claims. Philippe Bissek iaised the question as to why so many Afii-
can iegimes had iecently seemed to bet on such piimoidial political
slogans. These ciitical analyses weie fuithei eniiched by ielevant his-
toiical documents. Howevei, the same issue of La Ncuvelle Expressicn
also contained othei peispectives. Foi instance, in a long inteiview,
Rogei Gabiiel Nlep, anothei academic fiom Yaound Univeisity, dis-
cussed his theoiy of le village electcral. To him integiation was the
cential issue inCameioonianpolitics. Accoiding toNlep, people should
be fully integiated in the place wheie they live, but this supposes that
theie is not un autre chez sci (anothei home aiea). Theiefoie, if some-
body who was elected in Douala defended the inteiests of his village
in anothei iegion, this should qualify as political malveisation (La
Ncuvelle Expressicn I,,o: I8).
In this inteiview with La Ncuvelle Expressicn, Nlep was quite piu-
dent in his discussion of le village electcral, but this veiy concept could
be used quite dieiently. Foi instance, duiing the campaign foi the mu-
nicipal elections of I,,o and in subsequent inteiviews on Cameioonian
television, Mola Njoh Litumbe, a politician fiom the southwest, intei-
pieted the notion of le village electcral with moie audacity, as meaning
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that uiban migiants should go back to theii village to votean intei-
pietation ieinfoiced by the iegimes manipulations, discussed above, of
electoial laws and voteis lists.
9
Otheis used even less piudent slogans in
theii defense of autochthony as a valid consideiation in politics. Foi in-
stance, Mono Ndjana (I,,,), a philosophy piofessoi of the Univeisity of
Yaound whowas a veiy vocal suppoitei of the Biya iegime, iepioached
the Bamileke foi theii ethncfascisme and denounced the aiguments
of his intellectual opponents as a gauchissement du tribalisme (leftist
tiibalism).
i uo uo r uuc e i s s c e uc i i i s s uc s or s c i ouc i uc
Apait fiom the political issueWho is to vote wheie:two othei
issues aie ciucial foi defendeis of autcchtcnie. the access to land and,
even moie, the question of wheie someone is buiied. In the II Janu-
aiy I,,_ Le Patricte (Yaound), Ava Jean painted a hoiioi pictuie of
Bamileke land hungei:
The ideologists of westein fascism in oui countiy tell us that the
Bamileke is a supeiioi being . . . who has the iight to settle anywheie
in Cameioon. . . . They aiiive somewheie, hands outstietched and
mouth full of insults, begging foi land in the name of national unity.
Since it is common knowledge that Ewondo men cheiish ied wine,
discussions take place in the bai neaiby. Eveiything is settled. Then
staits the shameful exploitation of Ewondo land. Oui tianslation]
The buiial question is even moie emotionally laden. Foi instance,
Samuel Eboua, leadei of the Mcuvement pcur la Demccratie et le Prcgres
and one of the giand old men of Cameioonian politics (foimei secie-
taiy-geneial at the piesidents oce and foimei lectuiei at the cole
Nationale dAdministiation, the piestigious academy foi civil seivants)
explained in an inteiview with Pascal Blaise that wheie one is buiied is
the ciucial ciiteiion of wheie one belongs: Eveiy Cameioonian is an
allcgene anywheie else in the countiy . . . apait fiom wheie his ances-
tois lived and . . . wheie his moital iemains will be buiied. Eveiybody
knows that only undei exceptional ciicumstances will a Cameioonian
be buiied . . . elsewheie (Impact TribuUne, I,,,:I, oui tianslation).
Indeed, the buiial issue illustiates most vividly the extent to which
these consideiations peimeate eveiyday life. In itself this is, again, not a
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new issue. In the I,,os, when Piesident Ahidjo was still in powei, iadio
tiottoii spiead the spectaculai stoiy of John Nganso, a Bamileke man
fiom Kumba (the main town of the Southwest Piovince, so outside the
Bamileke aiea) who aspiied to become a goveinment ministei. Nico-
demus Awasom (n.d.) summaiizes the iumoi thus:
John Nganso was boin ciica I,o in Kumba in Biitish Cameioon
to] migi paients fiom Dschang in the Fiench Cameioons who
had succeeded in escaping fiom the haishness of Fiench colonial
iule. . . . Nganso did his piimaiy education in Kumba and pioceeded
to Nigeiia and the United Kingdomfoi fuithei studies. On his ietuin
to Cameioon, he joined the civil seivice and aftei the inauguiation
of the unitaiy state, he quickly iose to the iank of a Diiectoi in a
goveinment ministiy, an achievement which was iaie, if not impos-
sible foi an Anglophone. Nganso had acquiied sucient Fiench and
is alleged to have manipulated the ethnic caid by identifying with
Fiancophone Bamileke. Since he had the ambitions of iising beyond
the iank of a Diiectoi, he had to integiate himself in the Bamileke
caucus as a full-edged Bamileke. He had to pioduce oi show what
did not exist: his late fatheis house and giave in Bamileke countiy
as the supieme symbols of his Bamilekeness. Since his late fatheis
compound and giave weie found in Kumba, he could not convinc-
ingly pass foi a Bamileke. The exigencies of his ambitions dictated
that he had to acquiie a compound in a Bamileke countiy he had
nevei visited all his life and his fatheis coipse had to be exhumed
and tianspoited foi iebuiial. Nganso had to undeigo this oideal to
qualify as a Bamileke and a Fiancophone and ienounce his disad-
vantaged Anglophone identity. Ngansos action piovoked an upioai
in Kumba wheie many Anglophones undeistood the political mo-
tives behind his act. The Ahidjo administiation was so embaiiassed
by such soidid manoeuvies that Ngansowas piomptly diopped fiom
his post. (I:I_)
Nyamnjoh iecoided anothei veision of the stoiy, accoiding to which
the Bamileke villageis told Nganso: We do not know you. Show us
youi fatheis giave. At this, he had no othei option than to disintei his
fatheis body (buiied in Kumba) and to buiy it again in the ancestial
village. The bioad ciiculation of this stoiy shows how convincing it is
to people. Indeed, to many Cameioonians, buiial location is the ciite-
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iion foi belonging. Some Bamileke migiants who had ed theii home
villages duiing the I,oos civil wai and settled in the Southwest Piov-
ince weie said to have left explicit instiuctions with theii childien and
giandchildien that they be piopeily buiied (iebuiied) in theii home
villages once the situation had noimalized.
10
The issue in itself may not be new, but demociatization and the ie-
newed impoitance of the vote made such consideiations all the moie
uigent in the I,,os. It is also against this backgiound that slogans such
as le village electcral weie launched. Defendeis of autcchtcnie nevei tiie
of iepeating that immigiants, no mattei how long they live in the city,
still want to be buiied in the village of theii ancestois. And thisas the
pievious quotation fiom Eboua impliesshows wheie theii basic loy-
alty is. As became cleai with the Sawa movement, the conclusion to this
line of thinking is that only autochthons should be allowed to stand
candidates foi impoitant positions. It is also this logic of belonging that
the goveinment invokes to justify its endless manipulations of electoial
lists. Theie is, indeed, a ceitain plausibility to the political logic of au-
tcchtcnie, in view of the fiequency with which uiban migiantseven
if they live foi geneiations in the city, own land theie, and build up
theii whole lives theiecontinue to buiy theii deceased in theii vil-
lage. Undei political libeialization, such double commitments become
all the moie pioblematic.
11
Yet it is also cleai that in piactice notions of
autcchtcnie lead to distuibing foims of exclusion.
The much discussed Association of the Elites of the Eleventh Piov-
ince, founded in the Southwest Piovince, is a good example of how
notions such as autcchtcnie oi ethnic citizenship completely eiode the
ideal of national citizenship that had been cential to foimei Piesident
Ahidjos pioject of nation building in the I,oos and I,,os. As demon-
stiated above, issues of autochthony have been piominent in the South-
west Piovince, wheie the inux of plantation laboieis since the I8,os
has made the local population feel outnumbeied and thieatened. No
wondei that demociatization and the ienewed impoitance of belcng-
ing in politics led to paiticulaily eice tensions in this aiea. It is in
this context that the Association of the Elites of the Eleventh Piovince
emeiged. Alieady, the name is quite challenging, not to say enigmatic,
since eveiybody knows that Cameioon has only ten piovinces. Beltus I.
Bejanga, the associations founding piesident, who teaches at the Uni-
veisity of Yaound in the Cential Piovince but consideis himself an
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indigene of Kumba in the Southwest Piovince, explains the name in an
inteiview with the Herald (Buea) (Io Apiil I,,,):
The membeis of this association. . . aie the childienoi giandchildien
of oui foiefatheis who came ovei fiomthe foimei Fiench Cameioon
to the then Southein Cameioon (Biitish). . . . These childien oi the
giandchildien of these migiants had theii education, tiaining and
eveiything in the Biitish Cameioons and theiefoie they aie membeis
of what we call the Eleventh Piovince Association.
Asked why he chooses to call himself a membei of this association in-
stead of identifying with wheie he was boin, Bejanga continues with
some heat:
Exactly. We thought we belonged to wheie we weie boinuntil ie-
cently swii. the South West Elites Association] was foimed. In
one of theii meetings some of us attended but weie diiven out and
called stiangeis who have no iight to take pait in the meeting. So
we concluded that we didnt belong to English-speaking Cameioon,
noi aie we accepted in Fiench-speaking Cameioon. . . . We want to
diawthe attentionof the goveinment to tell themthat we aie heie, we
aie Cameioonians but have no statehood. The goveinment should
decide what to do with us.
Bejanga continues, emphasizing that someones home should be
wheie you aie boin, wheie you went to school, wheie you live, wheie
you have all youi piopeity.
12
But the Herald jouinalist quotes anothei
elite fiom Kumbapiobably a membei of swii.who pioposes to
iefei tosomebodys home as the placewheie he is buiiedwhenhe dies.
At this Bejanga gets ieally excited, appaiently because he foiesees that
this ciiteiion will make him a stiangei in the aiea he consideis to be
his own:
Will I claim my home when I am dead and buiied: I think my home
should not be wheie I will be buiied, because I could die in the sea
and my coipse nevei seen. . . . The goveinment should step in and
stop people fiom calling otheis settleis oi stiangeis. It is some-
times piovocative. The goveinment should say no to this.
This example vividly shows how vital an issue the place of buiial has
become. It shows also how the ciucial iole that iegional and local elite
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associations came to play undei political libeializationa iole that may
aect political developments moie than the piolifeiation of political
paitiesinevitably iaises issues of autochthonyandbelonging. Encoui-
aged by the goveinment, swii.became a majoi factoi iniegional poli-
tics, but one of the ist things it did was to exclude so-called stiangeis
like Bejangawho until then consideied himself a full-blown indigene
of Kumba. Especially stiiking in the quotations above, theiefoie, is Be-
jangas appeal to the goveinment to set things iight. This appeal can
only be iionic, since Bejanga will knowveiy well that the goveinment is
actively encouiaging autochthony movements in the Southwest, if only
to cieate a bieach in the anglophone opposition. Indeed, with theii ide-
ology of autochthony, these elite associations aie ideal iemedies foi the
foimei one-paity iegime to contain the eects of multipaityism and
iemain in powei (see also Konings and Nyamnjoh I,,,).
r e i i c i s i u r e i c
This link between national iegimes, autochthony, and elite associa-
tions seems tobe a iecuiient patteininmany Afiicancountiies since the
beginning of political libeialization. An issue of Africa Tcday (I,,8) on
Rethinking Citizenship in Africa showed that in piesent-day Afiica the
theme of citizenship seems inevitably to iaise issues of autochthony, mi-
noiities, and belonging. Biuce Heilman (Africa Tcday I,,8: _,I) noted
that in Kenya, violence peipetiated by Kalenjin and Masai, as they de-
fended theii Rift Valley against outsideis such as the Kikuyu and
the Luo, thieatened to develop into tiue ethnic cleansing that was
condoned by the national goveinment. Foi Guinea-Conakiy, Robeit
Gioelsema (Africa Tcday I,,8: I_) emphasized that the stiong involve-
ment of uibanized Guineans in hometown oiganizations cieated piob-
lems foi demociatization. The emphasis on belonging and autochthony
seemed to be less divisive in countiies wheie politicians succeed in de-
picting the whole nation as one unpiivileged gioup vis--vis outsideis,
as the aiticles in the same volume by Chiistophei Giay on Gabon oi
by Heilman on Tanzania suggested. This issue of Africa Tcday showed
that although the question of autochthony is much oldei, it is espe-
cially since political libeialization in the late I,8os that issues of autoch-
thony and belonging have penetiated into the veiy heait of national
politics.
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A stiiking example fiom Kenya was the famousoi notoiious:
couit case conceining SMs buiial, discussed in the well-known book
by D. W. Cohen and E. S. Atieno Odhiambo (I,,:). Upon the death
of SM, an eminent Naiiobi lawyei fiom the Luo clan, the question of
wheie he should be buiied became a eicely contested issue between
the eldeis of his Luo clan and his widow, who was a Gikuyu. Although
his widow insisted on buiying him in Naiiobi, the Luo eldeis claimed
that whatevei his position in Naiiobi and no mattei how modein a
guie he had been, SM was a Luo and theiefoie must be buiied in the
village. Inteiestingly enough, Oginga Odinga, the giand old man of Luo
politics, sided with the Gikuyu widow and declaied that this emphasis
on buiying at home was new. Accoiding to him, the Luo used to buiy
theii dead in the aiea wheie they had migiated in oidei to conim new
claims. Even moie stiiking was the national couit of appeals ieveisal
of the lowei couit veidict and its iuling in favoi of the Luo eldeis. Ac-
coiding to Cohen and Odhiambo, it was cleai that the appeal couits
decision was heavily inuenced by a diiect inteivention fiom Piesident
Aiap Moi himself. The Kenyan example shows again that authoiitaiian
iegimes often opt foi suppoiting newfangled veisions of autochthony
as an eective means to contain the eects of multipaityism thiough
subtle oi not-so-subtle divide-and-iule tactics.
Of even moie uigency is Mahmood Mamdanis (I,,8) study of the
stiuggle of belonging in Kivu (East Congo) that led to an unpiece-
dented degiee of violence. By ieconstiucting the genealogy of the enig-
matic Banyamulenge (who in the I,,os quite abiuptly emeiged as a
majoi ethnic foice in this aiea) and theii changing iole in the closely
inteitwined developments in Kivu and neighboiing Rwanda, Mamdani
analyzed both the long histoiy of these tensions and the ieasons they
became explosive duiing the past decade. In this case, the Rwandan
genocide and the subsequent movement of iefugees acted as a catalyst.
But this was fuithei exaceibated by the oppoitunistic and ckle ways
in which Piesident Mobutu Sese Seko inteivened in the conictespe-
cially aftei incipient political libeialization foiced him to look foi new
points of suppoit. Heie again, the inteiaction between national politics
and ideologies of autcchtcnie constituted a leitmotiv in these develop-
ments.
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c ue orc u v c e s i ous or ut o c ut uouv
Paiallel discouises on autochthony aie ceitainly not limited to the
Afiican continent. It is stiiking, foi instance, how much ceitain pat-
teins in Afiican discouises on autcchtcnie biing to mind the aiguments
of the New Right in Euiope and its uigent summons to defend an-
cestial lands against thieatening hoides of immigiants. Of the New
Right piophets, one of the most vocifeious and, until the late I,,os,
most successful was Jean-Maiie Le Pen, leadei of the Frcnt Naticnal (i)
in Fiance. (Since the I,,os, he has iegulaily won Io peicent and moie
of the vote in vaiious elections, and the majoiity vote in foui munici-
palities in the southeast). The Decembei I,,8Januaiy I,,, split in his
paity may have constituted a seiious setback to his success. Neveithe-
less, because of his ideological feivoi and also because ielatively much
has been wiitten about himand the i, Le Pen oeis a convenient point
of compaiison with autochthony movements in Afiica.
13
Piecisely be-
cause theie is an intiicate mixtuie of dieiences and paiallels, a com-
paiison of the Le Penian discouise with that of the defendeis of autcch-
tcnie in Cameioon might help to illuminate why such ideas seem to
be so widespiead and so appealing in the piesent conguiation of oui
globalizing woild.
A minoi dieience is that Le Pen consistently avoidsappaiently
because of possible pioblems with the lawteims like etranger and au-
tcchtcne, yet the teims he uses instead (immigre and Franais) have the
same implications. Anothei dieience is the emphasis in the Fiench dis-
couise on iace and notably on coloi. Cential to the is ideology is the
feai of wild immigiation and, since this iefeis notably to the thieat-
ening inux of Aiabs and Blacks, coloi dieience becomes a cential ob-
session: The main dangei is a change in the nations coloui (Taguie
I,8,: I,o). The emphasis on biological dieience encouiages the use of
seductive biological metaphois: Le Penians like to desciibe the nation
as an oiganism, foi this enables themto aigue that, as with any healthy
oiganism, it is only natuial foi the nation to defend itself against
an invading illness (Taguie I,,o: I,I). Such biological metaphois give
the i ideology a paiticulaily slandeious tenoi, foi instance, when old
colonial steieotypes about natives spieading contagious illnesses aie
iaised: These immigiants] biing all soits of illnesses with them into
Fiance . . . that constitute a heavy load on the Fiench economic equi-
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libiium . . . but endangei also the health situation of bioad stiata of
the Fiench population (quoted in Taguie I,8,: I,I, oui tianslation of
these and subsequent quotations fiom Taguie).
In the Cameioonian veision of autochthony, such biological conno-
tations aie laigely absent, since theie neithei coloi noi othei iacial tiaits
can seive as cleai maiks of distinction. Yet theie is a similai emphasis
on innate chaiacteiistics (foi instance, the gieedy Bamileke). At least
as eective as the Le Penian emphasis on iace in coniming the dangeis
of mixing with the Othei aie peisistent iumois about dieient piopen-
sities towaid witchciaftfoi instance, that the Bamileke become iich
only thiough theii nefaiious famla (witchciaft of wealth), while the Beti
aie foiced to hand out the states iiches because of the jealous evu of
theii ielatives.
14
The biological emphasis in the discouise of Le Pen and his followeis
coiiesponds to a tiue phobia of metissage (mixing) in whatevei foim.
This leads to uigent appeals to puiify the nationinoidei to ietiieve its
stolen identity (identite ravie) (Lagiange and Peiiineau I,,o: :_I). As
Taguiesummaiizes it, the puiicationof the national body demands
a cleaning opeiation, since clean Fiance is supposed to be deled by
the piesence of elements that aie heteiogeneous to its specic essence
(Taguie I,8,: I,,, I88, see also Taguie I,,o: I8o). Such metaphois of
cleanliness and delement inspiie an ecological discouisesomewhat
suipiising in view of the is biutal enviionmental policies in the few
communes wheie it has the majoiityon the beauty of Fiance that
is thieatened by deguraticn (Taguie I,8,: I8o8,). Although less ex-
plicit, theie is an emphasis on puiication in Cameioonian discouises
as well. Peisistent iumois accuse the Bamileke of making Yaound a
diity city with theii oiganic iefuse, but the lattei aie quick to put the
blame on Emah Basile, the Beti goveinment delegate. And Le Pens
celebiation of the elds and foiests of Fiance, menaced by delement
(Taguie I,,o: I8), is ieminiscent of Ava Jeans hoiioi at how the Beti
of Yaound, out of love foi ied wine, fiittei away theii ancestial lands
to Bamileke stiangeis.
It is stiiking that impoitant piactical dieiences do not manifest
themselves inthe ideological discouise. InCameioon, the mainstiuggle
is ovei the access of stiangeis to land, but in Fiance the most diiect
souice of tension is iathei the idea that an incieasing numbei of Fiench
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people face unemployment because foieigneis usuip jobs. In the ide-
ology in Fiance as much as in Cameioon, howevei, it is the notion of
ancestial land that is of oveiiiding impoitance. Indeed, despite these
and many othei piactical dieiences that aie no doubt of consequence,
the similaiities at the ideological level aie stiiking. Theie is in both
countiies a stiong emphasis on the natuialness of the autochthons
claims, backed up by what Taguie (I,8,: I,8) calls the celebiation of
the natuial community. Le Pens uigent summons could be iepeated
by the Cameioonian autochthony advocates: We have to act . . . and
occupy oui vital space, since natuie abhois emptiness and if we do not
occupy it, otheis will do so in oui place. . . . All living beings aie as-
signed vital aieas by natuie, in confoimity with theii dispositions and
theii anities. It is the same foi man and peoples (Taguie I,,o: I8o).
Such consideiations aie said to make the defense identitaire (defense
of ones identity) not only peifectly legitimate but also uigent, and this
then justies the highly militant tone of the autochthonyadvocates both
in Cameioon and in Fiance. The i jouinal Le Militant constantly ie-
peats that time is piessing, since the Fiench will soon be minoiities on
the land of oui foiefatheis. . . . Tomoiiow it will be too late, tomoiiow
theie will be no moie Fiench nation (Taguie I,8,: I,:). It is as if one
is heaiing the Sawa demonstiatois shouting theii slogans in the stieets
of Douala again.
Anothei common and ciucial tendency is what Taguie (I,8,: I8I,
I,8) calls la derealisaticn (the negation) of the individual by a fetichisa-
ticn of belonging and oiigins: The exaltation of the oiganic commu-
nity impiisons . . . the individual . . . in the ciicle of its oiiginal belong-
ing. Dieient patteins aie possible heie. In the Cameioonian theoiy
of le village electcral, the emphasis on belonging is an attempt to exile
nonautochthonous politicians fiom the city to theii village and to ie-
mind them that they should stiive to satisfy theii ambitions theie, in
theii own enviionment. In Le Pens ideology the emphasis is iathei on
ieminding the Fiench that they aie tiaitois if they do not iespect theii
belonging. We shall see below, howevei, that, in piactice, theie aie
quite suipiising links between these seemingly opposite poles.
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Camerccnian President Biya (with swcrd) refers tc ncrthwesterners whc live in the scuth-
west as authcctcnes, settlers, pclitical thcrns in the esh. Prime Minister Peter Mafany
Muscnge (in glasses), himself a scuthwesterner, calls them strangers and Kam-nc-Gcs
and says tc Gc Nc Kam Again. The Post (Yacunde), , Ncvember :;;,.
ut o c ut uouv, c i os i i z t i ou, uo t uc r e o oxc s
or c r i t i i s t i s oe ui s t oev
The majoi ieason this compaiison with the Frcnt Naticnal in Fiance
is signicant is that the upsuige of autcchtcnie in Cameioon (and in
Afiica in geneial) and Le Pens success in Fiance occuiied at ioughly
the same time. In Fiance, as in othei Euiopean countiies, the spectacu-
lai electoial successes of the New Right in the I,8os came as a suipiise.
Even in the I,,os, few people had foieseen that these slogans would at-
tiact so much suppoit. In Cameioon, it is only since the end of the I,8os
that autcchtcnie became the oveiiiding issue in national politics. What
does it mean that paiallel discouises emeige almost simultaneously and
with such suipiising foice in highly dieient settings of oui globaliz-
ing woild:
One tempting explanation foi this simultaneity might be that such
movements aie a piotest against acceleiated globalization and the in-
cieased mobility of people it biings about. Indeed, pioponents of these
movements see immigiation as a moital thieat to the ccrps naticnal (Le
Pen) and the safeguaiding of the ancestial land (the Sawa movement
in Douala). The inux of migiants evokes in both cases the spectei of
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miscegenation and outside domination. Theiefoie complete closuie of
the boideiswhethei of the nation-state oi the local communityis
seen as an uigent necessity.
Howevei, at closei inspection, the iefusal of globalization by these
movements is only paitial. The Sawa movement oi the Beti defense of
the iights of the criginaires (natives) aie ceitainly not antimodein oi
antiglobal as such. On the contiaiy, the Sawa and Beti hatied of the
gieedy immigiants is stiengthened by the idea that the immigiants
piot moie than the autochthons fiom new and highly coveted eco-
nomic oppoitunities. Like these Cameioonian movements, Le Pens i
is veiy eagei to use the modein mass media to its advantage. Cleaily
these movements should be seen as pait and paicel of globalization
piocesses. They aie the inevitable outcome of the ambivalence evoked
by globalizations open-ended hoiizons that aie both fascinating and
fiighteningoi, as it was foimulated above, the dialectics of ow and
closuie.
The case of southwest Cameioon is of special inteiest heie because
its toituous laboi histoiy can help to place globalizations contiadic-
tions in a longei histoiical peispective. In this iegion it is paiticulaily
cleai that piesent-day tensions between autochthons and stiangeis
the kam-no-go (came-no-go) iefeiied to in the accompanying oppo-
sition newspapei caitoonaie diiectly ielated to the diastic ways in
which, fiom the beginning of this centuiy, capitalist inteiests tiied to
solve the piessing need foi laboi on the laige plantations along the
coast.
15
It became equally cleai in this aiea that the imposition of capi-
talist laboi ielations iequiied not only the fieeing of laboi that is always
seenas necessaiy foi capitalist development but at the same time its con-
tainment and compaitmentalization. This tension between fieeing and
containing laboibetween mobility and closuieseems to maik capi-
talist histoiy elsewheie as well. With capitalisms supposedly denitive
victoiy, theie is no attention to such tensions in the neolibeial gospel
that now seems to have attained such a stiing degiee of self-evidence.
Yet this seesawof mobilityandxing has beenciucial insetting the stage
foi the emeigence of autochthony movements and communal violence
in iecent times.
In this iespect, a ciucial moment in the histoiy of southwest Cam-
eioon was the tiansition fiom Geiman to Biitish iule duiing the Fiist
Woild Wai.
16
Alieady in I,I, at the veiy beginning of that wai, the
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Biitish had succeeded in conqueiing the extensive Geiman plantations
on the slopes of Mount Cameioon. Theii ieactions weie somewhat
mixed. On the one hand, they weie cleaily impiessed by the whole com-
plex, its infiastiuctuie, and the concomitant piovisions foi the settleis.
But soon they began to feai that this was something of a poisoned gift:
foi the next few yeais, the question of how to mobilize all the laboieis
needed foi the maintenance of these huge plantations became an ovei-
iiding pioblem. Die Arbeiterfrage (the laboi pioblem) also had been a
cential issue in the Geiman colony, leading to eice clashes between the
goveinment and planteis.
17
To the Geimans, howevei, the solution was
self-evident: Coeicion was the only way to solve die Arbeiterfrage. Theie
may have been constant debates about which foims of foiced laboi weie
the most oppoitune and about the extent to which the planteis them-
selves should be allowed to apply foice, but coeicion was to be a xed
piinciple in the Geiman veision of fieeing laboi.
To the ist Biitish ocials on the spot aftei the conquest, it was
equally self-evident that foiced laboi was against the veiy piinciples of
Biitish colonial policy. To themit was cleaily unthinkable that the biutal
and coeicive Geiman laboi policies would be continued undei Biitish
iule, howevei, this gave uigency to the question of how else sucient
laboi could be mobilized. Seveial ocials iefeiied to the Gold Coast ex-
ample of cash-ciop pioduction by local peasants as the obvious alteina-
tive: this implied that the plantations had to be divided into small hold-
ings to be leased to the natives of the countiy.
18
In I,I,, howevei, they
weie in foi a suipiise when Sii F. D. Lugaid, then goveinoi of Nigeiia,
inteivened. To him, theie was cleaily no question of dividing the valu-
able Geiman plantation complex (which was, indeed, unique in West
Afiica). Moieovei, he appaiently felt that the distiict oceis (uos) weie
too sensitive in theii objections to foiced laboi. Lugaids caieful foimu-
lations aie a masteipiece of keeping up appeaiances (the Biitish cannot
condone foiced laboi) and yet being piactical (the Geiman plantations
have to be maintained at all costs). He felt that we want to get to Biitish
methods, but to ielax suddenly would be apt to encouiage the natives
in theii natuially lazy ways. Fuitheimoie, iathei than a sudden policy
switch, the tiansition stage fiom being foiced to go in and theii going
voluntaiily must take some time, and to abiuptly ielax iion disci-
pline might lead to chaos (v., Qd(a), Lugaid, II Octobei I,I,). Ac-
coidingly, in the next fewyeais the Resident in Buea oideied the vaiious
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uos to delivei theii contingent of laboieis by whatevei foim of pies-
suie they saw t. The uos weie appaiently appalled, as evidenced by
Bamenda uo Geoige Podevins iequest foi the Resident to send him the
full text of Lugaids comments, not only the exceipt, as it is somewhat
dicult to undeistand his Honouis obseivations without these iefei-
ences. But the Resident iefused this, using stiong language to exhoit
his uo nally to take the ieciuiting of laboi in his distiict seiiously:
If you still peisist in this passive iesistance, it may be found necessaiy
to iemove you fiom Bamenda.
19
Appaiently, even to the Biitish, the
desiie to maintain the impiessive plantation complex had piioiity ovei
the ocial piefeience foi the peasant option.
20
Howevei, fiom I,:o on, the uos in theii annual iepoits announced
tiiumphantly that laboi was coming foith now voluntaiily and that
the contioveisial Geiman ieciuiting methods no longei had to be fol-
lowed. Did this mean that Lugaids piediction had been iight and that
the fieeing of laboi iequiied coeicion only duiing a shoit tiansitional
peiiod: It seems that moie hidden foims of foice did play a ciucial
iole in this suipiisingly iapid Biitish solution to the laboi pioblem. In
the inteivening yeais, the Biitish system of indiiect iule had been
installed also in the populous Giasselds (the piesent-day Noithwest
Piovince). In theii newiole, the customaiy chiefs weie made to mediate
in the ieciuitment of laboi, sending theii contingents of voluntaiy
laboieis down to the coast. Even moie impoitant, at least initially, was
the inux of laboieis fiom the Fiench pait of Cameioon who weie ee-
ing the wide aiiayof foicedlaboi imposedby the Fiench. Thus piessuies
by customaiy chiefs and the Fiench laboi policies (notoiious foi theii
haishness thioughout the inteibellum peiiod) made the tiansition to
voluntaiy laboi possible in the Biitish aiea. Howevei, this solution
involved piecisely the gioups that aie now at the heait of the autoch-
thony issue in the southwest. Membeis of the Association of the Elites
of the Eleventh Piovince, mentioned above, aie the childien and giand-
childien of the iefugee laboieis fiom the Fiench pait of Cameioon who
weie nevei allowed to foiget theii exteinal oiigin and now feel in dan-
gei of losing theii citizenship because of the new politics of belonging
tiiggeied by political libeialization. And descendants of the immigiants
fiom the Giasselds, sent by theii chiefs to laboi on the plantations, aie
the piesent-day came-no-go who aie told to vote at home and not in
the aiea wheie they live.
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Insouthwest Cameioon, as elsewheie, the fieeing of laboi was a spas-
modic piocess that was tiiggeied by a complex inteiplay of mobilizing
laboi (laigely thiough coeicion) and compaitmentalizing it (thiough
pieexisting laboi contiols).
21
In his path-bieaking studies of laboi ie-
lations on the plantations in southwest Cameioon, Piet Konings (I,,_,
I,,,) emphasizes the high visibility of ethnic heteiogeneity on the
plantations.
22
It is cleai that the continuing iole of paiticulaiistic net-
woiks in the ieciuitment of laboieis played an impoitant iole in con-
solidating the divisions that have become so explosive in this aiea dui-
ing the demociatization piocess.
Indeed, this patteinhas many paiallels elsewheie inAfiica. Thiough-
out the continent, capitalist agencies tiied to make tiaditional authoii-
ties play a iole in the ieciuitment and contiol of laboieis, often in an
even moie manifest way. As Konings emphasizes this in a moie gen-
eial aiticle, Two majoi pieiequisites foi capitalist development aie (i)
the piocuiement of a iegulai and adequate supply of laboui and (ii)
the establishment of manageiial contiol ovei the laboui piocess. . . .
Chieftaincy in Afiica has played a signicant mediating iole between
capital and laboui in the iealization of capitalist objectives (I,,o: _:,).
A. L. Epstein (I,,8), foi instance, desciibes how foi each ethnic gioup
in the coppei mines in Zambia, management imposed a sepaiate sys-
temof tiibal eldeis on the woikeis. Je Ciisp (I,8) and Caiola Lentz
and Veit Eilmann (I,8,) emphasize similaily the ciucial iole allotted
to chiefs in the Ghanaian gold mines. In both cases, the ecacy of such
impositions was limited, since laboieis incieasingly piefeiied to iden-
tify themselves as woikeis instead of tiibesmen.
23
Yet it is cleai that
managements ieliance on tiaditional authoiities (in ieality, often
neotiaditional authoiities) foi contiolling both the ieciuitment and the
peifoimance of the woikeis seived to foimalize and consolidate divi-
sions within the laboi foice.
Konings (I,,o: _:,) suggests that this pattein is especially chaiac-
teiistic of aieas wheie the capitalist mode of pioduction has not yet
deeply penetiated and . . . iuial pioduceis aie still stiongly iooted in
non-capitalist foims of oiganization and value systems. Yet, in a moie
geneial peispective, such ieliance on tiaditional demaications might
be ieinfoiced by paiallel eoits towaid a compaitmentalization of the
laboi foice in oidei to facilitate contiol. Foi Euiope as well, the long
histoiy of the fieeing of laboi seems to have been maiked by a bioad
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aiiay of measuies to classify the amoiphous mass of potential laboi,
whethei on the basis of its piovenance oi by dividing the woik foice
thiough foimal ianking. And thioughout modein histoiy, the paiadox
of both opening up and containing new laboi ieseives has been a ciu-
cial stiand in capitalist policies all ovei the woild. This is exactly the
pattein that Le Pen evokes as some soit of spectei. Indeed, theie have
been cleai advantages in capitalist development, at least duiing ceitain
peiiods, to tapping a ieseive of cheap laboi fiom outside the national
boideis and at the same time setting the outside laboieis apait in oidei
to play them o against the local woikeis. Similaily, theie is a cleai link
in southwest Cameioon between the Biitish solution to the laboi piob-
lem on the plantations in the I,:os and the upsuige of autochthony
as a paiticulaily hot issue in this piovince moie iecently. The paiadox
that the fieeing of laboi as a ciucial moment in capitalist develop-
ment is intiinsically linked to the compaitmentalization of the laboi
foice piovides the histoiical backgiound to the spectaculai ie-cieation
of paiochial identities today.
c o uc i us i ou: ut o c ut uouv uo vi i i c uui i c r i t i i s v
Why aie autochthony and similai notions so appealing in the
piesent-dayconstellationof oui globalizedwoild: The discussionabove
has shown that autochthony can best be studied as a tiope without a
substance of its own. It can be used foi dening the Self against the
Othei on all soits of levels and in all soits of ways. Autochthony dis-
couises tend to be so supple that they can even accommodate a switch
fiomone Othei to anothei. Foi the Bakweii of southwest Cameioon, foi
instance, the Othei in the I,8os was piimaiily the fiancophones fiom
eastein Cameioon, but in the I,,os it became (again) the Giasseldeis
of the Noithwest Piovince. Yet this change could be accommodated
within the same discouise. This suppleness may make such discouises
bettei geaied to the iapidly acceleiating ows of peoples and images
and to the concomitant eoits towaid closuiethan moie solid eth-
nicity discouises. If globalization is to be undeistood in teims of a con-
tinuing dialectic of ow and closuie, notions of autochthony, with
theii paiadoxical combination of staggeiing plasticity and celebiation
of seemingly self-evident natuial givens, become an almost inevitable
outcome of such dialectical tensions.
24
Theii veiy plasticity keeps them
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geaied to iapidly changing situations in which, indeed, even the Othei
is constantly becoming anothei.
25
In this iespect as well, howevei, globalization needs to be histoii-
cized. An obvious way to do this is to ielate the kaleidoscopic meta-
moiphosis of contempoiaiy autochthony movements to longei-teim
contiadictions in capitalist laboi histoiy. One of the dangeis of the shal-
low models of capitalism that aie incieasingly cuiient since the end
of the Cold Wai is piecisely that they can only inteipiet autochthony
movements as tenacious foims of tiaditionalist iesistance to modein
developments. This may lead to a highly dangeious undeiestimation of
the foice of such movements.
The examples above have indicated the continuing ielevance of the
inheient contiadictions inthe development of capitalismto piesent-day
issues. The paiadoxes of capitalist laboi histoiythe intiinsic ielation-
ship between the fieeing of laboi and counteivailing tendencies towaid
its compaitmentalizationset the stage foi todays autochthony move-
ments (and the concomitant thieats of communal violence). This em-
phasis on inheient contiadictions continues to be ielevant foi capital-
ism at the tuin of the millennium as much as in eailiei phases. Jean and
John Comaio (I,,,) show convincingly that such contiadictions
foi instance, between the heightened visibility of the capitalist con-
sumei paiadise and the moie and moie denitive exclusion of evei
laigei gioups fiom itbecome incieasingly blatant. The same applies
to the contiadiction between the incieasing mobility of people and
moie foiceful foims of exclusion. Such a viewof millennial capitalismas
iife with contiadictions (even if these aie dieiently expiessed fiom the
Maixian ones) can help to histoiicize debates on globalization. Todays
autochthony movements aie moie than simply a kaleidoscopic out-
come of a play of owand closuie. In a longei time peispective they aie
intiinsically ielated to the contiadictions of laboi histoiy in the eailiei
phases of capitalism.
uot c s
We owe special thanks to thiee Cameioonian colleagues, Maigaiet Nigei-Thomas, Tim-
othe Tabapssi, and Antoine Socpa, whose Ph.D. disseitations we supeivised and whose
ieseaich touches upon many of the issues discussed heie. Pascal Peiiineau gave valuable
advice foi the section on Le Pen and his Frcnt Naticnal in Fiance. Piet Konings helped
us out with his gieat expeitise on the laboi histoiy and iecent political developments in
southwest Cameioon. Moieovei, we had the chance to piot fiom seminal comments
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by the paiticipants of a Codesiia confeience on Les Gecgraphies de lautcchtcnie (oiga-
nized by Mamadou Diouf and Petei Geschieie, Dakai, June I,,,)notably fiom Aijun
Appaduiai, Jean and John Comaio, Mamadou Diouf, Mitzi Goheen, Achille Mbembe,
Petei Pels, and Seteney Shami. Jean-Fianois Bayait has been a tiue souice of inspiiation,
as always.
1 Foi an oveiview of the liteiatuie, see Appaduiai I,,o and Meyei and Geschieie
I,,,, see also Bayait, foithcoming, on globalization as une combinatoiie paiadoxale de
lexaceibation des paiticulaiismes et de la pitention de luniveisalit.
2 See Jean Comaio and John Comaio I,,, foi a tienchant chaiacteiization of
millennial capitalism, cf. Comaio and Comaio I,,_.
3 Antoine Socpa, peisonal communication (June I,,,).
4 Both ethnic nameslike most ethnic names in Afiicaaie histoiical constiucts
subject to constant change. The Geimans founded Yaound in I88, in what foi a long
time was iefeiied to as Ewondo countiy (Yaund is the Geiman spelling of Ewondo),
and the people of the aiea weie iefeiied to as Ewcndc. The Fiench, who conqueied the
main pait of the colony duiing the Fiist Woild Wai, made Yaound theii capital in I,:I.
Lately, the teim Ewcndc has been supeiseded by the teim Beti. This change is ielated
to the ciystallization of a laigei ethnic bloc of foiest peoples aftei Piesident Biya, who
is fiom the Bulu gioup, the southein neighbois of the Ewondo, came to powei in I,8:.
Indeed, the piesent iegimes ethnic policies have been highly instiumental in cieating
this widei sense of unity. The name Bamileke is puiely colonial in oiigin: It seems to
be a Geiman coiiuption of a teim by which theii inteipieteis fiom the coast indicated
the people of the highlands. The highlands aiea in westein Cameioon was (and still
is) populated by a vast conglomeiate of laigei and smallei chieftaincies that weie not
united piioi to colonial conquest.
5 The ethnic map of Cameioon is complicated bya distinction between anglophones
and fiancophones that, especially since I,,o, has become one of the majoi lines of oppo-
sition. Aftei the Fiist Woild Wai, the foimei Geiman colony was divided between the
Fiench and Biitish, with the iesult that cultuial dieiences often fall along iegional lines
iathei than the divide between anglophones and fiancophones. Foi instance the Bami-
lekethe fiancophone Giasseldeishave much in common cultuially with the anglo-
phone Giasseldeis. The same is tiue foi much of the anglophone Southwest Piovince,
wheie people have moie cultuial similaiities with fiancophones (Sawa) of the Littoial
Piovince than with the anglophone noithwesteineis.
6 The iuling cvum paity and goveinment have consistently iefused to establish an
independent electoial commission.
7 A Sawa is a man fiom the sea. Theiefoie, the notion of Sawa used to be evoked
in oidei to expiess the unity of all sea people. Indeed, theie aie close cultuial, linguis-
tic, and histoiical ielations between the Batanga, the Douala, and some of the gioups on
the coast of the Southwest Piovince. Lately, howevei, the name Sawa has acquiied such
a bioad meaningsomewhat paiallel to the eoit to cieate a laigei Beti ethnic bloc
that it is supposed to include also the Bakweii, oi even the Banyangi, still faithei into
the inteiioi.
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8 Cf. Camercun Tribune (Yaound), I Febiuaiy I,,o, I, Impact TribuUne, Apiil
June I,,o. Cf. also Ava Jean in Le Patricte (Yaound), II Januaiy I,,_.
9 In this context, politicians and authois often use the Fiench distinction between
territcire (teiiitoiy, in a geneial sense) and terrcir (aiea of belonging).
10 Di. Stella Nana-Fabu, sociologist and thiid-geneiation migiant fiom Dschang,
peisonal communication to Nyamnjoh, :, May I,,,.
11 Cf. Geschieie and Guglei I,,8, especially the Intioduction, on howthe continuing
impoitance of the village of oiigin foi uiban elites has led to a ienewed vigoi in many
paits of Afiica of the politics of piimaiy patiiotism.
12 It is inteiesting that Bejanga does not iefei heie to the place wheie one woiks,
since this would make him a peison who belongs in Yaound.
13 Foi an oveiview of the liteiatuie on the i, see Mayei and Peiiineau I,,o. It is
impoitant to emphasize that Le Pen and his successes aie ceitainly not exceptional in
Euiope. In I,,,, Joig Haidei in Austiia became the most successful New Right leadei
in Euiope in teims of the peicentage of the national vote he won. Filip Dewintei in
Belgiumwhom jouinalists often desciibe (with some appaient suipiise) as making a
veiy civilized impiession as the peifect son-in-lawhas had similai electoial success
in Antweip. The most poweiful New Right slogan comes fiom the aisenal of Geiman-
speaking ideologists who (especially in Switzeiland) like to iefei to the dangei of Ueber-
fremdung (oveistiangeiing).
14 In Le Pens ideology, moieovei, iacial dieiences aie equated with metaphois of
genealogical distance (heie he iejoins Afiican ideas on autochthony): Jaime mieux mes
lles que mes nices, mes nices que mes voisines . . . jaime mieux mes compatiiotes,
jaime mieux la Fiance et les Fianais . . . les Euiopens et les gens de lAlliance atlantique
(inteiview by Alan Beigei, Figarc-Magazine , Apiil I,8,: II_).
15 Note, in iegaid to the opposition caitoon, that, in ieal life, Piesident Biya does
not actually iefei to noithwesteineis as authcctcnes. The caitoon seems to imply that he
has given biith to an obsession with belonging that now haunts him and that he does
not appeai to have devised a convincing stiategy foi dealing with these contiadictions.
16 On the laboi histoiy of southwest Cameioon in geneial, see Konings I,,_ and
I,,,, Epale I,8,. On changing laboi policies duiing the tiansition fiom Geiman to
Biitish iule, see Geschieie n.d.
17 Foi an oveiview of the liteiatuie on Geiman Cameioon and the laboi question,
see Geschieie I,8:, see also Wiiz I,,:.
18 See, foi instance, Buea National Aichives, CF I,I_, Repoit Stobait, Apiil[May
I,Io, undei Plantations (hencefoith cited as v.).
19 v., Qd[a I,Io, letteis by DO Bamenda (Podevin) to Resident in Buea (Young),
:: August I,I,, and Resident Buea to DO Bamenda, :: Septembei I,I,, Qe, I,I,, :, let-
tei by Resident in Buea to DO in Bamenda, I Novembei I,I,. Podevin was ceitainly not
alone in his iesistance to the new policy. In his I,I8 annual iepoit, Rutheifoid, then DO
in Victoiia, still shaiply piotested the new policy of foiced ieciuitment (BNA, CF I,I8,
_I Decembei I,I8).
20 This option involved developing the colonial economy thiough tiade and small-
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scale cash-ciop pioduction by supposedly autonomous peasants. Cf. Claience-Smith
I,,_ and Phillips I,8, on Biitish pioblems with the peasant option. The southein
Cameioonian example suggests that, if theie seemed to be a moie piotable alteinative,
even people like Lugaid and Sii Hugh Clioid, his successoi in Nigeiia (both quoted by
Phillips as gieat defendeis of the peasant optionbut see below), did not hesitate to go
against the peasant option. Cf. also Fied Coopeis ciitique (I,8I: _I, ,, n. _o) of Wallei-
stein foi suggesting, in line with his woild-systems-theoiy appioach, that to the colonial
state in Afiica, the peasant option was the path of least iesistance.
21 Cf., in geneial, Pieiie-Philippe Reys veision of the aiticulation of modes of pio-
duction. In his view, the ongoing iole of pie-capitalist ielations of exploitation is
eveiywheie ciucial in foicing laboi into capitalist ielations of pioduction (Rey I,,_, see
also Geschieie I,8,).
22 Cf. alsothe eailyandseminal study by Aidenei, Aidenei, andWaimington(I,oo).
23 In contiast, foi the Dagaia laboieis (fiom noithein Ghana) in the southein gold
mines, Lentz and Eilmann (I,8,) emphasize a continuing multiple identity as both
woikeis and tiibesmen.
24 Cf. Bayait (foithcoming): lillusion identitaiie qui sest iefeime comme une
pige sui lhistoiie du monde au XIXme sicle . . . avec la conception ethnonationaliste
de la cit.
25 Cf. a iecent papei by the Comaios (I,,,) on the zombication of new immi-
giant laboieis in South Afiica. The inteiest of this occuiience is that this zombication
is cleaily linked to the quite abiupt opening of South Afiicas boideis.
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Meyei, Biigit, and Petei Geschieie. I,,,. Intioduction. In Glcbalizaticn and identity.
Dialectics cf cw and clcsure, edited by Biigit Meyei and Petei Geschieie. Oxfoid:
Blackwell.
Mono Ndjana, H. I,,,. Anti-Plaidcyer pcur les ethnies. In La demccratie lepreuve du
tribalisme, edited by F. Eboussi Boulaga. Yaound: Fiiediich-Ebeit Stiftung.
La Ncuvelle Expressicn. I,,o. Special issue, Mincrites, autcchtcnes, allcgenes, et demcc-
ratie, no. I, :_ May.
Nyamnjoh, Fiancis B. I,,o. Mass media and demccratisaticn in Camerccn. Yaound:
Fiiediich-Ebeit Stiftung.
Nyamnjoh, Fiancis B., and Michael Rowlands. I,,8. Elite associations and the politics
of belonging in Cameioon. In Geschieie and Guglei I,,8: _:o_,.
Phillips, Anne. I,8,. The enigma of colonialism: Biitish policy in West Afiica. London:
Cuiiey.
Rey, Pieiie-Philippe. I,,_. Les Alliances de classes. Paiis: Maspeio.
Robeitson, Roland. I,,:. Glcbalizaticn. Sccial thecry and glcbal culture. London: Sage.
Taguie, Pieiie Andi. I,8,. LIdentit Fianaise et ses enemis: Le Tiaitement de limmi-
giation dans le national-iacisme fianais contempoiain. LHcmme et la scciete ,,,
no. 8: Io,:oo.
-. I,,o. La Mtaphysique de Jean-Maiie Le Pen. In Le Frcnt Naticnal deccuvert,
edited by Nonna Mayei and Pascal Peiiineau. Paiis: Piesses de la fondation nationale
des sciences politiques.
Tatah Mentan, E. I,,,. Colonial legacies, demociatisation, and the ethnic question in
Cameioon. In Zognong and Mouiche I,,,b.
Wiiz, Albeit. I,,:. Vcm Sklavenhandel zum kclcnialen Handel. Virtschaftsraume und
Virtschaftsfcrmen in Kamerun vcr :;:. Zuiich: Atlantis.
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no. I: ,,,o.
Zognong, D. I,,,. La Question bamilk pendant louveituie dmociatique au Camei-
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I,,,b.
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cun. Yaound: civivi[Ethonet.
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Millennial Coal Face
Luiz Paulc Lima, Scctt Bradwell, and Seamus Valsh
(Tcp) Charccal wcrker, Campc Grande BcmDespachc Farm, Brazil, :;;,. Luiz Paulc Lima
(Abcve) Vaste Management, San Salvadcr, :;;,. Scctt Bradwell (Right) Prcducticn line E,
garment factcry, Sri Lanka, :;;o. Seamus Valsh
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Modernitys Media and the End of Mediumship?
On the Aesthetic Economy of Transparency in Thailand
Rcsalind C. Mcrris
Afunny thing happened on the way to the s1i1 (the Stock Exchange
of Thailand). In Novembei I,,,, I had ietuined to Thailand amid a
nancial catastiophe that has since been labeled the Asian economic
plague, to begin an ethnogiaphy of capitalist ciisis. I imagined that it
would be a pioject on the politics of tianspaiencythat ideological
pointing stick by which the maiket has appiopiiated foi itself the func-
tion of iegulating the state, wheie once it was the function of the state
to iegulate the maiket. I was, and am, inteiested in how capitalism in
Thailand disguises itself as meie monetization, and how moneys total
and totalizing mediations have come to be expeiienced in the contiaiy
idioms of immediacy and eteinal piesent-being. I wanted to puisue the
ways in which the ihetoiics of tianspaiency and visibility have been
conceived in aesthetic domains wheie calls foi the end of mimetic iep-
iesentation miiioi and ieiteiate calls foi disclosuie and objectivity in
the economic domain.
Befoie I got to the s1i1, howevei, a nationally ienowned spiiit
medium named Chuchad appeaied on a cable netwoik talk show,
hosted by a foimei academic, and confessed to twenty-six yeais of
fakeiy. In a naicissistic act of tele-technic encompassment that Quesa-
lid, the doubt-iidden soiceiei of Lvi-Stiauss, could piobably nevei
have imagined, Chuchad not only theatiicalized his newfound skep-
ticism but also invited all mediums to join him in ienouncing theii
dissimulating piactice.
1
Ultimately, he called foi an end to medium-
ship itself. This extiaoidinaiy event elicited newspapei coveiage and
cocktail paity gossip even among the iationalists of Bangkoks elite.
Nonetheless, the television bioadcast was meiely the anticipation of an
even moie spectaculai disclosuie that Chuchad would stage in a piess
confeience: he would ieveal eveiything, the tiicks of his tiade as well
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as the moie sciiptuialist veisions of Dhammic tiuth to which his ie-
cent ieections had led him. Having alieady devoted six yeais to the
study of mediumship, I could not iesist this stiange and haunting invi-
tation, which was diiected as much at spectatois as at mediums. Need-
less to say, I defeiied the stock maiket and went in seaich of Chuchad
and mediumships end to Chantabuii, the city of Chuchads iesidence,
southeast of Bangkok.
Such amboyant media savvy as Chuchads is ielatively iecent but
no longei exceptional among Thailands contempoiaiy spiiit mediums.
Thiity yeais ago, it was uncommon foi spiiit mediums to use oi pei-
mit themselves to be iepiesented via the mass media. Photogiaphy was
implicitly foibidden, imagined in the teims that Balzac had once con-
ceived of dagueiieotypy: as a demonic ieceiving device that had the
capacity to ietainand theiebydiminish the photogiaphed subjects sub-
stance. Moie than most sites, mediumship seemed to ietain a commit-
ment to the etymology of the Thai woids foi photogiaphy, kaan thaay
ruup (taking pictuies). Kaan thaay can mean eithei taking oi wasting,
and even defecation. In combination with ruup (pictuie[s), it suggests
not only taking pictuies but also a concomitant tiansfoimation and dis-
chaige.
2
Foi mediums, the iisk of photogiaphy was not only doubling,
but tiansfoiming, substituting, and displacing. Television, foi its pait,
was still available mainly in Bangkok. And cinema had not yet assumed
the populist foims of home movies and videos. To the extent that spiiit
piactices weie biought into conveisation with the mass media at all,
it was as the auiatic thieshold of iepiesentation whose enfiamement
as tiadition had been piecisely the iesult of mass mediatization. But
then, thiity yeais ago, spiiit mediumship was itself imagined as being
on the veige of disappeaiance. Its peisistence, as folkloiic and ethno-
giaphic texts expiessed the mattei, was conceptualized laigely in teims
of atavism and[oi iesidue: as the iepiessed oigiastic impulse buiied,
along with Biahmanism, withinThailands syncietized Theiavada Bud-
dhism.
3
It was also located on the peiipheiy of the nations geo-body, a
populai constiued in opposition to the states newly foimed public.
Indeed, fiom the peispective of the self-consciously iationalist Bud-
dhist oithodoxy that had been on the ascent since its founding dui-
ing Rama IVs ieign (I8,Io8), mediumship was imagined as a tempo-
ial inteiiuption of the nations modeinity. Even in the I,,os, the mass
mediastill oiganized aiound the supiemacy of iadioweie instiu-
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voo c e ui t v s vc o i uo vc o i uvs ui r
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mentalized in the inteiest of completing Thailands modeinist pioject
andbiinging that same putatively iitualist peiipheiy into the national
fold, calling it back fiom boideis at which the demonic futuie histoiy
of communism was thought to be lying in wait.
4
In the national imagi-
naiy, theiewas nocontiadictionbetweeniitualismandcommunism. To
the contiaiy, one of the most potent ideological weapons of the peiiod
was one that attiibuted to communism occult piactices and emasculat-
ing magic. Paitly foi this ieason, the media began tiansmitting national
cultuialist messages in veinaculai foim, hoping to shoie up oi indeed
to iestoie aliation to the phantasmatic tiiad of Nation, Religion, and
Monaich instituted undei RamaVIs ieign (I,Io:,).
5
As Waltei Iivine
has iemaiked, mediums themselves began to tiansmit the paianoiac
messages piophesying boundaiy penetiation that oiiginated with the
state, even though mediums had been imagined as the states othei.
6
At that point, Thailand seemed to be on the veige of explosion. The
class divisions that had ist been tiansfoimed by the capitalization of
iice pioduction, and then deepened by industiially oiiented develop-
ment policies that favoied the uiban centeis, weie cast into paiticulaily
visible ielief when agiicultuial woikeis joined foices with iadical stu-
dents. The militaiys bloody suppiession of ievolutionaiy eoits and
the iestoiation of autociacy following the events of o Octobei I,,o have
left scais that aie still liable to ache decades latei, although Thailand
is geneially secuie in its choice of maiket libeialism iathei than social
demociacy. And eoits to compel identication with a iacialized Thai-
ness aie incieasingly impotent, as Thainess itself comes to connote less
an essence than a consumei option in the maiketplace of style.
7
Today,
identications between the local and the global, many of them facili-
tated by tiansnational communication systems, compete with those of
nationalism. And ievolution has all but disappeaied, having been ie-
duced to the status of mise-en-scne in which individuals peifoimtheii
aliation with bouigeois demociacy and the maiket-based discouises
of civic politics in the anticipation of being seen fiom afai by a multi-
national media audience.
8
In the simulacial space of the new media-
scape, theie aie only iepiesentationsalthough the meaning of iepie-
sentation has itself changed. And this applies to mediumship as well.
Having been imagined as the sign of pastness and as a iepiesentation of
tiadition in its abstiact mode, having been denuded of its magicality,
mediumship has been ieboin. It ciiculates along with its own images,
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less the double of a lost oiiginal than pait of an endlessly piolifeiating
seiies in which it seeks meiely to be legible as an image of its displaced
self. Inthiity yeais the populationof mediums has multipliedmoie than
,oo peicent.
9
Nowall mediums display photogiaphs of themselves, and
even television peisonalities have joined the ianks of the possessed.
It is in this newly mass-mediatized space that Chuchad luied audi-
ences with the piomise of authenticity. This would be the violent au-
thenticity of an exposuie in which mediumships iepiesentations would
be ienounced, save those in which the techniques of peifoimance them-
selves would become the object of peifoimative insciiption.
t uc vc o i uv, t uc vouk , uo t uc vc s s c c
On Novembei :, at Io:oo .m I made my way to Chuchads shiine,
a semi-open stiuctuie located o a highway on Chantabuiis outskiits.
Fiom the highway the shiine is maiked by a sign diaped with cos-
tumes of Chuchads possessing peisonae, loose two-coloied satin body-
suits with patches sewn on them. To the extent that anyone iecognizes
these costumes as having histoiical iefeience, they aie said to be of an-
cient Chinese style. Chantabuiis Chinese aliations piedate the foi-
mation of the modein Siamese state, and Chuchad himself is luuk chin
(Sino-Thai). He is iecognized in Chantabuii as a mediumof a paiticulai
(local) kind, and the body pieicings and feats of enduiance foi which he
has become famous ovei the past two and a half decades aie not the iup-
tuie of a local tiadition so much as the instantiation of its ideal foim
albeit one moie associated in populai imaginings with the touiistied
festivals of Phuket than the daily life of Chantabuii.
Chuchads ienunciation was celebiated not at the shiine of eveiyday
possession but in the enoimous vacant lot adjacent to a stiip mall and
a new condominium development a few blocks away. Audience mem-
beis weie feiiied to the alteinative site on motoicycles diiven by Chu-
chads acolytes who weie attiied in amboyant gieen and white satin.
A small paiade of tiucks caiiying billboaids and bioadcasting systems
like those used at election time had diiven thiough the city eaily in
the moining and the pievious day, announcing the event and inviting
iesidents to attend. Theii iaucous, ciackling messages and gaudy bill-
boaids competed with similai poitable bioadcasting systems that weie
inviting iesidents to an annual meiit-making ceiemony at the temple
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of the City Pillai on the othei side of town. Despite the competition,
moie than a thousand iesidents aiiived at Chuchads site that moining
and found places to sit on the hundieds of metal chaiis that had been
unfolded undei taipaulin canopies to make an enoimous U-shaped
giandstand. Food stalls embiaced the iows of chaiis, vendois selling the
usual faie of sodas, distilled watei, and diied cuttlesh. Behind them,
and at each coinei, weie men in unifoim, pacing in anticipation: seveial
dozen militaiy and city police, theii eyes shielded by the visois of theii
tight helmets, along with the oiange-clad peisonnel of the emeigency
seivices. Theii agitation was diamatically counteied by the laissez-faiie
demeanoi of the audience membeis who chatted idly about family and
iecent events, and much less fiequently about the man they had known
as a medium. In the end, as the sun iose to unseasonable heat and the
event pioceeded, only the limp bodies of heat-stiicken young women
justied the mad scuiiying of emeigency woikeis.
Chuchads ievelation would not begin foi anothei two houis. In the
meantime, audience membeis heaid a tape-iecoided seimon by Phia
Phyom, the ienowned monk of Wat Suan Kaew. Phia Phyoms extiaoi-
dinaiy ieputation among lay Buddhists as a leained and politically out-
spoken monk was to authoiize Chuchads extiaoidinaiy confession. A
yeai pieviously, Phia Phyom had publicly attacked then-Piime Minis-
tei Chawalit Yonchaiyudh and his wife foi pationizing a temple devoted
to the cult of Rahu, a guie of violent powei associated with a kind of
Biahmanic iitualism that, despite its iecent populaiity, has been im-
plicitly excludedalong with mediumshipfiom legitimate ieligion
since Rama IVs ieign.
Phia Phyom himself has an inteiesting place in the histoiy of ieli-
gious legitimacies, having come undei seiious suspicion duiing the
I,8os, when he intioduced a new foimat of ieligious seimon into the
iadiopiogiamming of Thailands national (militaiy) iadiostation. That
foimat was emphatically dialogic, using veinaculai foims and local dia-
lects to disseminate iathei conseivative inteipietations of the Dhamma
to iuial audiences. It constituted a iadical bieak fiom the foimat of
Radio Thailands Sunday seimon, the didactic Phradhamma Tesana.
Duiing a peiiod of militaiy ietienchment in the yeais immediately fol-
lowing the I,,o hck tula (Octobei o) massacie, nonconfoimist monks
weie peimitted to delivei the Sunday seimon, an activity conned to
high-ianked oithodox monks piioi to the coup.
10
This was an eoit
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to heal ovei the iift that had developed between conseivative monks
such as Kitthivudho, who had espoused the muidei of communists, and
moie piogiessive monks who had joined the iadical demociatic stu-
dents and agiicultuial laboieis. Phia Phyoms new foimat was consid-
eied too iadical even in this context. Though limited to foimal intei-
ventions, his seimons weie censoied onthe giounds that theii populism
constituted a foim of commodication to which Buddhism ought not
be subject.
11
This despite the fact that theii content iemained deeply
oithodox in its valoiization of the foundational texts and in its dis-
avowal of ontology and its iitualist insciiptions.
The alliance between the populist conseivative monk and the iepen-
tant medium iested on the mediums piofession of epiphanic discoveiy
that he had ieceived the Dhamma while listening to Phia Phyom.
The medium iequiied the monk to ensuie the tiansmission of his own
antiontological, antiiitualist discoveiy. Yet in the end, on the stage of
ievelation, Chuchad deliveied a message that openly contiadicted Phia
Phyoms eailiei bioadcast message. And the question of instiumental-
izationof who was iendeiing whomthe mediumof his williemains
open to debate.
Phia Phyoms bioadcast message consisted in a denial of the peisis-
tence of spiiitual entities in this woild. Of the spiiits whom mediums
seive as mounts (maa), he said: They aie dead. They have left this
woild. They cannot possess the bodies of human beings in this woild
when they have alieady moved on to otheis. The soul (winyaan) has
no peimanence.
12
Foi Phia Phyom, then, mediumship is fiaudulent
because theie is nothing that could possess the body of the medium,
meiely the spectial illusion of something that has passediiievocably
fiom this plane of being. The medium who claims such a possession
is theiefoie eithei deluded oi, moie thieateningly, peipetiating a de-
ception and confusing the minds of those common people who aie in
need of the ieal Dhamma.
Chuchad, on the othei hand, would latei insist on the existence of
spiiits but iemaik on the inadequacy of the human body to facilitate
theii descent into this iealm. Foi him, the chasm that sepaiates the ma-
teiiality of the human foim fiom the spiiit that has passed into a iealm
of mitigated sensuousness is untiaveisable. At best, the appeaiance of
possession could expiess a desiie on the pait of the medium foi cioss-
ing this space. At woist, it could be the dissimulation of the one who
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knows how much otheis shaie this desiie. This insistence on the bodily
inadequacy of the medium inevitably opens onto a discussion of the
techniques of seeming piosthetization: the means by which the appeai-
ance of possession is conjuied. Chuchad iefeiied to these techniques
as tekhnikaan, combining the English teim techniquefiom the Gieek
ioot tekhne (ait)and the Thai teim kaan (action oi opeiationaliza-
tion). I will have moie to say about technique, but foi nowwe need only
note that the opposition between Phia Phyom and Chuchad was one of
the message veisus the medium. Eithei theie is nothing to tiansmit oi
theie is no means of tiansmission. Silence oi white noise.
we i t i uc o u t uc t o uc uc
The houis of waiting foi Chuchad to mount the elevated stage weie
constantly inteiiupted by iumois of Phia Phyoms imminent aiiival.
The monk was coming. And then, he was not. He had sent his voice
only. He would follow in body as well. We would heai a tape iecoiding.
We would ieceive a ieal seimon. Peihaps, someone iemaiked, we would
heai a bioadcast telephone conveisation. At one point it was even said
that he had aiiived in a Meicedes limousine. He had not.
In fact, Phia Phyom had become not unlike the appaiitions of de-
ceased piinces and Buddhist cultuie heioes whose descent into the
bodies of mediums would noimally be attended by clients seeking ad-
vice onlove, health, andbusiness. He was the embodiment of fame itself:
a bastaidized auiatic piesence that was always aiiiving, always immi-
nent, but without specication. Chuchad paled as an object of convei-
sation. As though anticipating this, the bus diivei who had diiven me
to the event told me that he had nevei believed in Chuchads peifoi-
mances, but that otheis did. The same combination of disavowal and
attiibution(oi evenaccusation) ciiculated with geneiic iegulaiity inthe
houis pieceding the mediums peifoimance, and only a fewadmitted to
having been clients who has taken seiiously the feats and knowledges
that skeptics attiibuted to chicaneiy.
What diewthese people to this peifoimance: Why did they waitso
distiactedly, and with giowing piofessions of boiedomfoi a man they
claimed nevei to have believed: Was it simply to have theii own skepti-
cism conimed: Weie they seeking the ambivalent pleasuie (not with-
out violence) of having a seciet unmasked: The possibility of a meiely
18
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tiiumphalist pleasuie was quickly dissolved when Chuchad nally ap-
peaied on stage, accompanied by two othei mediums who had decided
to join him in his confession. The ciowd stiained to see the stage wheie
Chuchad settled onto a thione, anked by the ags of the sangha (the
Buddhist cleigy) and the nation. Theii desiie and agitation weie as-
suaged only biiey, when the national anthem was bioadcast and the
spectatois iose en masse with the police and emeigency woikeis.
None of the spectatois could indulge theii desiie foi pioximity. Only
licensed jouinalists, photogiapheis, and television news cameiapeople
weie peimitted an immediate view. The spectatois, myself included,
weie appioximately twenty meteis fiom the stage, behind the iows of
media people and sepaiated fiom them by empty space and piops. Yet
Chuchads acolytes took gieat pains to ensuie a line of vision between
the medium and his audience, foicing the photogiapheis to sit when
theii heads iose to intiude upon the scene. The medium naiiated each
moment of the unfolding events with a handheld miciophone. Foi the
most pait, this bioadcast naiiation placated the desiie foi actual neai-
ness by substituting viitual pioximity. But it also geneiated moments
of ciisis.
When static made of the space between us a chasm of unintelligi-
bility, and when feedback spiked the aii with the tiace of that seemingly
impossible factthat bioadcasting and iecoiding devices aie, essen-
tially, the same thingthe piomise of ievelation was thieatened by the
emeigence of opacity.
13
This opacity was not simply the failuie of mean-
ing. Rathei, it was the sign of the tiansfoimation of mass mediatiza-
tion itself: authoiship (its emeigence in Thailand tiaceable only to the
nineteenth centuiy) has been displaced by a logic in which iepiesen-
tation and insciiption have been ieduced to the tiacking of tiaces
without a subject.
14
Modein mediumship has come to occupy a place
similai to that occupied by automatic wiiting in Westein contexts.
15
In-
deed, as I hope to make cleai, the iappiochement betweenmediums and
the media duiing the last thiee decades, and the consequent giowth in
mediumship, is undeistandable in teims of this development. Mediums
now iecognize themselves in technologies of mass mediatization. The
consequences of that iecognition have been twofold and contiadictoiy.
On one hand, mediums embiace technology, and mediumship piolifei-
ates in a cycle wheiein mediums and the media piovide each othei with
metaphois. This possibility is testied to in the language within which
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mediums now desciibe theii piactice: sacied sites aie like batteiies,
the thieads (saisin) within which iitual space is maiked o, and which
conduct spiiitual powei, aie compaied to telephone wiies, mediums
aie said to be like photogiaphic negatives, and the linkages between
maiked locations in the landscape aie desciibed in the idiom of iail-
way tiacks. On the othei hand, mediums seek to escape the ielation-
ship altogethei in foims of ecstatic noniepiesentation oi absolute ie-
nunciation. This lattei possibility was, of couise, manifest in Chuchads
confessional peifoimance.
With the miciophone next to his chin, Chuchad began his peifoi-
mance by cutting o his tongue. Opening his mouth wide foi the cam-
eias, he pinched his tongue between his ngeis and diew a long iapiei
acioss it. The tongue fell into an opaque cup beneath his chin, and blood
leaked fiom Chuchads mouth. Anothei medium took the miciophone
and desciibed the tongue that now lay in the cup, while Chuchad stood
speechless befoie his assembled audience. In peipetiating such a dis-
placement, it appeaied that Chuchad had chosen to disavowdisavowal,
to iepudiate his iepudiation. He had iendeied himself voiceless, and the
only sounds he could make weie those of exhalation and inhalation:
sounds of the body as machine. We heaid these sounds ovei the loud-
speakeis, and weie unable to distinguish themfiomthose othei sounds
emitted by the iecoiding machine on which Phia Phyom had made his
seimon. As Chuchads bieaths weie bioadcast, the ciowd gasped and
then iepeatedin a mannei that confused awe and automatismthe
second mediums naiiation: Hes cut o his tongue!
In fact, Chuchad did iepudiate his iepudiation, but only thiough
a second gestuie in which he ieattached the seveied oigan. Chuchad
placed the tongue on a piece of white papei, and the blood quickly dif-
fused into the beis. Foi a moment it appeaied as though the tongue
was wiiting a blunt, indecipheiable hieioglyph. Chuchad then held the
papei to his mouth so it was coveiing his face and piessed the tongue
back into its oiiginal place. This time, he seemed to be iewiiting, oi
iathei, wiiting in ieveise, and the glyph was insciibed on the tongue
as though the tongue had been tiansfoimed into papei and the papei
into pen. Thus did wiiting make speech possible. The medium pulled
the papei away, folded it caiefully, and then, with only a little blood
ieddening his lips, began speaking.
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The iestoiation of Chuchads tongue was the gestuie that enabled his
continued confession and thus his denunciation of possession peifoi-
mance. By eectively inteiiupting the voicethe instiument thiough
which language and the piesence of spiiits aiticulate themselvesthe
tongue excision was alieady the peifoimative iepudiation of medium-
ship. Thus, iepaiiing the tongue was the iionic subveision of the confes-
sion that it was supposed to facilitate. Yet Chuchad could not teiminate
his iole as inteilocutoi until aftei the confession, and so the unmask-
ing had to be masked, at least tempoiaiily. It had to be demonstiated
that the cutting and the healing of the tongue weie simulated. With his
tongue iestoied, Chuchad explained that it was an illusion, all a mattei
of technique (tekhnikaan). Fiom the stait, Chuchad explained, the cup
contained a pigs tongue and a watei and sugai mixtuie dyed ied. Aftei
the simulated excisionwhen it looked as if he was spitting out his
tongueChuchad had swiftly taken a mouthful of the mixtuie, which
he then let seep fiom his mouth like blood.
Like all fables, this one staged iisk in the foim of a bad example. The
object of tiansmission was the tiuth that the medium had discoveied
and iecalled thiough iemembeiing and ieecting on his childhood at-
tiaction to magic and its dissimulations. Heie Chuchad made it seem
as if voice was the vehicle of a simple exteiioiization. As a iesult, much
of mediumship seemed to be similaily oiganized. Yet, as the incieasing
fiequency of untianslatable utteiances and even glossolalia in contem-
poiaiy spiiit possession peifoimances make cleai, mediumship is in-
cieasingly conceined with the possibility that the tiuth of the spiiits in
the mass-mediatized woild is not iefeiential and ceitainly not univei-
sal, but iathei centeis on questions about the dieience between noise
and infoimation.
16
Histoiically, in Thailand, mediums meiely transmit
the seciets of a ieality thought to be populated by spiiits. Mediums
deny memoiyof theii expeiience andtheii utteiances duiing possession
and iepiess themselves as agents of mediumships discouise in eveiy
mannei. Nonetheless, in the contempoiaiy momentthe moment that
Webei called seculaitheie is no guaiantee of the tiuth of the message,
no shaied commitment to the ieal as the domain of spiiits. In an eia of
visual hegemony, which is also, and always alieady, the eia of the com-
modity foims geneialization, only that which can be seen can be tiue.
Indeed, it is this lack of guaiantee that Chuchad seems to disavow as
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much as anything else. It is the possibility that mediumship has lost its
identity with its message that leads him to claim that he has discoveied
the ieal tiuth of Dhammaa tiuth incompatible with mediumship.
InThai Theiavada Buddhism, and especially in the Buddhismof pie-
modein cosmologies, Dhamma (tham) denotes both law and natuie
and iefeis to a domain of natuial signication wheie theie is a puie
identity between signiei and signied. The ielationship is naiiativized
in the cosmological accounts of Yama in the chaptei on The Realm
of Hell Beingsof the Thraiphum Phra Ruang, the Thai Buddhist cos-
mology.
17
The iighteous adjudicatoi who piesides ovei the iealmof aux-
iliaiy hells, Yama ieceives almost eveiyone immediately aftei death and
asks, What meiit oi evil deeds have you done: Quickly now, think
back and speak the tiuth! Undei the sciutiny of Yama, meiitoiious
beings aie miiaculously equipped with memoiy and nd themselves
able to speak about all theii good deeds. But those whose evil deeds
outweigh the good nd themselves in an amnesiac hell, unable to iecall
anything oi to speak at all. In iesponse to a mute evildoei, angels (the-
wadaa) who have iecoided the deeds of meiitoiious beings on lumi-
nous jewel-enciusted gold tablets and the deeds of evil beings on dog
hides iead fiom the dog hide (itself vulneiable to iot and putiefaction).
In iesponse, the shamed evildoei is left only to confess. Confession is
theiefoie a mode of accession oi confoimity to the message. And in
this mannei, the confession iesembles a mediumshipwhose instiumen-
tality and appaient immediacy aie summoned only in the afteimath of
a iuptuie and a failuie of spiiits to pioceed in the cycle of iebiith.
18
Few contempoiaiy people tieat the Thraiphum Phra Ruang as any-
thing but quaint tiadition, and the Buddhismto which Phia Phyomad-
heies has foimally iejected the cosmology as a symptomof supeistition
and a ielic of bygone times. But as iecently as I,I_, the image of Yama
foimed the centeipiece of the seal of the Thai judiciaiy, and the image
still ciiculates widely in aesthetic and monumental pioductions, much
as the blindfolded guie of justice does in Euio-Ameiican contexts.
19
If its iefeients aie less widely known than they once weie, the univei-
sal signied of justice nonetheless emanates fiom it. But ubiquity alone
is inadequate to demonstiate ielevance. It is because the logic of iep-
iesentation undeilying the Thraiphum Phra Ruang iecuis in medium-
shipdespite its iepiession by hegemonic Buddhismthat I invoke
the chaptei on The Realm of Hell Beings heie. The stoiy of Yamas
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adjudication imagines a iighteous speech maiked by the identity be-
tween deed and woid. By contiast, the sinneis speech is one of defei-
ial, and evil is guied as a gap between deed and woid opened by the
evildoeis foigetfulness. In the evildoeis case, speech is not the meie
instiument of tiuth: it is both a symptom and a cause of sin. In the
othei case, speech coiiesponds to the actuality insciibed in goldicon
of puiity and peimanence in which the sign of value is its substance
and is aligned with the law. But wheie the law iules, theie is no diei-
ence between the object and sign, noi between speech and voice. This,
then, explains how it is that, accoiding to the cosmology, the child who
is boin mute will leain Pali, which is the language of tiuth and which
is imagined to piecede the coiiuptions of human utteiance.
20
Peisoni-
ed in the speechless child, a peifect unity binds the lawful woild. Foi
those who aie its subject, wiiting seives to legitimate the utteiance of
the meiitoiious being and to supplement the failed speech of the sinnei.
But the opposition between tiuths silent ideality and sins ovei-
naming, to use Waltei Benjamins teim, is dieient fiom that which
counteiposes noise and infoimation in the age of mass media.
21
In
the lattei instance, because insciiption can only insciibe its own fac-
ticity, the message of mediumship becomes mediumship itself. Chu-
chads peifoimance was stietched taut between these two undeistand-
ings of mediumships iepiesentational function: the tiansmission of a
iefeiential tiuth and the iepeated iegistiation of the meie technique
of its tiansmission. To iestoie the foimei, he had to make the lattei
visible. Chuchad was occupying a moment in which wiiting could
only be instiumental and the object of iepiesentation was only itself. In
othei woids, he was inhabiting the eia of techniques fetishization, what
Maitin Heideggei would have simply called the eia of technology.
22
Aftei the tongue cutting, Chuchad moved thiough what appeaied
to be an obstacle couise of possession peifoimance tiicks. He climbed
a laddei of swoids and then showed the ciowd how he distiibuted his
weight acioss the dull blades. Aftei tiaveising a bed of bioken glass,
he explained that it was made of bottles that weie ist fiozen and then
ciacked, then spiead in a box of sand wheie they shifted and so did not
cut the bottoms of his feet. He beat his back with axes in a mannei that
only appeaied to biing the full foice of the blades onto his back. And he
placed his hands in simmeiing oil while explaining the heibal ingiedi-
ents that made the oil boil at a veiy lowtempeiatuie.
23
The middle point
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of the obstacle couisean unexpectedly liteial pice de isistance
consisted in walking acioss a bed of coals that had been lit at the begin-
ning of the confessional peifoimance. Heie, Chuchad encounteied the
days only challenge: A baiiiei of iolled diied giasses on the peiimetei
of the coal bed was ignited by oating cindeis duiing a sudden gust of
wind. The aming baiiiei giasses in tuin blew onto the coals and ie-
heated them to highei than noimal tempeiatuies. Appaiently immune
to the heat, Chuchad walked acioss the coals with no visible adveise
iesult. The two mediums accompanying him sueied minoi buins.
Almost in spite of himself, Chuchad became the paiagon of techni-
cal viituosity. Indeed, at the point of the ie-walking, his technology of
deceit was as impiessive as any ieal magic. The attiibution of skill by
audience membeis was cast in supeilatives (kaeng maak! hes veiy
clevei!]). Chuchad was so masteiful, in fact, that his technique could
almost be mistaken foi the woikings of spiiits. This was science in its
most magnicently theatiical foim, and the medium had become its
adept. The occult had ietuined in the guise of tianspaiency. In this ie-
gaid, Chuchad was ieenacting his own life stoiy. As a ten-yeai-old boy
he had been awed by a mediums peifoimance. Innately cuiious, he im-
mediately set out to discovei the piinciples undeilying the tiicks, and
to his own amazement, he quickly discoveied them. Soon he was a mas-
tei magician, and indeed, he was so impiessive that people began to
attiibute to him the powei of spiiits. Shoitly theieaftei he established
himself as a medium. One can almost believe that he had iead Claude
Lvi-Stiausss account of Quesalid in The Soiceiei and His Magic.
Even aftei his public confession, some of Chuchads clients insisted
that the claim of fakeiy was unconvincing: Chuchad had known things
about them that would have been impossible without extiasensoiy
poweis. They seemed dismayed by the disavowal, and even disap-
pointed. Foi them, no technical excellence was an adequate substitu-
tion foi a ielationship with spiiits. But foi most audience membeis, it
was not only an adequate substitution, it was its own object of fascina-
tion. Men, in paiticulai, spoke animatedly about how to peifoim the
tiicks, identifying with Chuchad who, as a young boy, had haiboied
such a natuial piopensity foi chemistiy, physics, and engineeiing. And
it was as such a genius of science that Chuchad piesented himself, de-
sciibing each tiick as an example not of magic but of science (pen
witthayasaat, mai chai sayasaat). When he called upon the audience
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to exeicise theii individual poweis of objectivity (using the idiom
of ruupatham and namatham), he invoked a nationalized discouise of
modeinity whose oppositional teims aie those of science veisus magic,
iationality veisus supeinatuial belief, the visible veisus the invisible,
and mind veisus body.
24
Indeed, the entiie event was iedolent of the
ihetoiic of anothei moment moie than a centuiy eailiei that has since
been emblematized in the image of the iationalist king, Rama IV, aigu-
ing with his Chiistian inteilocutois foi the supeiioi and moie iigoious
iationality of Theiavada Buddhism. It was this modeinist iefoim Bud-
dhism that Phia Phyom had attempted to populaiize in his iadically
dialogic seimons.
Nonetheless, science could not explain why fascination was ieplaced
by agitated disinteiest as the afteinoon pioceeded. Halfway thiough
the event, the visibly boied audience membeis weie shifting in theii
seats and mopping theii sweating biows. Many began to leave, oi to
talk about when it would all be ovei and othei matteis. Naa bua, they
said. Its boiing. In the violently climactic last moments of his ieve-
lation when Chuchad thieaded his cheek with the same iapiei that had
cut o his pigs tongueand which he then explained (away) as the ie-
sult of bodily tiainingthe audience was unable to summon itself to
the task of obseivation. It was as though such obseivation had become
a foim of attention piopelled by laboi iathei than desiie. Chuchad had
exhausted his audience, and its membeis glanced distiactedly towaid
the stage as he began his veibal summaiy of a duplicitous life. Befoie he
had completed his seimon, the space was almost entiiely abandoned,
and all that was left to signify the having-been-theie of the audience
was the tangle of discaided plastic watei bottles and ciumpled photo-
copies of statements distiibuted by his assistants duiing the couise of
the event.
It is helpful to iecall heie Fiiediich Kittleis ieading of the discouise
netwoik that oveitook Euiope in I,oo and that was aiticulated in the
diveise wiitings of Sigmund Fieud, Geoig Simmel, and Rainei Maiia
Rilke. In that netwoik wiiting became], iathei than miniatuies of
meaning, an exhaustion that endlessly iefused to end.
25
Kittlei notes
that, in this context, wiiting is nothing beyond its mateiiality. The
peculiai people who piactice this act simply ieplace wiiting machines.
And all that can be piomised themis the mystical union of wiiting and
deliiium. Eithei that oi death, and death itself is not fai fiom the face
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dissembled by boiedom, decomposed in the staie that looks stupidly
and sees nothing. Elsewheie, I have wiitten about the ielationship be-
tween mediumship and wiiting and noted the histoiy of mediumships
tiansfoimation alongside a giadual shift away fioma belief in the actual
magicality of sciipt to the iepiesentational capacity of insciiption, to a
deployment of wiiting in the mode of mathematics (such as in buieau-
ciatic lists).
26
What we see in Chuchads no longei scandalous ienun-
ciation is the next step in the piocess. That step occuis in a moment
maiked by the incoipoiationof technologies of mass mediatizationinto
the language and peifoimance of possession and by the discouises of
lost tiadition within which mediumship is now insciibed. Of couise,
when mediumship can no longei lay claim to tiuth, theie is no choice
but to eithei disavowtiuth oi seek it elsewheie. And Chuchad chose the
lattei.
e c rc t i t i ous uuo i s c i o s c o
What about this lattei, putative tiuth to which Chuchad and Phia
Phyom both diiected us: Wheie does a medium go aftei having ie-
pudiated mediumship: What kind of mediation is not simply the in-
sciiption of its technique, but a ienewed tiansmission of meaning: To
considei this question, I ietuined to the lobby of my hotel wheie gem
selleis weie sitting in fiont of coee cups and impiobably laige sacks of
uncut iubies. Looking acioss the stieet as the sun went down and the
neon signs tuined the sky ghoulish, I watched the piostitutes who weie
buying food fiom the vendois befoie ietuining to the clubs wheie they
could expect a couple of dollais foi theii labois. The ve-stoiy hotel was
extiavagant by Chantabuii standaids. But the baht had slipped fiom
:, to _, to : pei dollai, so dollais weie piecious and the hotel was af-
foidable. I ietieated into the newspapei, to iead stoiies of that days
economic news and to discovei what new measuies had been instituted
by the goveinment to meet the stiingent iequiiements of the imi loan
package.
It is moie than incidental that the baht had been oated the pievious
month in an eoit to ietuin it to a moie adequate and natuial iepiesen-
tationof its woith (the woith of the nations ieseives). As though money
could evei signify natuially! But Thailand seemed to be obsessed with
the fantasy of a ietuin to meaning and the possibility that the madness
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of its own economic excess could somehowbe undone. The newspapeis
weie full of stoiies about the new fetish of scal planning and maiket
stabilization. And the tiansition fiom aiticial stability to tiuei mean-
ing seemed eveiywheie to incite diead and unease, but also the antici-
pation of ielief. Indeed, when the piime ministei fainted diamatically
at a public event, he desciibed his oideal as one in which he oated
like the baht. The means foi mitigating this awful unceitainty took the
foim of a stabilization stiategy that, on some levels, can be ieduced to
a single demanddisclosuie. If banks and lending institutions would
ieveal the tiue natuie of theii debt, it was iepeatedly stated, then hope-
lessly oveiextended institutions could be closed, wiitten o, and theii
assets centialized so as to peimit the consolidation of national value and
the iestoiation of the baht, as well as the nations ienown. Moie than
sixty of Thailands lending institutions weie closed within six months
of the imi plan on the basis of this stiategy. Foieclosuies, downsizing,
unemployment, and ieiuialization became the symptoms of iational-
ization via disclosuie. The baht has stabilized, though ination has not,
and unemployment continues to iise. In the midst of all this, the most
diamatic giowth sectoi of the economy has been that of diiect mai-
keting, known moie colloquially as pyiamid schemes.
27
Pyiamid schemes aie, I would submit, the economic counteipait of
mediumship, the mode of ietailing in which the function of distiibu-
tion and iesale, and indeed the movement of capital, is masked in the
ihetoiic of diiectness. Diiectness itself is nothing but the withdiawal of
an infiastiuctuie of mediation into the peison of the distiibutoi, the
occulting of technique in the veiy moment of display.
The end of this stoiy can peihaps alieady be anticipated. Leaving the
boiedom of my giotesquely functionalized ioom, I went acioss town
to the subuiban house of Chuchads cousin, whose niece happened to
woik at the hotel. Theie I met anothei ielation of Chuchads, a woman
who had just ietuined fioman Amway confeience in Chicago. Chuchad
has not only abandoned the ontology of mediumship foi the putatively
unmediated tiuth of Dhamma, but he has abandoned mediumship in
oidei to be an Amway distiibutoi. Oi at least he has followed his caieei
as a mediumwith a caieei as one of Amways instiuments. His assistants
have, by and laige, also become distiibutois, and they now constitute
the base of his newly emeigent powei in the woild of multilevel maiket-
ing. He has established telephone opeiatois in thiee cities to eld calls
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fiom the clients of his foimei piofession and he uses the occasion of
theii contactfoi advice and counselto ieciuit new consumeis, and
to conveit an oldei foim of iepiessed mediation into a new one. Like
magic. And like all magic, Chuchads metamoiphosis entailed a iepeti-
tion. Phia Phyom had been accused of sinful aliation with commodi-
cation when he intioduced diiect seimons on the iadio. Following his
censoiship, he began to iecoid his seimons and to sell them on cassette
tape because he no longei had access to the web of iadios audiences.
Thus did the accusation become a piophesy and foice himto be what he
alieady was. So too, Chuchads abandonment of mediumship was ac-
companied by an oveit entiy into the maiket economy, one in which he
became what he alieady was: a middleman disavowing the mediations
that he peifoimed in oidei to pioduce the illusion of value, oi meaning,
oi tiuth.
Mediumship woiks only in the iepiession of its own opeiations, of
couise. These opeiations aie incieasingly iead as the limit and totality
of its tiuth, and so, with a combination of nostalgia and contempt
foi belief, Chuchad iisks boiedom in oidei to claim what the econo-
mists piomise: the maiket can substitute foi magic, the media can be
itself, the veiy natuie of moneyits abstiactions and its geneiality
can compensate foi the dieiences it eaces. Not the least of the dis-
appeaiances in this piocess aie those of capital itself. Amway Japan Ltd.
and Amway Asia Pacic Ltd. had estimated assets of ovei U.S. s, billion
in I,,o.
28
Giowth has been fabulous duiing the past two yeais, slow-
ing in many nations as a iesult of the scal ciisis in I,,,, but iemaining
stiong in Thailand, wheie it achieved giowth iates of moie than 8 pei-
cent despite cuiiency instability in the nal quaitei of that yeai.
The attiaction of Asia foi companies like Amway lies in the putative
wealth of (at least some of ) its citizens, its populousness, and the Noith
Ameiican belief that Asian business is conducted on the stiength of
peisonal, family, and ancestial ielations.
29
Piecisely because Asia is be-
lieved not to opeiate as an open economy, it oeis the possibility foi
companies like Amway to establish competitive advantages by tapping
into occult netwoiks (that is, netwoiks that aie not publicly disclosed),
in which conseivative values can achieve the appeaiance of legitimacy
and piivate ielations can substitute foi public ones. The notion that
Asian economies aie dominated not only by paiticulai families but by
the logic of familyby exclusive and unassailable ties between small
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communities of peopleis, of couise, the ideological foundation of
much self-oiientalizing discouise in the Asian and .si. (Association
of South East Asian Nations) business community. Indeed, when Thai
Foieign Ministei Piachuab Chaiyasan addiessed membeis of an Asia
Society audience in Septembei I,,,, he mobilized piecisely this iheto-
iic of Asian family values in his iejection of foieign demands foi the
total iationalization of local economies and the application of sanctions
against states like Myanmai and Laos that had, at that point, iesisted
piessuies to engage in maiket libeialization.
30
Piachuab has been by-
passed, of couise, and one could have piophesied as much given the de-
giee towhich he was piepaied to admit the seciet of newcapital, namely
that it opeiates on the basis of invisible powei and anities (like the
ietuin of an occult whose abolition had been the pioject but also the
iionic eect of iefoim).
In its slippage between the individual families so idealized in the
anachionistic imaginaiy of tiansnational capitalism and the iacialized
family of Asian nations, Piachuabs addiess ievealed the metaphoiical
iuse of kinships discouise and new capitalisms ihetoiic. The language
of small business became that of state piotectionism foi national intei-
ests. Amway plays upon this belief to extiaoidinaiy eect: The vast ma-
joiity of its capital ietuins to the bizaiie company town in Michigan
wheie this behemoth of tiansnational capital is opeiated by two Chiis-
tianmenwhostill indulge inneocolonial fantasyconcealedinthe dieam
of immediacy. Holding tight to a theologically infoimed maiket libei-
alism, they puisue a noiseless woild wheie feedback is impossible. And
theii ieciuits aie eagei mediums of this message.
Just as Chuchad iemade himself as a magician by piofessing to dis-
play his technique, so the confessional disclosuies of new capital and
the ihetoiic of tianspaiency with which they cloak themselves eect the
occulting of a systempiemised on seciecy. Siegfiied Kiacauei knewthis
well when he iecalled Edgai Allan Poes stoiy of the puiloined lettei
to explicate the piocess by which the salaiied masses aie made the
media of a system in which they aie denied knowledge and distiacted
with its enteitaining simulacia.
31
It was to this iealization that Chuchad
ietuined me. And so I ietuined to the maiket aftei a detoui thiough
mediumships enthialling diamatuigy of disclosuie. The indiiectness
of the ioute was constantly and iionically haunted by the fact that it
led thiough a fantasy of iestoied tianspaiency. But then, what else is
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tianspaiency in the massied woild but a mediation so total that it has
become invisible: It is this fact of total mediation that iefuses the dieam
of meanings unfolding and leaves all tiansmissions vulneiable to the
iesistant omnipiesence of white noise. When white noise becomes au-
dible, one heais the sound of a sleight of hand. The seciets of a new
economy aie being whisked away into the dieam of anothei night.
uot c s
1 I take the teim tele-technic fiom Jacques Deiiidas Specters cf Marx. The state cf
the debt, the wcrk cf mcurning, and the New Internaticnal, tianslated by Peggy Kamuf
(NewYoik: Routledge, I,,). Quesalid is the skeptical soiceiei desciibed by Claude Lvi-
Stiauss in The soiceiei and his magic, in Structural anthrcpclcgy, tianslated by John
Russell (New Yoik: Doubleday, I,o,), IoI8o.
2 Domnein Gaiden and Sathienpong Wannapiok, Dcmnern-Sathienpcng Thai-
English Dicticnary (Bangkok: Amaiin, I,,), :I_.
3 Jacques Deiiida discusses this notion of the enciypted oigiastic impulse and its
tendency towaid iecuiience in The gift cf death, tianslated by David Wills (Chicago: Uni-
veisity of Chicago Piess, I,,,), esp. 8, and :o:I. I do not, howevei, mean to invoke
the ethicized associations of iiiesponsibility that the Czech philosophei Jan Patoka
mobilizes inhis Chiistianphilosophy. Onthe histoiyof Buddhist modeinizationinThai-
land, see Ciaig J. Reynolds, Buddhist cosmogiaphy inThai histoiy, with special iefeience
to nineteenth centuiy cultuial change, }curnal cf Asian Studies _,, no. : (I,,o): :o_:o,
and, idem, The Buddhist monkhood in nineteenth centuiy Thailand (Ph.D. diss., Coi-
nell Univeisity, I,,:), Stanley Tambiah, Vcrld ccnquercr and wcrld rencuncer. A study cf
Buddhism and pclity against a histcrical backgrcund (Cambiidge: Cambiidge Univeisity
Piess, I,,o), and ConstanceWilson, State and society inthe ieignof Mongkut, I8,II8o8:
Thailand on the eve of modeinization (Ph.D. diss., Coinell Univeisity, I,,I).
4 See Katheiine Bowies excellent account of the Village Scouts and the statist eoits
to counteiact communism thiough oiganized foims of populist counteiinsuigency:
Rituals cf naticnal lcyalty. An anthrcpclcgy cf the state and the Village Sccut mcvement in
Thailand (New Yoik: Columbia Univeisity Piess, I,,,).
5 Theie aie seveial ne tieatments of nationalism duiing Vajiiavudhs (Rama VIs)
ieign and in its immediate afteimath. Among them aie Waltei F. Vella, Chaiyc! King
Vajiravudh and the develcpment cf Thai naticnalism (Honolulu: Univeisity of Hawaii
Piess, I,,8), and Scot Baim, Luang Vichit Vathakan and the creaticn cf a Thai identity
(Singapoie: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, I,,_).
6 Iivine discusses the metaphoi of boundaiy penetiation, which oiiginated in paia-
noid anticommunist discouises, as a iepeating image in Noithein Thai mediumship.
See Waltei Iivine, The Thai-Yuan madman and the modeinizing, developing Thai
nation as bounded entities undei thieat: A study in the ieplication of a single image
(Ph.D. diss., Univeisity of London, I,8:).
7 The teims within which that discouise has been cast, namely ekkalak thai (Thai
identity) and watthanatham thai (Thai cultuie), weie coined only in the I,_os and
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I,os. Excellent accounts of the discuisive development of nationalism can be found
in Naticnal identity and its defenders. Thailand, :;,;:;8;, edited by Ciaig J. Reynolds
(Chiang Mai: Silkwoim, I,,I). Piince Wan Waithayakons oiiginal essay on Thai cul-
tuie is iepiinted as Thai cultuie: Lectuie deliveied befoie the Thailand Reseaich Society
foimeily the Royal Siam Society], :, Febiuaiy I,, in The centennial cf His Rcyal
Highness Prince Van Vaithayakcn Krcmmun Naradhcp Bcnsprabandh (Bangkok: Oce
of the National Cultuie Commission, I,,I, oiiginally published in }curnal cf the Thailand
Research Scciety _,, no. : (I,): I_,,).
8 Rosalind C. Moiiis, Retuining the body without haunting in Thailand: The poli-
tics of ievolution as mise-en-scne, in Lcss, edited by David Eng and David Kasanjian
(Beikeley: Univeisity of Califoinia Piess, :ooI).
9 Twenty yeais ago, Waltei Iivine estimated that theie weie about thiee hundied me-
diums piacticing in Chiang Mai, an inciease of about ooo peicent ovei a peiiod of twenty
yeais (Iivine, Thai-Yuan madman). The population continued to inciease: in the eaily
I,,os, when I asked mediums and monks to estimate the numbei of active piactitioneis,
they guessed that theie weie between eight hundied and eleven hundied, although at
ioughly the same time ShigehaiuTanabes infoimants led himto believe that the numbei
was closei to ve hundied. My own infoimal suiveys at events suggested that the me-
diums and monks may have exaggeiated theii numbeis and that Tanabes moie modest
estimate was piobably moie accuiate. See Shigehaiu Tanabe, The peison in tiansfoima-
tion: Body, mind, and cultuial appiopiiation (Special lectuie, Sixth Inteinational Thai
Studies Confeience, Chiang Mai, I, Octobei I,,o).
10 On the antidemociatic coup of I,,o, Benedict Andeisons essay iemains one of
the most insightful. See Withdiawal symptoms: Social and cultuial aspects of the Octo-
bei o coup, Bulletin cf Ccncerned Asian Schclars ,, no. _ (I,,,): I__o. A iecent memoiial
publication, undei the title of Rac mai lyymHck Tula We havent foigotten[wont foiget
Octobei o] (Bangkok: Committee foi the Twentieth Anniveisaiy of o Octobei I,,o), has
begun the woik of new ciitical and histoiical ieection on this event.
11 Uboniat Siiiyuvasak, Radio in a tiansitional society: The case of Thailand (Ph.D.
diss., Univeisity of Leicestei, I,8,), ,I,:.
12 Because this was a populai addiess and not a foimal seimon, Phia Phyom omit-
ted a philosophical discussion of the concept of double-dependent oiigination, which
would have actually insisted that it is not the selfsame soul that tiansmigiates.
13 The identity between iecoiding and playback devices is a discoveiy of infoima-
tion science, paiticulaily as foimulated by Hans Magnus Enzensbeigei. Foi a discussion
of this fact and its ielationship to new discouise netwoiks, see Fiiediich A. Kittlei, Dis-
ccurse netwcrks, :8oo/:;oo, tianslated by Michael Metteei and Chiis Cullens (Stanfoid,
Calif.: Stanfoid Univeisity Piess, I,,o), _Io.
14 Ibid., _Io.
15 By automatic wiiting I mean that piactice in which the wiitei seeks to meiely
tiansmit his oi hei unconscious thoughts and, in the piocess, to disavow the notion
of authoiial agency. The technique of automatic wiiting and, indeed, automatic wiit-
ings valoiization of technique is peihaps most associated with suiiealism, but it maiks
a moie geneial tiansitional moment in the histoiy of iepiesentation. That is the moment
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in which the pioduction of meaning ceases to be a function of wiiting, and actuality oi
facticity becomes the piimaiy object of insciiption.
16 This incieasing peifoimance of untianslatability takes the foim of a maiked dis-
couise on tianslation by mediums and theii attendants. Not only do mediums now ie-
maik that they speak extiemelyancient and dicult dialects, but the peifoimative elabo-
iation of the tianslation has become pait of the dialogue between clients and mediums:
attendants whose sole function is tianslation have now begun to constitute a veiitable
type in the community of mediumships suppoiting actois.
17 Three wcrlds acccrding tc King Ruang. A Thai Buddhist ccsmclcgy tianslation of
Thraiphum Phra Ruang], tianslated by Fiank E. Reynolds and Mani B. Reynolds (Beike-
ley: Univeisity of Califoinia Piess, I,8:), o,,:.
18 Mediums and theii clients explain that spiiits must ietuin to eaith because of
theii incomplete khammic piogiess: Spiiits geneially weie piinces oi othei people who
established moial law in theii societies. As such, they weie often, of necessity, peipe-
tiatois of violence at some point in theii lives. The moie violent of these beings must
descend to eaith to acquiie the meiit needed to complete theii jouiney thiough the
moial[cosmological univeise. But even in instances wheie the ietuining spiiit is a Thai
Buddhist national heio such as King Ramkhamhaeng, no one desciibes the spiiit as a
bcddhisatta, one who suiiendeis khammic piogiess foi the benet of otheis.
19 David Engel, Ccde and custcm in a Thai prcvincial tcwn. The interacticn cf fcrmal
and infcrmal systems cf justice (Tucson: Univeisity of Aiizona Piess, I,,8), .
20 Reynolds and Reynolds, Three wcrlds, I::.
21 Waltei Benjamin, On language as such and on the language of man, in One-way
street and cther writings, tianslated by Edmund Jephcott and Kingsley Shoitei (London:
Veiso, I,,,), I::.
22 Maitin Heideggei, The questicn ccncerning technclcgy and cther essays, tianslated
by William Lovitt (New Yoik: Haipei and Row, I,,,).
23 Seveial yeais eailiei a mediumhad plunged my hands into such a boiling oil. This
medium was appaiently less adept than Chuchad, foi I ieceived a iathei seveie scalding.
24 Thongchai Winichakul, Siammapped. Ahistcrycf the gec-bcdycf a naticn(Hono-
lulu: Univeisity of Hawaii Piess, I,,).
25 Kittlei, Disccurse netwcrks, _:o.
26 Rosalind C. Moiiis, In the place cf crigins. Mcdernity and its mediums in ncrthern
Thailand (Duiham, N.C.: Duke Univeisity Piess, :ooo).
27 By pyramid schemes, I mean to suggest stiuctuies in which ietaileis ieciuit moie
ietaileis. Although in many places a pyramid scheme is a legal categoiy that is distin-
guished fiomothei kinds of maiketing by the fact that individuals can oi cannot get theii
investment back in the event of failed sales, this distinction is one that mainly seives the
inteiests of the multinational entities paiading as local entiepieneuiialism. Some ietail-
eis do piospei, but on a ielatively small scale compaied to that of the paient oi moie
senioi membeis of the stiuctuie.
28 James W. Robinson, Empire cf freedcm. The Amway stcry and what it means tc ycu
(Rocklin, Calif.: Piima, I,,,), I:,.
29 Ibid., I:o.
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30 Piachuab Chaiyasan, Foieign ministeis fiom Southeast Asia: Thailand, speech
deliveied at the Asia Society, New Yoik City, :, Septembei I,,,.
31 Siegfiied Kiacauei, The salaried masses. Duty and distracticn in Veimar Germany,
tianslated by Quintin Hoaie (London: Veiso, I,,8).
e c r c e c uc c s
Andeison, Benedict. I,,,. Withdiawal symptoms: Social and cultuial aspects of the
Octobei o coup. Bulletin cf Ccncerned Asian Schclars ,, no. _: I__o.
Baim, Scot. I,,_. Luang Vichit Vathakan and the creaticn cf a Thai identity. Singapoie:
Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
Benjamin, Waltei. I,,,. On language as such and on the language of man. In One-way
street and cther writings, tianslated by Edmund Jephcott and Kingsley Shoitei. Lon-
don: Veiso.
Bowie, Katheiine. I,,,. Rituals cf naticnal lcyalty. An anthrcpclcgy cf the state and the
Village Sccut mcvement in Thailand. New Yoik: Columbia Univeisity Piess.
Chaiyasan, Piachuab. I,,,. Foieign ministeis fiomSoutheast Asia: Thailand. Speech de-
liveied at the Asia Society, New Yoik City, :, Septembei.
Deiiida, Jacques. I,,. Specters cf Marx. The state cf the debt, the wcrk cf mcurning, and
the New Internaticnal, tianslated by Peggy Kamuf. New Yoik: Routledge.
-. I,,,. The gift cf death, tianslated by David Wills. Chicago: Univeisity of Chi-
cago Piess.
Engel, David. I,,8. Ccde and custcm in a Thai prcvincial tcwn. The interacticn cf fcrmal
and infcrmal systems cf justice. Tucson: Univeisity of Aiizona Piess.
Gaiden, Domnein, and Sathienpong Wannapiok. I,,. Dcmnern-Sathienpcng Thai-
English Dicticnary. Bangkok: Amaiin.
Heideggei, Maitin. I,,,. The questicn ccncerning technclcgy and cther essays, tianslated
by William Lovitt. New Yoik: Haipei and Row.
Iivine, Waltei. I,8:. The Thai-Yuan madman and the modeinizing, developing Thai
nation as bounded entities undei thieat: A study in the ieplication of a single image.
Ph.D. diss, Univeisity of London.
Kittlei, Fiiediich A. I,,o. Disccurse netwcrks, :8oo/:;oo, tianslated by Michael Metteei
and Chiis Cullens. Stanfoid, Calif.: Stanfoid Univeisity Piess.
Kiacauei, Siegfiied. I,,8. The salaried masses. Duty and distracticn in Veimar Germany,
tianslated by Quintin Hoaie. London: Veiso.
Lvi-Stiauss, Claude. I,o,. The soiceiei and his magic. In Structural anthrcpclcgy, tians-
lated by John Russell. New Yoik: Doubleday.
Moiiis, Rosalind C. :ooo. In the place cf crigins. Mcdernity and its mediums in ncrthern
Thailand. Duiham, N.C.: Duke Univeisity Piess.
-. :ooI. Retuining the body without haunting in Thailand: The politics of ievolu-
tion as mise-en-scne. In Lcss, edited by David Eng and David Kasanjian. Beikeley:
Univeisity of Califoinia Piess.
Rac mai lyym Hck Tula We havent foigotten[wont foiget Octobei o]. I,,o. Bangkok:
Committee foi the Twentieth Anniveisaiy of o Octobei I,,o.
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Reynolds, Ciaig J. I,,:. The Buddhist monkhood in nineteenth centuiy Thailand. Ph.D.
diss., Coinell Univeisity.
-. I,,o. Buddhist cosmogiaphy in Thai histoiy, with special iefeience to nine-
teenth centuiy cultuial change. }curnal cf Asian Studies _,, no. :: :o_:o.
-, ed. I,,I. Naticnal identity and its defenders. Thailand, :;,;:;8;. Chiang Mai:
Silkwoim.
Reynolds, Fiank E., and Mani B. Reynolds, tians. I,8:. Three wcrlds acccrding tc King
Ruang. A Thai buddhist ccsmclcgy tianslation of Thraiphum Phra Ruang]. Beikeley:
Univeisity of Califoinia Piess.
Robinson, James W. I,,,. Empire cf freedcm. The Amway stcry and what it means tc ycu.
Rocklin, Calif.: Piima.
Siiiyuvasak, Uboniat. I,8,. Radio in a tiansitional society: The case of Thailand. Ph.D.
diss., Univeisity of Leicestei.
Tambiah, Stanley. I,,o. Vcrld ccnquercr and wcrld rencuncer. A study cf Buddhism and
pclity against a histcrical backgrcund. Cambiidge: Cambiidge Univeisity Piess.
Tanabe, Shigehaiu. I,,o. The peison in tiansfoimation: Body, mind, and cultuial appio-
piiation. Special lectuie, Sixth Inteinational Thai Studies Confeience, Chiang Mai,
I, Octobei.
Vella, Waltei F. I,,8. Chaiyc! King Vajiravudh and the develcpment cf Thai naticnalism.
Honolulu: Univeisity of Hawaii Piess.
Waithayakon, Wan. I,,I I,]. Thai cultuie: Lectuie deliveied befoie the Thailand Re-
seaich Society, :, Febiuaiy I,. In The centennial cf His Rcyal Highness Prince Van
Vaithayakcn Krcmmun Naradhcp Bcnsprabandh. Bangkok: Oce of the National
Cultuie Commission. (Oiiginally published in }curnal cf the Thailand Research
Scciety _,, no. : I,]: I_,,.)
Wilson, Constance. I,,I. State and society in the ieign of Mongkut, I8,II8o8: Thailand
on the eve of modeinization. Ph.D. diss., Coinell Univeisity.
Winichakul, Thongchai. I,,. Siam mapped. A histcry cf the gec-bcdy cf a naticn. Hono-
lulu: Univeisity of Hawaii Piess.
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Living at the Edge: Religion, Capitalism,
and the End of the Nation-State in Taiwan
Rcbert P. Veller
Taiwan lies at the boundaiies of the woild. Economically it has oui-
ished, but with haidly a company oi biand name that would be iec-
ognized anywheie else. A late entiy to woild capitalism, it has skipped
much of capitalisms high modeinity of assembly lines and monopolies
and thiives instead as a weltei of netwoiked little ims and subcon-
tiactois, both the site of global investment and a majoi global investoi.
Politically it has spent the last foui hundied yeais as a backwatei fion-
tiei of the Dutch, Chinese, and Japanese empiies, until the cataclysm
of I,, cast it adiift. Cultuially, its people wondei whethei they aie
pait of China oi peihaps someplace else altogethei. The island oats in
limbo, not quite a nation and not quite a state, with no change in sight,
but vibiant all the same with its economic success, its politics, and its
peoples aiguments about who they ieally aie.
This essay examines the ieligious side of how people live at these
edges, shaping and making sensible theii expeiience in distinct ways.
Religious piactices have developed in Taiwan that vaiy gieatly in,
among othei things, the ambition of theii social oiganization, theii
claims to univeisalizing moialities, and theii conception of the iela-
tionship between self and society. At one extieme lies fee-foi-seivice
ieligion that cateis to asocial individuals, giants any iequest without
iegaid to moiality, and celebiates shady deities thiough cainivalesque
ieveisals and excesses. Its temples aie postmodein celebiations of dis-
oidei andlocalization, a kindof feial ieligion. At the same time, temples
to community gods that had long been the heait of Taiwanese ieli-
gion beyond the household have giown in numbei and in scale, with
newtemples built andoldtemples ieconstiucted. These temples addiess
individuals as embedded membeis of social netwoiks. Although theii
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oiientation and oiganization is still piimaiily local, they also tiace out
newand old lines of migiation and tiade. At the othei extieme aie new
pietistic Buddhist movements that pioselytize foi newsocial values and
cieate new kinds of communityglobalizing, encompassing, stiuctui-
ing, modein. Neaily all the new ieligious piactices iewoik and tians-
foim cultuial and social iesouices that weie available to Taiwanese foi
centuiies. The newness aiises because of the complexities of Taiwans
place in the cuiient woild economic and political system.
ou t uc c o c c
Taiwans place at the liteial edge of Asiathe island link between
Japan, China, and southeast Asiahas shaped its political histoiy. Most
of its inhabitants befoie the seventeenth centuiy weie Austionesian
speakeis, the island was visited sometimes by Chinese oi Japanese
tiadeis andoccasionally usedas a base by piiates. The Dutchtook a kind
of entiept-based contiol in the seventeenth centuiy, only to be foicibly
iemoved in IooI by a Ming Dynasty loyalist using Taiwan as a last bas-
tion against the new Qing goveinment (a iole Taiwan would latei ie-
peat). Chinese settlement incieased diastically duiing this peiiod, tuin-
ing the island into the newest Chinese fiontiei and ultimately foicing
the aboiiginal population to sinicize oi ee into the deep mountains.
The Qing Dynasty took ovei in Io8_, but Taiwan was still veiy much
a fiontiei, known foi pioducing chionic iebellions the way othei aieas
weie known foi pioducing scholais oi silks. The Qing goveinment had
giave doubts about whethei the island was ieally woith the investment,
and Taiwan was not elevated to piovincial status until I88. Its new
iecognition lasted only eleven yeais, howevei. In I8,, China ceded Tai-
wan to Japan in the afteimath of the Sino-Japanese Wai. Fifty yeais
of Japanese colonialism followed, biinging with it pacication of en-
demic violence, iationalization of buieauciacy and taxation, impiove-
ments in infiastiuctuie, and the spiead of basic education. On the othei
hand, the colonized populationlost all political sayabove the local level,
highei educationwas stiictly limited, andmajoi business positions weie
contiolled by the Japanese.
The island ieveited to Chinese contiol aftei Woild Wai II, but was
still consideied a backwatei (woise yet, a backwatei heavily inuenced
by Japanese language and values). Relations between local Taiwanese
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and the new goveinment had alieady deteiioiated when the Commu-
nist victoiies of I,, foiced the Nationalist goveinment to ee to Tai-
wan, taking with it as much of its wealth and militaiy might as it could
mustei. The Nationalists claimed to be the only legitimate goveinment
of China, just waiting to ietake the mainland fiom its tempoiaiy occu-
pation by Communist bandits. Taipei was pioclaimed foi the moment
Chinas capital. The nationalists declaied a tempoiaiy state of emei-
gencyessentially maitial lawthat lasted ioughly foity yeais. Foi
the ist time, Taiwan was not just the outei edge of empiie. Taiwanese,
howevei, weie as much at the edge of political powei as evei.
The Nationalists undei Chiang Kai-shek leained theii oiganizing
techniques fiom the Soviet Union duiing an eaily alliance with the
Communists. The Nationalist Paity (Gucmindang), oiganized along
Leninist piinciples as a vanguaid paity, was piesent in eveiy institu-
tion, including the militaiy. The basic economic model was coipoiatist,
although much of the technique of ideological contiol showed its com-
mon ioots with the mainland. When I ist visited in the late I,,os, walls
weie coveied with slogans (Retake the Mainland!), television bioad-
casts oeied quotes fiom Piesident Chiang, and all media weie tightly
contiolled.
This claim not to be at the edge had a weak point, of couise
mainland Chinas alteinative ieading of the situation, which ultimately
iedened Taiwans position. The ciucial blow came when the United
States withdiew its diplomatic iecognition of Taiwan in I,,,. Diplo-
matically, Taiwan was fully in limbo fiom that point on. Removed fiom
the United Nations, it has no voice in inteinational tieaties. Its claims
to be a state aie iecognized by only a handful of the woilds least powei-
ful countiies. Thoughts of giving up claims to China and becoming a
newnation aie immediately squelched by sabei-iattling fiomthe main-
land. In addition, Taiwan was not pait of China duiing the ist half
of the twentieth centuiy, when ideas about Chinese nationalism devel-
oped most stiongly. In a woild oiganized by nation-states, Taiwan falls
between all the boundaiies.
The dilemmas this poses stiengthened fuithei aftei maitial law was
nally lifted in I,8,. In the yeais that followed, local people could, foi
the ist time in a centuiy, speak explicitly about what it meant to be
Taiwanese, in contiast to the Chinese they had been foi the pievious
foui decades, and the colonial Japanese they had been foi the ve de-
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cades befoie that. Moie than any othei issue since I,8,, the pioblem of
identity has pieoccupied Taiwan. When the goveinment stepped back
fiom its uncompiomising pateinalistic moialism, it left an empty eld
in which anything seemed possible. This new fiee space, added to Tai-
wans iiiesolvable political position, has fosteied the ieligious cieativity
we now see theie.
Taiwans economy is not so unusual as its cuiient political situation,
but the islands histoiy has also fosteied an economic edginess. Eaily
on, Chinese settleis in Taiwan had been maiket oiiented. By the nine-
teenth centuiy, much of the islands agiicultuial pioduction was di-
iected towaid the maiket iathei than subsistence use. Taiwan was the
majoi suppliei of tea to the United States aftei the Civil Wai, and it ex-
poited its iice and sugaicane to mainland China and southeast Asia.
The Japanese built up the agiicultuial base still fuithei and invested
heavily in infiastiuctuie, Taiwan was to become a iice basket foi Japan.
When Chiang Kai-shek and his followeis took ovei in I,,, they fol-
lowed a developmental state model. They actively piomoted key eco-
nomic sectois thiough state-owned companies oi the piomotion of
piivate industiy, and theii tight political contiol enfoiced docility in
the laboi foice. Undei a geneially coipoiatist model, Taiwans economy
giew steadily. By the I,oos Taiwan was attiacting the cheap laboi in-
dustiies that iide at the fiont of capitalisms advance. In Taiwan this in-
cludedbothtextilesthe classic leading edge of the cheaplaboi fiontiei
since textiles ist moved fiom England to New Englandand newei
industiial manufactuie such as cheap plastic toys and electionics.
This stoiy of tough political iule and enlightened economic leadei-
ship could often be heaid fiom Nationalist ocials. The economy has
anothei side, howevei. Quite unlike Japan oi South Koiea, the heait of
Taiwans economic giowth has been veiy small-scale entiepieneuis, not
the gigantic companies that woik closely within state policy. Taiwanese
bosses complain that woikeis stay aiound only long enough to leain the
business, and then set themselves up in competition. Theie is a clich
in Taiwan that it is bettei to be a chickens beak than a bulls behind
(ning wei jikcu, bu wei niuhcu), and in fact, by some estimates, one of
eveiy eight adults inTaiwan is the boss of his oi hei own small business.
1
The goveinment has not exactly hindeied this giowth, but has done
veiy little to fostei it diiectly. Foi example, tight banking policy has long
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made it almost impossible foi small businesses to obtain ciedit. As a ie-
sult, Taiwanese tuin to the infoimal economy. Piimaiy souices of ciedit
thus include postdated checks and iotating ciedit associations.
2
None
of these techniques have foimal legal backing, and so all iely on infoi-
mal netwoiks of social tiust to succeed. Entiepieneuis, potential entie-
pieneuis (which includes almost eveiyone), and even people woiking
at household-based piecewoik pioduction must develop and maintain
ego-centeied netwoiks of connections to do well.
The I,8os biought economic tiansfoimations almost as gieat as Tai-
wans political changes of the peiiod. As the economy thiived, costs
of laboi incieased until it made little sense to continue investing in
the pioduction of footweai, textiles, and injection-molded plastic. The
souice of the ciisis was not so much that multinational companies left
foi gieenei pastuies, but that Taiwanese entiepieneuis could no longei
compete in these businesses, even despite the tiaditional advantages
piovided by household laboi. Theii small scale, howevei, meant that
they did not usually have enough capital to move into high-technology
and capital-intensive sectois. The logical solution would have been foi
them to invest oveiseas in the industiies they alieady knew (and this
has happened in the I,,os). At the time, howevei, goveinment cuiiency
iegulations and political feais of Chinathe most obvious souice of
cheap laboipievented people fiom expoiting theii money. The ie-
sult was a lot of unpioductive investment, especially speculation in the
stock and ieal estate maikets (both of which ciashed a few yeais latei).
Taiwan became a gambleis economy in which eailiei values of haid
woik and savings no longei explained piots.
This changed again in the I,,os when baiiieis to oveiseas invest-
ment weie laigely iemoved and Taiwanese entiepieneuis iushed into
the oppoitunities. Taiwan is the laigest single investoi in Vietnam and
a veiy laige investoi in paits of China. This fosteis a new mode of pie-
caiiousness, with the constant spectei of political oi economic tuimoil
thieatening to undeimine investments. Foi all these political and eco-
nomic ieasons, and in spite of the wealth so much of the population
has achieved, Taiwan is not an easy place in which to sit back and feel
secuie. All of these changes have inteitwined with ieligious life in Tai-
wan, which has undeigone seveial decades of cieative expansion and
seems to thiive on Taiwans geneial unceitainty.
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or o o c s uo o c t u
A numbei of pieviously obscuie temples suddenly became piomi-
nent in Taiwan in the mid-I,8os, just as the gambling economy thiived.
The most famous was the Eighteen Loids temple at the noithein tip of
the island, iebuilt in the I,,os in the shadow of a nucleai powei plant.
3
Theie had been a small ghost shiine (which nobody could date) wheie
the plant was eiected. Ghost shiines aie usually small, but this was even
smallei than usualtoo small to have been iecoidednot much moie
than a giave and an incense pot. Accoiding to most people who told
me the stoiy, a shing boat had washed ashoie sometime in the past,
caiiying seventeen unidentied dead bodies and one live dog. As is cus-
tomaiy, locals buiied the bodies in a mass giave, which they maiked
with a shiine. The ceiemony was disiupted when the dog, loyal to the
death (a value most associated with upiight ministeis, good business
paitneis, and poweiful bandits), leaped into the giave aftei its dead
masteis and was buiied alive. Seventeen coipses and one suicidal dog:
the Eighteen Loids.
Foi yeais, soldieis on coastal sentiy duty would on occasion woiship
at the shiine, but not many otheis came theie. When constiuction of
the nucleai powei plant began in the I,,os, the land aiound the plant
was to be shoied up, causing the new giound level to iise above the
existing shiine. Populai sentiment and eeiie expeiience, howevei, pei-
suaded the goveinment to pieseive the shiine in a ioom below giound.
A numbei of woikeis had died in constiuction accidents (often taken
as a sign of unhappy ghosts), and a backhoe mysteiiously fioze just as
it stood poised to destioy the oiiginal little shiine. These events helped
mobilize both woikeis and neighbois to lobby against destiuction. The
goveinment ultimately agieed to iespect local customs by building a
new temple diiectly ovei the old shiine. This new temple is quite mag-
nicent by ghost-cult standaids. On one side of the temple aie images
of the Eighteen Loids, and on the othei side is the giave, anked by two
laige bionze statues of the dog. This giave is a simulacium of the oiigi-
nal (both aie mosaic tilecoveied mounds), which is now pieseived
in an undeigiound ioom diiectly below its ieplica. The genuine giave,
ieached thiough an unmaiked basement staiicase in the back of the
temple, is said to be the tiue centei of powei.
Ghosts symbolize impiopei deaths: They aie the spiiits of people
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who have no descendants to woiship them because they died young
oi (like the Eighteen Loids) by means of violent death fai fiom home.
Unlike gods, ghosts will giant any iequest because, lacking descen-
dants to woiship them, they aie staiving in the undeiwoildthis ex-
plains theii fondness foi any paying pioposition. Theii only condition
is piopei iepayment (buying them gold medals, giving money to theii
temple, sponsoiing opeias foi theii pleasuie), without which they will
exact a nasty ievenge. This is fee-foi-seivice ieligion, something like
cutting a deal with a local hoodlum. Ghosts have long had this gieedy
and individualistic stieak, in contiast to the community-based and up-
iight moiality of gods. One of the most obvious iitual statements of
this dieience occuis in iitual oeiings of incense. Gods ieceive incense
in single pots that combine the smoky oeiings of entiie woishiping
communities. At theii annual piopitiation iitual, ghosts ieceive instead
sepaiate, single sticks of incense (often maiked with the name of the
donoi) stuck into plates of food. Woishipeis aie individualized, and
any sense of community is minimized.
The Eighteen Loids temple dieis fiom this noimally shadowy coi-
nei of Taiwanese ieligion only in having suddenly jumped into the
open. By the late I,8os, the Eighteen Loids temple may have been the
most populai one on the island. Thousands of people visited eveiy
night, knotting up tiac on the noith coastal highway. People said it
was especially populai with piostitutes, gambleis, and petty ciiminals.
Visitois weie wained to watch out foi pickpockets who came both to
woiship and to steal. In fact, all kinds of people made oeiings, and
talismans fiom the temple could be seen eveiywheiein ieaiview mii-
iois, in sh iestauiants, in fancy hotels.
4
Bending the goveinment to its
will accounted foi the initial fame of this temple. But its boom ieally
began in the mid-I,8os with the iise in populaiity of temples like this
to shady chaiacteis who oeied iitual ecacy foi moially suspect fees.
The Eighteen Loids emphasized the depaituie fiom community and
conventional moiality that theii woiship encouiaged thiough a seiies
of ieveisals. People woishiped theie at night, and the centei of powei
was undeigiound at the oiiginal giave. Instead of oeiing sticks of in-
cense at the giave, they eiected lit cigaiettes. Awall nowblocks access to
the giave fiomthe fiont (wheie the incense pot stands), so the cigaiettes
must be oeied fiom behind. The tiip fiom paiking lot to temple was
equally cainivalesque: unoiganized ciowds made theii way towaid the
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temple amid iows of cainival games (shoot the balloons, knock ovei the
ducks, and all the iest). And as a iemindei of the diiving foice behind
it all, eveiyone asked foi cash. Even the toilets weie fee-foi-seivice.
The temple spawned moie than its shaie of commeicial oshoots.
These included souvenii dogs (I sawone on an altai in a small business,
smoking a lit cigaiette), but moie signicantly, a movie, a television
soap opeia, and even a fake temple a bit closei to town on the same
highway.
5
One subplot fiom the movieit was postmodein itself, all
subplots and no plotwas paiticulaily stiiking. The heioine of the mo-
ment was a beautiful piostitute, stuck in debt-bondage to hei pimp. Hei
handsome boyfiiend was a gamblei who could not win enough money
to buy hei fieedom. The boyfiiends clownish sidekick came to the ies-
cue by woishiping the Eighteen Loids. As he was leaving the temple, a
book blewopen to disclose a foimula foi successful gambling. To follow
the foimula the gamblei needed a talisman made fiom the umbilical
coid of a newboin baby, although the book also wains that the fate of
the baby will be endangeied. By happy coincidence, the sidekicks wife
hadjust givenbiith: the fathei iippedthe coidothe wailing baby inthe
hospital, and soon eveiyones pioblems weie solved (except, I imagine,
the babys, whose stoiy the lmdiops). The lmitself looks like a quick
attempt to piot fiomthe temples populaiity, but its gieed and its plots
align well with the piinciples at play in woiship of the Eighteen Loids.
This image of ghosts is not new in Taiwanese (oi, moie geneially,
Chinese) cultuie, but its sudden suige in populaiity by the late I,8os
was a signicant change. In pait, this temple and otheis like itone
to a muideied thief, anothei to an executed bank iobbeithiived by
ievealing winning numbeis foi an illegal lotteiy that also giewin popu-
laiity duiing this peiiod. As a foim of the numbeis game, this lotteiy
gave faiily highodds of success foi a temple that couldambiguously sug-
gest thiee oi foui digits. With thousands of woishipeis looking foi signs
in the incense smoke oi thiough divination techniques, the odds on any
given day that a devotee would win weie not bad. People said that stan-
daidcommunity gods weie unwilling to helppeople gamble. But lotteiy
numbeis weie only pait of the explanation foi the new piominence of
these temples. The sudden oweiing of the illegal lotteiy duiing these
yeais also demands explanationa state-iun lotteiy had existed foi
many yeais without such competition.
What the illegal lotteiy and these newly populai fee-foi-seivice
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temples had in common was the piospect of uneained wealth. Theii
populaiity incieased in the late I,8os because of the specic economic
and political conditions of the peiiod. Fiist, the suspension of mai-
tial law opened a moial fiee space foi new social piactices, including
woiship of the Eighteen Loids. Second, although people had achieved
the standaid of living that is usually associated with developed coun-
tiies, they weie also caught in a momentaiy economic vise: with suiplus
money and nowheie pioductive to put it, unpioductive investments
that might lead to uneained wealth seemed to make sense. When this
situation changed in the I,,os, especially as Taiwanese weie then in-
cieasingly able to invest in mainland China, both the Eighteen Loids
and the illegal lotteiy faded in impoitance.
The Eighteen Loids and similai temples seemplayfully postmodein.
Who could bettei symbolize the appaient loss of shaied values than a
pile of uniecognized dead bodies: They inict no set moiality. They do
not even suggest a moiality by favoiing an immoiality, they just do not
caie about such issues. Theii space is iestless and chaotic, always lled
with masses of people, but nevei the same people. No one has the au-
thoiity to impose a unied inteipietation on this, noi do inteipietive
social mechanisms exist that might oidei it. Even the movie made no
attempt at a unied ieading of the temple. These ghosts aie iadically
individualistic, seiving peoples selsh ends without iegaid foi oldei so-
cial ties such as family oi community, and without any eective means
to fostei a unied, authoiitative meaning.
c oo s uo uc t woe k s
These ghost temples stood out paitly because, foi the ist time,
they began to iival community god temples. Most gods, like ghosts,
aie the spiiits of dead people. But unlike ghosts, gods aie known foi
theii upiight acts befoie oi aftei death, oi both. Many people woi-
ship ancestial spiiits and nonancestial gods at home altais. The most
impoitant god temples, howevei, aie iun by local community com-
mittees. Theie is no piiesthood aliated with these temples, although
Daoist oi Buddhist piiests may be hiied to conduct iituals. Noi is
theie any institutional oiganization beyond individual temples. Some
neaiby temples aie connected histoiically thiough incense division,
in which a bianch temple staits up by biinging incense fiomthe mothei
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temple and usually ieaims the tie annually by making a pilgiimage
to the mothei temple. Maintenance of such ties is evidence of histoiical
ioots and ongoing economic oi social connections. Oveiseas commu-
nities often maintain ties to theii home communities thiough incense-
division netwoiks.
In many iespects, woiship of community gods is contiaiy to West-
ein conceptions of ieligion. Foi example, one of my eailiest impiessions
in Taiwan was that my anthiopological instincts about sacied and pio-
fane weie deed. This was not just the obseivation that ieligion and
daily life weie inextiicably inteitwined, I was much moie stiuck by the
absence of sacied space in iituals. Eaily in my ist extended eld ie-
seaich, I obseiveda Buddhist altai that hadbeenset uptofeedthe lonely
ghosts duiing the seventh lunai month. Duiing the ceiemony people
walked up to the monk conducting the iitual, suiiounded the altai, and
even giabbed objects fiom the altai. Temple altais aie noimally veiy
appioachable, and gods, when they physically appeai thiough spiiit
mediums, aie so appioachable that people just sit aiound and have
oidinaiy conveisations with them. This sense ieects populai attitudes,
though it is not a piiestly viewof thingsthe Buddhist monk had busily
cieated a meditational mandala aiound himself, and a glance at temple
aichitectuie shows a division of sacied space. Fuitheimoie, theie was
not even a cleai tianslation of the teim ieligion into Chinese be-
foie the twentieth centuiy, when China boiiowed the teim fiom Japan,
which got it in tuin fiom Westein philosophy. A numbei of oldei in-
foimants still do not iecognize the teim today, and among those who
do, many deny that they have any ieligion (meaning something institu-
tionalized, textual, piiestly) and will say only that they caiiy incense
(gia. hiu.).
The distinction between the woilds of commeice and ieligion also
was nevei veiy applicable inTaiwan. Any act of woiship beyond a mini-
mal lighting of incense iequiies buining spiiit money. The most com-
mon foims of spiiit money in Taiwan aie cheap squaies of papei deco-
iated with gold oi silvei foil. (In Hong Kong some look like seculai
cuiiency insciibed with the English woids Bank of Hell.) In contiast
to the fee-foi-seivice ghosts, howevei, people do not talk about money
foi gods as xing a contiactual ielationship oi as biibeiy. Instead, the
image is of the iecipiocity thiough which people build community and
peisonal netwoiks. Foi instance, inhei book onChinese iitual andpoli-
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tics, anthiopologist Emily Maitin Ahein quotes a Taiwanese woishipei
as follows: Police act one way to people who give them ied envelopes
biibes] andanothei way to those who do not. But gods aie not like that.
It is not that the moie things you give themthe moie they will help you.
It is only necessaiy to do good deeds and buin thiee sticks of incense
and they will be enoimously happy. Agod is a being with a veiy upiight
heait.
6
This is a veiy dieient conceptualization fiom the iepayment
to ghosts, but it also shows the geneial comfoit with commeice beyond
the maiketplace in Taiwan. The standaid wedding oi funeial gift, foi
example, is cash.
God temples inTaiwan have also thiived ovei the last fewdecades, al-
though they have not enjoyedthe spectaculai spuit of giowth that ghost
temples biiey did. They have incieased in both quantity (the numbei
of temples pei capita has been iising since about I,,:) and quality (as
oldei temples aie iebuilt on laigei scales and at gieat expense).
7
Some
of these temples aie entiepieneuiial, especially those associated with
spiiit mediums. A contiactual ielationship between the client and the
human spiiit medium (but not the deity) is also involved. This sectoi
has giown like any othei petty capitalist pioductmediums have mul-
tiplied the numbei of deities on theii altais because dieient gods t
dieient maiket niches, and mediums innovate newtechniques in com-
petitionwitheachothei.
8
The appeal to maiket segmentationinieligion
coiiesponds to the geneial fiactuiing of maiketing to t the disunities
of the population.
The most impoitant temples aie still those dedicated to commu-
nity gods. These temples aie uncompiomisingly local in oiientation.
Othei towns may have temples to the same deities, and some deities
aie nationally iecognized, but each god in his oi hei temple piimaiily
looks aftei just that locality. Many of these temples have iecently been
iebuilt at gieat expense. Lists of contiibutois and theii nancial gifts aie
typically posted outside temples, and these donois aie often featuied
in videos of majoi iituals pioduced by the temples. Giving money to
a temple claims a ielationship of iecipiocity simultaneously with both
the gods and the local community, declaiing community membeiship
and asseiting the iight to futuie social and supeinatuial suppoit (often
by wealthy people who no longei live theie). Rebuilding a local temple
oi contiibuting money to its iitual life aie in pait ways of solidifying the
social netwoiks that aie so ciucial to Taiwans mom-and-pop capital-
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ism. Gods and pations aie inteitwined in these obligations, which aie
concietized in the incieasingly oinate foims of the temples themselves.
The netwoiks that tiace histoiical connections among temples ie-
main as impoitant as evei, because, above all, Taiwans cuiient iage foi
investment in China encouiages entiepieneuis to ievivify temple ties to
theii ancestial homelands, wheie they plan to invest. Mainland China
ielaxes its usual glaie at populai ieligious piactice in these aieas, iec-
ognizing that Taiwanese investment in local temples also eases the ow
of capital foi othei puiposes. Temples aie thiiving on both sides of the
Taiwan Stiait as symbols and mediatois of new economic ties. Anthio-
pologist Biigitte Baptandiei piovides an example of the iionies that can
iesult. Back when iepiesentatives of Taiwanese temples could not visit
the mainland, she took a Taiwanese veision of a temple text conceining
the goddess Linshui Fuien to the mothei temple in Fujian Piovince. A
fewyeais latei the mothei temple held a confeience on the goddess, and
the oiganizeis weie able to invite theii Taiwanese counteipaits. They
iepiinted the text and gave it to the Taiwanese, who happily biought it
back as evidence of theii own ienewed authenticity.
9
On the othei hand,
Taiwanese feel a newkind of powei inthese ielationshipstheyaie now
ietuining as magnates, not piodigal sonsand this sometimes shows
up in claims that Taiwanese images aie moie authentic than those fiom
the mainland.
10
Taiwans odd political position also plays out thiough temples. Two
of Taiwans most famous temples aie dedicated to the goddess Mazu.
The temple inBeigang is consideied senioi to the temple inDajia, which
hosted a famous pilgiimage to Beigang eveiy yeai. When tiavel to the
mainland became possible, membeis of the Beigang temple initially ie-
fused to go, in what amounted to a claim of theii temples own ultimate
authenticity. On the othei hand, jumping at the chance to go to the
oiiginal mothei temple, membeis of the Dajia temple biought back in-
cense and then claimed senioiity to the Beigang temple. These events
weie islandwide gossip foi a while, and weie widely inteipieted as Bei-
gang suppoit foi Taiwan independence and Dajia suppoit foi ieuni-
cation. Temples have thiived as the nodes of economic and political
netwoiks but iemain subject to the intiicate paiticulaiities of Taiwans
unusual economy and unique politics.
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ou s c c t s
Yet anothei ieligious giowth aiea in Taiwan comes fiom the iise of
seveial indigenous pietistic sects, loosely ielated to eailiei Chinese tia-
ditions such as the White Lotus.
11
A wide iange of such gioups now
exists, making it dicult to geneialize about them. The laigest and most
inuential pietistic sect in Taiwan today is the Way of Unity (Yiguan
Dac), which claims ovei a million followeis. Its membeis iun most of
the vegetaiian iestauiants in Taiwan and include one of the wealthi-
est men in the woild, the shipping magnate Zhang Rongfa. The sect is
cuiiently planning to build a univeisity.
Manyof the sects aie millenaiian. Theii temples oftenhave laige stat-
ues of Maitieya, the Buddha of the next age, whom membeis say is (oi
will soon be) on eaith. Many sects also woiship a goddess, the Etei-
nal Veneiable Mothei (Vusheng Lacmu), who cieated the woild but
is now saddened and disappointed by hei childiens lack of moiality.
Neaily all these sects give a piominent place to spiiit wiiting, in which a
deity wiites commentaiies in sand thiough a possessed medium using
a planchette. Most sectaiians aie also self-consciously syncietic, diaw-
ing on Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism and sometimes ciossing
the globe foi theii ieligious iesouices. Foi instance, in a spiiit-wiiting
text published by one of these gioups theie is a tiansciipt of a panel
discussion involving the foundeis of the ve ieligions: the Piimoidial
Heavenly Woithy (cential to Daoism), Sakyamuni, Confucius, Moham-
med, and Jehovah. The modeiatoi is Guan Gong, the populai Chinese
god of wai, business, and loyalty.
12
The message is that all the ieligions
of the woild shaie the same basic message of moiality.
The sects claim to be moial ievivals in an eia of moial ciisis. They
unite laige numbeis of followeis aiound cleai leadeis and cleai sets of
ideas. They come togethei as oideied gioupsthe woid ccngregaticn
is tempting. This is veiy dieient fiom the ielatively disoiganized and
disaggiegated populai woiship of gods and especially of ghosts. Many
of the sects emphasize this oideiliness thiough the body. Foi example,
pietistic sectaiians typically weai blue oi white iobes ovei theii cloth-
ing when they woiship oi conduct spiiit-wiiting sessions, a signicant
depaituie fiom usual iitual piactice. They tend to woiship in neat iows
with cooidinated movements and segiegation by gendei (men on the
left in standaid Confucian oidei), this contiasts with the unoiganized
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woiship typical at community god temples, and even moie with the
total chaos at the Eighteen Loids. Unlike populai temples wheie anyone
can walk in and woiship, sect membeiship is voluntaiy and stiongly
maiked in diess and behavioi. Distinctions between sacied and piofane
aie nowielevant, as the select aie distinguished fiomotheis. Having be-
come accustomed to the nonsacied natuie of much iitual space, when
I ist visited sectaiian temples I was suipiised that I was not allowed
to appioach the altais, oi sometimes even to see the god. As pait of
this delineation of sacied space, money has also been iemoved fiomthe
iitualtheie is no spiiit money in any foim.
This is not to say that sectaiians oppose eithei the maiket econ-
omy oi Taiwans modeinist state. Theii new moiality is anything but
ievolutionaiy. In the sectaiian panel discussion I mentioned above, foi
instance, the Piimoidial Heavenly Woithypeihaps conscious of the
political state of emeigency at the timeoeis a summaiy of the
panels conclusions: Those who cultivate the Dao should iespect
the Constitution, be faithful to the nation, be faithful to human plans,
not abandon the laws, and behave as good citizens. . . . They] should
be lial to theii paients, caiefully attend to theii funeial iites, and make
saciices to them.
13
Most of the gioups in fact tiumpet the maiket
success of theii membeis, aiguing in Webeiian fashion that sect mem-
beis make goodbusiness connections because of the undeistanding that
comes fiomshaiing the same moial position, even with stiangeis. Some
sects also make a calculation of the piot and loss of the selfeach
conveit is supposed to accumulate enough meiit to achieve individual
salvation.
14
These sects oei an oveiaiching moiality that is comfoitable with
the maiket, but uncomfoitable with what is seen as the moial failing of
society. Like ievived god temples, but even moie poweiful, they help
establish netwoiks of like-minded people that have been ciucial to Tai-
wans economic expansion. Like the ghost cults, they celebiate the mai-
ket but with a veiy dieient moial message. While ghosts enjoy exactly
the loss of a shaied sense of moiality and ievel in the ieduction of
all ielationships to commodity exchange, the sects attempt to iebuild
moialities and to constiuct communities on a new basis. Ghosts ielish
living at the edgequite appiopiiate foi liminal beingsbut the sects
ieact against it. These sects iemain veiy impoitant in Taiwan, but they
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have been oveishadowed by anothei foim of oiganized ieligion, moie
puiely based in Buddhism.
ou c u e i t v uo c ovr s s i ou
Roughly simultaneous with the beginning of the Eighteen Loids en-
thusiasmand the incieased populaiity of sectaiian ieligion in the I,,os,
Taiwan also saw a iesuigence in vaiious soits of Buddhism. I will con-
centiate heie on the laigest of these gioups, the Compassionate Relief
Meiit Association (Ciji Gcngde Hui ). Claiming about million mem-
beis, it is the only social association in Taiwan laigei than the Nation-
alist Paity.
15
It gives away ovei U.S. s:o million each yeai in chaiity, and
many followeis also volunteei laige amounts of time visiting the pooi
oi woiking in the Compassionate Relief Hospital in Hualian, wheie the
movement began. Compassionate Relief is led by a fiail but chaiismatic
Buddhist nun named Zhengyan. The vast majoiity of followeis aie lay
people, and the gioup does not emphasize joining the sangha, the oidei
of Buddhist monks and nuns.
Zhengyan began hei movement on Taiwans pooi east coast in I,oo
with ve disciples and thiity housewives who contiibuted a few cents
a day and sewed childiens shoes to suppoit medical chaiity. Now the
gioup has bianches aiound the woild, iuns a univeisity, and is build-
ing its second cutting-edge hospital. Like the Eighteen Loids and some
othei Buddhist gioups, it giew slowly and steadily thiough the I,,os
and expanded veiy iapidly inthe I,8os. Its populaiity has outlasted that
of ghost temples. Compassionate Relief is almost matched in scale by a
few othei Buddhist gioups such as Buddha Light Mountain (Fucguang
Shan) and Dhaima Dium Mountain (Fagu Shan).
Compassionate Relief is notable foi its concein with seculai action.
It downplays many tiaditional aspects of Buddhism in Taiwan such as
sutia singing andphilosophical discussion. The emphasis is consistently
on changing this woild and cieating a Puie Land on eaith by biinging
the Buddhist message of simplicity and compassion into all aspects of
peoples lives. Of the followeis about 8o peicent aie women, who until
iecently woie identical conseivative diesses (the diesses aie nowdiei-
entiated by iank). Followeis gathei peiiodically in small gioups to caiiy
out chaiitable woiks, and in laigei gioups to listen to Zhengyans sei-
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mons (eithei in peison oi on video) oi to membei testimonials about
theii new lives.
16
The seimons aie light on Buddhist text and heavy on
action in the woild. Zhengyan is known foi hei teise advice on how to
live with pioblems, not how to tianscend them. She uiges people to cut
down on conspicuous consumption and to devote theii iesouices and
eneigy to helping the pooi and sick.
Membei testimonials, like theii Piotestant counteipaits, tend to
contiast cuiient happiness with foimei lives of dissolution and dissatis-
faction. At a testimonial in I,,,, one woman said, I used to have closets
full of clothes. None of them evei seemed beautiful enough to satisfy
me. But now I have found that most beautiful diess. It is the one I am
weaiing the Compassionate Relief unifoim]. A few even ielate tales
of changing loyalties fiom the Eighteen Loids to Zhengyanfeial ieli-
gion tamed again. A consistent theme in discussions about conveision
to Compassionate Relief is the ist viewing of Zhengyan, when visitois
aie often lost in uncontiollable weeping in the piesence of theii fiail
leadei. I have seen families piostiate themselves at hei feet with teais
owing down theii cheeks.
Much of the movement is about the iemaking of the selfthe chai-
ismatic tiansition thiough teais in the piesence of Zhengyan, the mes-
sages of the testimonials, the instiuction to volunteei among the pooi
and sick. The new self is molded just as much in the bodily piactices
of daily life. Seiious followeis keep a vegetaiian diet and aie iequiied
to abstain fiom alcohola piimaiy lubiicant foi much business in Tai-
wan. Followeis aie eveninstiuctedtoweai theii seatbelts. The unifoims,
like those of the pietistic sects, help maik gioup membeiship, they
contiast as much with individualistic daily diess as theii caiefully con-
stiuctedgioupceiemonies contiast withthe disoiganizeddaily woiship
at temples.
17
Compassionate Relief unifoims also caiiy theii own spe-
cic meanings. Woin ovei eveiyday clothing, sectaiian iobes emphasize
distinctions between the sacied and piofane and highlight the neces-
sity of puiity when dealing with deities. Theii tiaditional design also
piomotes the geneial feeling in those gioups of a ievival of Confucian
tiadition. Compassionate Relief unifoims, on the othei hand, aie moie
like eveiyday diess. The emphasis is thus on the seculai woild, iathei
than the sacied woild of sectaiian temples.
Compassionate Relief is not an antimaiket movement by any means,
but it does look to heal the moial pioblems of the maiket-based uni-
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veise. Like many moial ievivals, it discouiages consumption and en-
couiages social ielations outside of contiact and commeice. Chaiity,
aftei all, is a fundamentally nonmaiket way of iedistiibuting wealth, al-
though its money often comes initially fiom the maiket. Histoiically in
China this combination of Buddhism and chaiity is new (even begging
by monks was downplayed theie), but populaiizing Buddhist gioups
and piivate chaiitable oiganizations have long histoiies of and close
ties to the iise of the commodity economy in China. Foi example, the
iise in philanthiopic associations in the late Ming Dynasty (sixteenth
centuiy) was a iesponse to an inux of Spanish silvei. By joining with
local Confucian elites in philanthiopic ventuies that addiessed social
pioblems, newly iich meichants weie able to justify theii new wealth.
18
Compassionate Relief gave the piactice a Buddhist foim and assigned
women the leading iole, but it also helps answei the old moial pioblems
of newwealth. That is why this gioupunlike, foi instance, many of the
Japanese new ieligionsappeals paiticulaily to the wealthy. Many of
the othei new pietistic and Buddhist movements now also command
enoimous followings and huge pots of money, and philanthiopy seives
similai functions foi them. Two have opened oi aie planning univeisi-
ties, and Buddha Light Mountain was involved in the U.S. piesidential
campaign contiibution scandal of I,,o.
Buddhist gioups and pietistic sects piomise a moial compass at a
time when people feel that theii oldei moialities aie ciumbling undei
the economic and political piessuies of cuiient Taiwanese life. They ie-
focus maiket piots into nonmaiket activities, cleansing the cash in
good causes. Among the new ieligious movements, Compassionate Re-
lief is the most woildly and also the most populai with women. These
aspects aie piobably ielated: the movement oeis a way of maintaining
the conseivative image of women as nuituiing motheis and the valua-
tion of a simple life, while bieaking down the ielated social baiiieis
that had limited womens activities to the family. The pietistic sects lean
instead moie towaid ievitalized Confucianism, which is cleaily less ap-
pealing to women.
19
Compassionate Relief also thiived at this paiticulai moment foi
political ieasons. Anothei Buddhist iefoimei, a monk named Yinshun,
had been silenced by the Buddhist establishment (with goveinment
suppoit) in the I,,os because his woik seemed too close to leftist agita-
tion. Howevei, by the I,,os, when Compassionate Relief began to giow,
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Taiwans authoiitaiian goveinment had become staunchly laissez-faiie
on social issues. Swayed laigely by neoclassical economics (in spite of
theii laige state-owned sectoi), they kept taxation low in exchange foi
pioviding little welfaie, unemployment, oi health benets. This began
to change only aftei I,8,, when demociatization changed the political
dynamics of oeiing social seivices. GivenTaiwans economic diiection
at the time, it was convenient foi the goveinment that Compassion-
ate Relief met genuine social needs without goveinment involvement.
Zhengyan has nevei oeied diiect political suppoit to the goveinment
and is geneially seen as independent, but theie is, no doubt, a happy
coincidence of puipose.
wuv t ui s ! wuv uow!
Anthiopologists in Taiwan in the eaily I,,os tended to think indige-
nous foims of ieligion weie fading away. This notion may in pait have
been a iemnant of modeinization theoiy assumptions that seculaiiza-
tion was inevitable, but it was also suppoited by ciude statistical mea-
suies foi ieligion, like iegisteied temples pei capita.
20
Giowth in in-
digenous foims of ieligion began in the eaily I,,os and has geneially
continued unabated, although individual movements can ebb and ow
ovei just a few yeais. This giowth coincides ioughly with the peiiod
when Taiwan moved imly into an expoit-oiiented economic policy
with minimal state suppoit of society beyond education and infiastiuc-
tuiethe kind of model that has moie iecently become the geneial lib-
eial economic piesciiption foi the entiie woild. Taiwan did veiy well
undei these policies, but its success also encouiaged the economic woi-
iies of the I,8os (as cheap laboi giadually diied up) and the political
woiiies of the I,,os (as demociatization has pushed the issue of inde-
pendence oi ieunication to the point of ongoing identity ciisis).
It is not enough to point out that modeinization theoiists misundei-
stood the ielationship between seculaiization and capitalism. Taiwan is
haidly unique in casting doubt on that theoiy, oi in expeiiencing the
kinds of moial doubts that ieligion can addiess. Noi is it enough to
point out that these ieligious developments iespond ioughly to mai-
ket piessuies that aie not unusual aiound the woildan uneasy com-
bination of giowing individualism in a Hobbesian woild of competi-
tion and contiact, combined with an attempt to cieate new foims of
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community. Instead, it seems woith exploiing why Taiwans animated,
vigoious, and diveise set of ieligious possibilities takes the paiticulai
foims it has at this histoiical moment. At one side, the Eighteen Loids
wildly celebiate the moial fieedoms of the individual in the maiket.
At the same time, iesuigent god cults help solidify business netwoiks,
and oiganized ieligious movements oei entiiely new moial commu-
nities. One can move fiom the chaotic midnight mass of self-inteiested
woishipeis to neat congiegations of identical followeis, we see fads foi
nameless and homeless ghosts, foi gods with communitaiian loyalties,
foi chaiismatic and saintly leadeis. Some people, in fact, switched al-
most oveinight fiom aident followeis of ghosts and gambling to loyal
welfaie woikeis foi Compassionate Relief. As Taiwan has thiived in the
newcapitalist woild, it has simultaneously become moie localizing and
moie univeisalizing, pushed maiket competition and chaiitable iedis-
tiibution, celebiated individualism and constiucted social values, wal-
lowed in disoideily ghosts and ciafted new kinds of oidei. It is both
postmodein and modein, togethei and insepaiable.
Pait of the answei to the paiticulaiities of Taiwans cuiient ieli-
gious vigoi lies in its long histoiy of involvement in global tiade, mai-
ket economies, and boideiland politics. While the conguiation of
the woild economy in the late twentieth centuiy was of couise new,
Chinaand especially Taiwanalieady had an intimate familiaiity
with things like cash and contiacts. Neithei the political tension of Tai-
wans cuiient limbo noi the economic edginess of life in a change-
able commodity economy aie new foi the Chinese. In Chinas histoiy
political edges abound: Theie aie inteinational and domestic iegional
boundaiies wheie communication and political contiol have been dif-
cult and wheie the stiength of non-Chinese ethnic gioups made so-
cial inteiactions moie complex. Taiwan neaily always t this categoiy,
although the events of the last few decades have made its position
even moie anomalous. Especially duiing peiiods of political weakness
in China, these edgy places have spiouted unusual ieligious giowths.
Peiipheial Guangxi in the I8os, foi example, was just such a place, and
one of its main deities at the time was King Gan, who had achieved
high oce by muideiing his mothei and buiying hei in a giave whose
geomancy was said to guaiantee his futuie success. Othei deities in the
aiea included a sexually licentious couple and a dung-thiowing vagiant.
Speaking thiough possessed spiiit mediums, seveial deities extoited
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money fiom innocent passeis-by.
21
This was distant indeed fiom the
image of the upiight buieauciatic gods piomoted in most aieas.
Chinas eailiei suiges of maiket and commodity dominance also had
ieligious inteiactions. In addition to the iise of philanthiopic associa-
tions and populaiizing Buddhismin the late Ming, anothei episode that
iesonates today was the I,o8 wave of soulstealing in China. Astiand of a
victims haii, oi a victims wiitten name, was allegedly used foi someone
elses peisonal gain, the victimoften a childwas iobbed of his spiii-
tual essence and would soon waste away and die.
22
This was a peiiod of
economic piospeiity in China (aftei the Biitish began to buy Chinese
tea but befoie they wieaked theii opium ievenge), and the accusations
occuiied in Chinas wealthiest iegion. In this aiea, wheie iecently theie
had been a iapid population inciease, the new wealth led to a geneial
fieeing of peasant laboi, but only to entei a buyeis laboi maiket. This
was not capitalism, but it was a foim of maiket cultuie based in iapid
commeicialization and its social eects.
Even the gieat vaiiety of ieligious options in Taiwan today is not
new. Devotionhas not beenstiongly institutionalizedinChina since the
Song Dynasty diopped the eailiei idea of adopting Buddhism oi Dao-
ism as a state ieligion. Coiiespondingly, foi centuiies most ieligion in
China and Taiwan has been eithei stiictly locally contiolled in commu-
nity temples oi only loosely centialized thiough iival centeis of Bud-
dhist and Daoist oidination. Most woiship has been peifoimed within
the home, oveiseen by no highei authoiity. Undei these ciicumstances,
China and Taiwan have long biewed a wide vaiiety of local ieligious op-
tions, and theie is little institutional obstacle to change when compaied
to Chiistianity oi Islam.
These histoiical piecedents in pait explain Taiwans ieaction to mil-
lennial capitalism. But the movements I have discussed aie not simple
continuations of eailiei ieligious ideas, even though each one has di-
iect piecuisois. Rathei, they diei fiom eailiei movements because
they aie integial paits of Taiwans iecent economic and political tians-
foimations, which aie not just a ieiteiation of eailiei bouts of com-
meicialization oi political weakness. One aspect of this change in the
global context is communication, including both thiough the media
and tianspoitation. The newease of movement has allowed people and
temples to act on laigei scales than evei befoie, including the intei-
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national stage foi Compassionate Relief (it has bianches in nineteen
countiies), the new levels of inteiaction between Taiwanese and main-
land temples, and even the islandwide populaiity of the Eighteen Loids
temple. New media play just as stiong a iole: the Eighteen Loids
spawned a movie and a television soap opeia, community temples
hawk souvenii videos of majoi iituals, and, like Zhengyan, impoitant
cleigy fiequently pieach on television.
The specic foims of ieligion today in Taiwan aie unique, both in
compaiison to theii histoiical antecedents and to compaiable ieligious
iesuigences in othei paits of the woild. The Eighteen Loids cult, foi
example, aggiandizes ghosts beyond anything documented eailiei in
China oi Taiwan. As a ghost temple, it dieis fundamentally fiom the
uniuly god cults of I8os Guangxi. In some ways it is moie similai to
the iecent giowth in many paits of the woild of what Jean and John
Comaio call occult economies, which geneially paint a Hobbesian
woild of all against all, with individualism iun iampant and amoial
self-inteiest the only goal.
23
Theie is iaiely any institutional stiuctuie
beyond the locality, and while the themes diaw on indigenous tiadi-
tions, they also ieect a iapid tiansnational ow in the cultuial capital
of evil.
These ieligions aie all feial in a sense, but Taiwans Eighteen Loids
is also quite dieient fiom the otheis, including the South Afiican in-
stance the Comaios document in detail. South Afiica has seen an epi-
demic of witchciaft accusations, sometimes culminating in the muidei
of the witch by the old ievolutionaiy means of necklacing, that is,
being gailanded with a iubbei tiie that is then set alight. The accused
witches aie said to be wealthy, old, and infeitile. One common theme is
that they muidei people and ievive theii bodies to woik as agiicultuial
slaves at night. Duiing the day the zombied bodies aie stoied in metal
oil diums. Othei tales tell of the haivest of human body paits, ideally
fiom fieshly slaughteied childien, to make magic potions foi peisonal
gain. The epidemic of witchciaft accusations, and the veiy ieal violence
that iesults fiomit, has beenseiious enough to spawngoveinment com-
missions of enquiiy. In gieat contiast to this giim poitiait, Taiwans
veision of fee-foi-seivice ieligion is essentially playful, not evil. The dif-
feience ieects the veiy dieient expeiiences of capitalism so fai by the
Taiwanese, and especially the gieat success of Taiwans paiticulai foim
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of netwoiked mom-and-pop entiepieneuis. Rampant self-inteiest does
not seem quite so evil when most people have cleaily thiived on it. In-
deed, the Taiwanese Eighteen Loids is as much a celebiation of capitalist
gieed as a damnation of it.
Community god temples in Taiwan aie the closest thing to a simple
ievival of what was alieady theie. Even they, howevei, aie caught up in
the new systems. They aie pait of the iapid cioss-stiait expansion of
peisonal netwoiks as economic investment oppoitunities have giown
ovei the last decade. Paitly foi this ieason, they have also become ciu-
cial to the new local and inteinational politics of identity. This is evi-
denced by aiguments about ielative authenticity of iitual and iconog-
iaphy and about independence and ieunication veisions of a goddess.
Moie locally, the new iole of community temple ieligion appeais when
political candidates behead a cock in fiont of the community god to
piove the seiiousness of theii piomises, oi when temples help oiganize
local enviionmental demonstiations. Temples and local political powei
have long had an intimate ielationship, but demociatization has helped
change its natuie. At still laigei scales, the pietistic sects claima ielation
to maiket success that is new in theii histoiy, and the Buddhist moi-
alizing of Compassionate Relief is pait of a tiansfoimation in womens
social position.
These changes coiielate to Taiwans complex and weakly institution-
alized ieligious histoiy and to Taiwans specic adaptations to its un-
usual economics and politics. In pait, Taiwans cuiient identity ciisis
is the iesult of the giowth of netwoiked capitalism duiing its decades
along the global cheap-laboi fiontiei that has now moved faithei west
into China and southeast Asia. In pait, the identity ciisis is also the cie-
ation of its anomalous political woild. Identity in Taiwan is in so much
ux both because the island has no place in a woild of nation-states and
because of its maiket expeiience. Weie it not foi the political loosen-
ing aftei maitial law, the consequent explosion of woiiy about what it
means to be Taiwanese, and the inteinational (oi intianationalthat
confusion itself is the pioblem) conundiums it has cieated, ieligious
cultuie inTaiwan would look iathei dieient. Taiwans wide iange of in-
digenous alteinatives ieects its fiagmented identities as a postmodein
economy ina nonnation-nonstate, less ceitainof its ieligious ceitainties
than in othei places and othei times. Its iich ieligious cultuies evolved
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aiound the tensions of modeinity in its paiticulai histoiical context,
but theii specic iealizations iequiie us to look to the foims of life that
chaiacteiize the edges of the economic and political woilds, shaped by
the conveigence of theii histoiies and a new woild system.
uot c s
1 Gaiy G. Hamilton, Cultuie and oiganization in Taiwans maiket economy, in Mar-
ket cultures. Scciety and mcrality in the newAsian capitalisms, edited by Robeit W. Hefnei
(Bouldei, Colo.: Westview Piess, I,,8), 8.
2 See Jane Kaufman Winn, Not by iule of law: Mediating state-society ielations in
Taiwan thiough the undeigiound economy, in The cther Taiwan. :;, tc the present,
edited by Muiiay A. Rubenstein (New Yoik: M. E. Shaipe, I,,).
3 Foi a longei desciiption, see Robeit P. Wellei, Resistance, chacs, and ccntrcl in
China. Taiping rebels, Taiwanese ghcsts, and Tiananmen (London: Macmillan, I,,), I:
_.
4 Temple employees, who help woishipeis iead the poetic talismans that aie pait
of standaid temple divination, see a wide iange of people and listen to theii peisonal
situations. These employees invaiiably told me that the people who came to this temple
seemed no dieient fiom those at any othei temple. The Eighteen Loids temple allows
visitois the fiisson of thinking they aie iubbing elbows with gangsteis and piostitutes,
without actually foicing them to do so.
5 The movie was Shiba Vanggcng The Eighteen Loids] (I,8,), and the soap opeia
was Shiba Vanggcng chuanqi The stiange tale of the Eighteen Loids] (China Television
Seivice, I,8,).
6 Emily Maitin Ahein, Chinese ritual and pclitics (NewYoik: Cambiidge Univeisity
Piess, I,8I), ,,.
7 See Chiu Heiyuan and Yao Lixiang, Taiwan diqu zongjiao bianqian zhi tantao Dis-
cussion of ieligious changes in the Taiwan aiea], Bulletin cf the Institute cf Ethnclcgy,
Academia Sinica ,, (I,8o): o,,.
8 See Donald Sutton, Tiansmission in populai ieligion: The Jiajiang tioupe in south-
ein Taiwan, in Unruly gcds. Divinity and scciety in China, edited by Meii Shahai and
Robeit P. Wellei (Honolulu: Univeisity of Hawaii Piess, I,,o), foi an example of how a
iitual peifoimance style changed duiing the twentieth centuiy iniesponse to the maiket.
9 Biigitte Baptandiei, The Lady Linshui: Howa woman became a goddess, in Shahai
and Wellei, Unruly gcds.
10 See P. Steven Sangien, Anthiopology and identity politics in Taiwan: The iele-
vance of local ieligion (papei piesented at the Taiwan Studies Woikshop, Faiibank Cen-
tei foi East Asian Reseaich, Haivaid Univeisity, I,,,).
11 See DavidK. JoidanandDaniel L. Oveimyei, The ying phcenix. Aspects cf Chinese
sectarianism in Taiwan (Piinceton, N.J.: Piinceton Univeisity Piess, I,8o).
12 Shengxian Tang, Xiudac zhinan Compass foi the cultivation of the Dao] (Taiz-
hong: Dajiang Piess, I,,8).
13 Ibid., Io.
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14 See Joseph Bosco, Yiguan Dac. Heteiodoxy and populai ieligion in Taiwan, in
Taiwan, :;,:;;:. Respcnses tc directed pclitical and sccic-eccncmic change, edited by
Muiiay R. Rubenstein (Aimonk, N.Y.: M. E. Shaipe, I,,:).
15 See Lu Hwei-syin, Womens self-giowth gioups and empoweiment of the uteiine
family in Taiwan, Bulletin cf the Institute cf Ethnclcgy, Academia Sinica ,I (I,,I): :,o:,
Zhang Weian, Fuojiao Ciji Gongde Hui yu Ziyuan Huishou The Buddhist Compas-
sion Meiit Society and iecycling] (papei piesented at the Woikshop on Cultuie, Media,
and Society in Contempoiaiy Taiwan, Haivaid Univeisity, I: June I,,o), and Chien-yu
Julia Huang and Robeit P. Wellei, Meiit and motheiing: Women and social welfaie in
Taiwanese Buddhism, }curnal cf Asian Studies ,, (I,,8): _,,,o.
16 Many of these piactices sound Piotestant, although theie is no evidence of boi-
iowing. The geneial social message, howevei, is said to stem in pait fiom Zheng-
yans eaily contact with seveial Catholic nuns, who compaied Buddhism unfavoiably to
Catholicism foi its lack of social action.
17 When a Taiwanese giaduate student of mine who had been doing ieseaich in
Namibia ist walked into Compassionate Relief s Taipei headquaiteis, she saw all the
unifoims and exclaimed, Zionists!
18 Joanna F. Handlin Smith, Benevolent societies: The ieshaping of chaiity duiing
the Late Ming and Eaily Ching, }curnal cf Asian Studies o (I,8,): _o,_,.
19 Foi moie on the gendei issue, see Huang and Wellei, Meiit and motheiing.
20 See Chiu and Yao, Taiwan diqu zongjiao, o,,8,.
21 See Robeit P. Wellei, Matiicidal magistiates and gambling gods: Weak states and
stiong spiiits in China, Australian }curnal cf Chinese Aairs __ (I,,,): Io,:.
22 Philip A. Kuhn, Sculstealers. The Chinese scrcery scare cf :,o8 (Cambiidge: Hai-
vaid Univeisity Piess, I,,o).
23 Jean Comaio and John L. Comaio, Occult economies and the violence of ab-
stiaction: Notes fiom the South Afiican postcolony, American Ethnclcgist :o (I,,,):
:,,_oI.
e c r c e c uc c s
Ahein, Emily Maitin. I,8I. Chinese ritual and pclitics. New Yoik: Cambiidge Univeisity
Piess.
Baptandiei, Biigitte. I,,o. The Lady Linshui: Howa woman became a goddess. In Shahai
and Wellei.
Bosco, Joseph. I,,:. Yiguan Dac. Heteiodoxy and populai ieligion in Taiwan. In Tai-
wan, :;,:;;:. Respcnses tc directed pclitical and sccic-eccncmic change, edited by
Muiiay R. Rubenstein. Aimonk, N.Y.: M. E. Shaipe.
Chiu Heiyuan, and Yao Lixiang. I,8o. Taiwan diqu zongjiao bianqian zhi tantao Dis-
cussion of ieligious changes in the Taiwan aiea]. Bulletin cf the Institute cf Ethnclcgy,
Academia Sinica ,,: o,,8,.
Comaio, Jean, and John L. Comaio. I,,,. Occult Economies and the violence of ab-
_oI.
Hamilton, Gaiy G. I,,8. Cultuie and oiganization in Taiwans maiket economy. In Mar-
z8
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ket cultures. Scciety and mcrality in the new Asian capitalisms, edited by Robeit W.
Hefnei. Bouldei, Colo.: Westview Piess.
Huang, Chien-yu Julia, and Robeit P. Wellei. I,,8. Meiit and motheiing: Women and
social welfaie in Taiwanese Buddhism, }curnal cf Asian Studies ,,: _,,,o.
Hwei-syin, Lu. I,,I. Womens self-giowth gioups and empoweiment of the uteiine
family in Taiwan. Bulletin cf the Institute cf Ethnclcgy, Academia Sinica ,I: :,o:.
Joidan, David K., and Daniel L. Oveimyei. I,8o. The ying phcenix. Aspects cf Chinese
sectarianism in Taiwan. Piinceton, N.J.: Piinceton Univeisity Piess.
Kuhn, Philip A. I,,o. Sculstealers. The Chinese scrcery scare cf :,o8. Cambiidge: Haivaid
Univeisity Piess.
Sangien, Steven P. I,,,. Anthiopology and identity politics in Taiwan: The ielevance of
local ieligion. Papei piesented at the Taiwan Studies Woikshop, Faiibank Centei foi
East Asian Reseaich, Haivaid Univeisity.
Shahai, Meii, and Robeit P. Wellei, eds. I,,o. Unruly gcds. Divinity and scciety in China.
Honolulu: Univeisity of Hawaii Piess.
ShengxianTang. Xiudac zhinan Compass foi the cultivation of the Dao]. I,,8. Taizhong:
Dajiang Piess.
Shiba Vanggcng The Eighteen Loids]. I,8,.
Shiba Vanggcng chuangi The stiange tale of the Eighteen Loids]. I,8,. China Television
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Taiwan. In Shahai and Wellei.
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ghcsts, and Tiananmen. London: Macmillan.
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Millenniums Past, Cubas Future?
Paul Ryer
Bcck ccver phctc by }eremy Vcl
Phctc by Paul Ryer
Socialism oi Death
Both this commeicial Noith Ameiican
iepiesentation of a Cuban appiopiia-
tion of a U.S. symbol and the image of
a decaying ievolutionaiy slogan too
easily map onto Westein complacencies
iegaiding the inevitability of capitalism
and the futility of alteinative ideologies
oi iesistant piactices. Image consump-
tion of this soit not only natuializes a
notNew Woild Oidei, it also impli-
cates the consumei: the stai-spangled
woman pictuied is not actually waiting
foi Fidel, but foi a dollai-iich foieign
clientone of the veiy peisons most
likely to nd a comfoitable iiony, eioti-
cism, oi pathos in such photogiaphs.
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Consuming Geist: Popontology and the Spirit
of Capital in Indigenous Australia
Elizabeth A. Pcvinelli
On Io August I,,8, seveial people fiom Belyuen and I diove to Wad-
eye (Poit Keats) and ian into the aik of a covenant, a building undeiway
aimed at housing an indigenous spiiituality. This building has seveial
aspects, modalities, and scalesphysical, subjective, textual. It is dis-
peised acioss multiple social eldslaw, business, and public lifeand
the puipose it seives goes by seveial names: cultuial touiism, ecotoui-
ism. In this essay, I seek to undeistand the souices and limits of this
built enviionment and its social, subjective, and economic implications
foi indigenous Austialians.
David Haivey (I,8,: __,) has noted that post-Foidist capitalism
seems to be dominated by ction, fantasy, the immateiial (paiticulaily
money), ctitious capital, images, ephemeiality, the stock maiket and
vaiious nancial instiuments aie well cited examples. Heiein, I exam-
ine a ielated maiketthe maiket in the uncanny, the mysteiy (iathei
than the mysteiious), the fouifold (mcrphe) as it opeiates in noithein
Austialia. I will piopose that one of the opeiations of this maiket is to
hold ceitain gioups of people accountable foi manifesting foi ceitain
othei gioups a Heideggeiian foim (moiphe). It will also emeige that
the maiket itself ielies upon a complex set of textual mediations genei-
ating both an object foi and a limit to capital foims of commodication.
What might these paiticulai modalities of capital and textuality tell us
about the dynamic ielation among text, subject, and economic piac-
tice at the beginning of the new millennium: Moie specically: Howdo
we undeistand the textual souices of the indigenous Spiiit that capi-
tal commodies: Note: I will seek the answei to these questions not in
analysis of the iepiesentation of the Spiiit of commodity capital, but
iathei in an inteiiogation of howthe building of vaiious soits of capital
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infiastiuctuies is mediated by vaiious soits of textual aichitectuies and
by the subjective inhabitation of both. In shoit, the logic and timing of
the subject aie not equivalent to the logic and timing of capital.
e c c i vc s or t uc s r i e i t u i
We had not gone toWadeye to chase the maiket of the Spiiit. We had
planned to spend the week mapping the coastal iegion histoiically asso-
ciated with the Maiiiamu and Maiiitjaben Aboiginal people with othei
men and women living at Wadeye in piepaiation foi a sea claim to be
lodged undei the Native Title Act of I,,_. The map would help demon-
stiate the continuing existence of the tiaditional laws, customs, beliefs,
and piactices of the Maiiiamu and Maiiitjaben. It is such tiaditional
customs that give theii native title its legal ecacy in Austialian statu-
toiy and common law. Most juiists loosely agiee with Justice Olneys
undeistanding of tiaditional customs as a set of laws, customs, piac-
tices, and tiaditions that aie integial to a distinctive cultuie iathei
than a meie desciiption of how people live oi a desciiption of how
theii ancestois once lived (Hayes v. Ncrthern Territcry I,,,: :o). It is
not iequiied by the national law that these customaiy laws be demon-
stiated to be spiiitual in natuie, although in the common sense and
common pailance of national couits, pailiaments (fedeial, state, and
teiiitoiy), and public spheies, Aboiiginal customaiy law is consideied
to be satuiated and fully compiehended by the cosmogonic myth-iitual
of the Dieamtime. What is iequiied of applicantsbefoie theii native
title claim can be iegisteiedis that they acknowledge theii native title
iights and inteiests to be subject to all valid and cuiient laws of the
Commonwealth and the Noithein Teiiitoiy. Accoiding to the cuiient
phiasing of native title applications in the Noithein Teiiitoiy, they also
must fuithei acknowledge that the exeicise of these iights and intei-
ests might be iegulated, contiolled, cuitailed, iestiicted, suspended, oi
postponed by ieason of the existence of valid concuiient iights and
inteiests by oi undei such laws. This acknowledgment is a foimal tex-
tual act: the statutoiily mandated foim and content of a native title ap-
plication. Because applications aie usually piepaied by non-Aboiiginal
lawyeis and anthiopologists, most claimants nevei know they have
been iepiesented as acquiescing in this hieiaichy of legal powei and
authoiity.
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But it was neithei the expanse of the Dieaming noi the conceit of
national law that initially caught my bieath. Instead, I was taken aback
by the expansion of the local aiistiip. Wadeye, also known as Poit Keats,
is the sixth-laigest town in the NoitheinTeiiitoiy, a fact often obscuied
by its iemote location, situated as it is o the main highway that iuns
south fiom Daiwin to Alice Spiings. Of these towns, Wadeye is the
pooiest, with all the health and social pioblems that attend poveity:
low life-expectancies and high childhood moitality, substance abuse,
suicide, and depiession. My companions and I had diiven the long diit
tiack to the community many times and knew well the actual physical
ielief of ieaching the aiield at the othei side. Exhausted by the dusty
ioad, the jaiiing and seemingly endless potholes, the heat, the iacket,
we would always wondei aloud why we had not own. The answei
was the cost. And, this time, instead of a diit landing stiip, we weie
gieeted by enoimous eaithmoveis paving and lengthening what was
emeiging as an aiipoit. Vhere the Green Ants Dream came to my mind,
but no one fiom Belyuen had seen Weinei Heizogs I,8, lm, with its
diamatic exploiation of Aboiiginal spiiituality thiough the tiopic ie-
guiation of Aboiiginal ceiemonial giounds and actois as aiistiip and
plane. Responding to my suipiise, my classicatoiy mothei Giacie Bin-
bin desciibed the ienovations as an Aboiiginal counteimovement to
the movement of non-Aboiiginal desiies. Touiists coming, she said.
Ansett coming to Poit Keats. Diop them touiist o. Maybe they look
museum. Listen to bush stoiies. Might be bush food. Fly back. Beiia-
gut white people] like that kind a business. Lot a money gana be this
Poit Keats.
We nevei did nish mapping the coast on that tiip. Oui exeicise was
inteiiupted when, on the thiid day of the eld tiip, senioi Maiiiamu
and Maiiitjaben men and women weie called to witness the iitual pun-
ishment of a young male family membei. The night befoie, this young
man and seveial of his fiiends had stolen and wiecked a cai belong-
ing to a non-Aboiiginal man living in the community. As punishment,
the young men weie ogged by theii eldeis, a iitual oveiseen by white
NoitheinTeiiitoiy police. Asimilai piactice in a small Aboiiginal com-
munity just noith of Wadeye had made headlines seveial yeais befoie.
Seveial men fiom Peppimenaiti went on tiial foi, and weie eventu-
ally found guilty of, manslaughtei. As public spectacle, coveiage of the
Peppimenaiti tiial focused piimaiily on the defense aigument that the
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death was an accidental iesult of indigenous mens customaiy iitual
business and thus not subject to the Austialian penal code (Watt I,,:a,
I,,:b). The defendants lost theii case. Piactices that piovide iobust evi-
dence of the existence of tiaditional laws so vital to native title and
land-iights cases may still not be ecacious giounds foi an aigument
in ciiminal couits.
Duiing the public ogging at Wadeye (which is how people theie
desciibe the piacticeevoking, in the piocess, oldei Biitish codes of
colonial discipline), I walked to the newly opened caipeted and aii-
conditioned Wadeye Ait Galleiy with one of my classicatoiy hus-
bands, Timothy Dumu. Some of his awaid-winning woik was featuied
theie. Oiienting visitois to the aitwoiks weie numeious biochuies de-
sciibing what made Wadeye ait cultuially distinctive (iead: cultuially
valuable). The biochuies diewattention to specic aesthetic foims and
iepiesented them as spiiitual tiaditions that visitois could see in the
ait hanging on the walls. What visitois could also see weie piices fai
below those found in iegional and national cities.
Local ait biochuies and piices aie simply local nodes of a iegional,
national, andinteinational supeitext geneiatedby the semicooidinated
and uncooidinated (indeed competitive) activities of othei dealeis and
ait houses. This supeitext piovisionally cooidinates the aesthetic and
economic values of Aboiiginal ait, ciafts, music, and cultuie. The veiy
notionof getting ait at a dealand thus of this ait instantiating such a
dealdepends upon a laigei ciiculation of ait and people (Myeis I,,8).
In fact, Wadeye was connected to this ciiculatoiy system even befoie
the expansion of the aiipoit and the cieation of the ait galleiy. Wad-
eye baiks painted duiing the I,oos weie featuied in the most iecent
Sothebys indigenous ait catalogue, listed foi between s,oo and s,,ooo
(all dollai guies in Austialian dollais). The head of Sothebys Aboiigi-
nal ait collection, Tim Klingendei (whose sistei acted as the solicitoi
foi some of the men and women I was woiking with on a pievious land
claim) has woiked with local Wadeye people and anthiopologists to
tiace the baiks meanings, theii painteis, and the peiiod in which they
weie painted in oidei to convey to potential buyeis the cultuial values
that infoim the economic value of the aitwoiks. Both Timothys have
theii ownnotions about what motivates a touiist to buyoi bidona piece
of ait. That day at the Wadeye Ait Galleiy, Timothy Dumu desciibed
consumei desiie in the following way.
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If that thing im Dreaming, Berragut lcck.
Like this cne I been paint,
Im dreaming.
Im gct that stcry.
I been ask.
Im right.
I can paint this cne.
Vulman im been say.
Whites aie inteiested if its about the Dieaming.
Like this one I painted.
Its Dieaming.
Its got that stoiy.
I asked.
Its aliight.
I can paint this Dieaming.
Old man said.
White collectois desiie nothing moie than the consumption of Ab-
oiiginal spiiituality, theii Dieamings, and they aie willing to pay good
money foi it. But my husband linguistically enacts a limit to his com-
pliance with this desiie, textually inveiting the hieiaichy mandated by
the statutoiy iequiiements foi iegisteiing a native title claim. The foim
of his utteiance, its poetic paiallelism, encloses this spectial inteiest of
whites in the social dynamic of local cultuial authoiity: Wulman im
been say.
But theie might be something else to listen foi heie, something moie
than a subaltein inveision of discuisive hieiaichies of desiies and au-
thoiities: the subjective embodiment of contiasting deontic mandates.
What can be made of Dumus statement, I can paint this one: Is it
simply a iecitation of local customaiy social noims: Oi a peifoimative
enactment of the self as a piopei Aboiiginal subject qua abidei of the
customaiy: Oi could this quotidian statementas much and as little
consideied as anyof the iemaiks that passed inthe long conveisationwe
hadbe consideied the linguistic piecipitate of subjectivity in a eld of
competing capital and cultuial obligations and desiies: In othei woids,
is Dumu saying something that would appeai in its negative foim as
I should not oi must not paint this design oi as I cannot paint this
designI liteially cannot make my hands move in such a way as to ma-
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teiialize this thing: Likewise, is his ait valuable because he iteiates and
follows the iteiative tiail of the customaiy, oi because this iteiation is
also a maikei of the subjective stiain of obligation in a paiticulai foim
of national and global life: What mattei, politically and analytically, to
how these questions aie answeied: I begin by inteiiogating the specic
spatial economy of the Spiiit at Wadeye.
c e c o c uit s
It is haid not to think of the Wadeye aiistiip as evidence of the
existence of a local caigo cult. But the aiipoit is not the mateiializa-
tion of any puiely local scheme. Rathei it is the physical unfuiling of
Commonwealth and Noithein Teiiitoiy goveinment eoits to build
national space in such a way as to pioduce suiplus values foi national
citizen[subjects. This is incieasingly the iepiesentedfunctionof govein-
ment in late libeial demociacies like Austialia. The idea of maiketing
the spiiitual natuie of Aboiiginal cultuie and economy has been tested
thioughout Aboiiginal Austialia foi at least half a centuiy. And not just
Aboiiginal Austialia: as numeious scholais have demonstiated, econo-
mies and goveinments on the local, iegional, and national levels aie
incieasingly dependent on touiism, paiticulaily spiiitual-cultuial toui-
ism (see Smith I,8,, Uiiy I,,,, foi the Austialian case, see Ciaik I,,I,
Jacobs and Gale I,,, Fiow I,,,, Thomas I,,,).
But at the coie of the question of why such a place as Wadeye has
its new aiistiip is a systematic textual misundeistanding iegaiding the
scale, tempoiality, and spatiality of touiist capital. In daily papeis, on
iadio and television, public analysts continually iefei to a quantity of
capital associated with the touiism industiy. Foi instance, the Ncrthern
Territcry News iepoited that The Teiiitoiys s,oo million-plus toui-
ism industiy would be hit haid by tiade-os negotiated as pait of the
new goods and seivice tax (GST to hit NT touiism, _I May I,,,).
But what is this s,oo million that is at iisk: On the one hand, it is a
sign guiing, in the piocess of iefeiiing to, the sum total of all move-
ments and modalities of capital associated with a delimited domain of
economic piactice. But on the othei hand, ,oo million is a singulai
nominal foimthat indexes Singulaiity, Quantity, and Objectness, a sin-
gulai, objective quantity of scme thing. Situated within the giammatical
piesent impeifect, this nominal foimguies paiticulai movements and
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paiticulaiized moments of capital as an aggiegated thing: an it existing
in toto, out theie, iight now, at continual iisk of being hit haidthat
is, abused unfaiily. Lest this seem no moie than the unfoitunate slip
of an oveiwoiked copyeditoi, note what a touiist outttei in Daiwin
quipped to me and, in so quipping, suggested might be the ielationship
between the public ciiculation of textual guiations of touiism capi-
tal and subjective undeistandings of the goal of business: Theies ,oo
million dollais out theie. The question is how we get it heie.
A giammatical and textual guiation is misappiehended as a ieal
condition: Speakeis follow theii own piojections of semantically and
piagmatically entailed conceptual space into the woild of socially me-
diated things instead of examining why and how these guiated spaces
might be used and useful (foi the giammatical and metapiagmatic un-
conscious, see Wittgenstein I,,8 I,,_], Whoif I,,o, Silveistein I,8I).
The conceptualization of touiism capital as a unied, owing mass
piesents businesses with questions of how to fieeze, halt, oi impede the
ow, ciiculation, and migiation of capital. That is, businesses face
not only the pioblem of how to compiess space-time to deciease cost
and inciease piot, but also how to decompiess space in oidei to local-
ize suiplus value. At both of these moments of capital, Commonwealth,
State, and Teiiitoiy goveinments actively assist Austialian businesses.
Vaiious state agencies and piivate consumei oiganizations conduct
consumei suiveys, suppoit community development schemes, employ
consultants to model cultuially sensitive appioaches to development,
and modify physical and iegulatoiy space to ease access foi developeis
and theii clients. Indeed, it can be said that built physical enviionments
aiistiips and othei physical infiastiuctuiesaie aiticulated within
no less built statutoiy and iegulatoiy enviionments. Foi example, in
a step designed to facilitate the tiac of touiists, the goveinments of
the United States and Austialia have modied immigiation iegulations
in such a way as to peimit seivices such as the issuing of visasonce
the piovince of goveinment agenciesto be piovided by coipoiations
such as Qantas Aiilines. Meanwhile, the Austialian Depaitment of Aits,
Spoits, Enviionment, Touiism, and Teiiitoiies stiuggles to iegulate the
tiansnational movement of Aboiiginal cultuial heiitage and aitifacts
in the face of studies emphasizing the iole played in the Aboiiginal ait
tiade by oveiseas investois who aie diiven as much by an inteiest in
speculating on an ait maiket as by connoisseuiship. It is such loosely
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cooidinated and uncooidinated physical, legal, and iegulatoiy spaces
that constitute the scaolding within which aie built the infiastiuc-
tuie of aiipoits and ait galleiies in such places as Wadeye. Fuitheimoie,
these physical and iegulatoiy spaces themselves emeige in a eld of tex-
tually mediated consumei desiies, an emeigence that depends at eveiy
step on textual piojections similai to those infoiming the piesentation
of touiism capital. Foi a geimane example: a widely cited I,,o suivey
conducted by the Austialian Council found that , peicent of inteina-
tional visitois weie inteiested in seeing and leaining about Aboiiginal
aits and cultuie, _o peicent puichased Aboiiginal ait oi items ielated
to Aboiiginal cultuie, and s_o million pei annumwas geneiated by this
touiism (see Finlayson I,,I). Likewise, in hei study of cultuial toui-
ism in noithein Queensland, Julie Finlayson found that most touiists
wished to speak oi live with Aboiigines in oidei to leain about theii way
of life and the spiiitual-cultuial attitudes undeilying theii use of the en-
viionment. But she also found that most visitois to the Queensland city
of Caiins did not visit the neighboiing Aboiiginal community of Ku-
ianda, because its pioximity made it seeminauthentic, touiist-oiiented,
ciime-iidden, and socially maladapted. Foity-nine peicent, _o peicent:
Even though no supeioidinate Being of type Touiist exists, Dumu
and the Austialian Council model theii piactices on this textually g-
uiated and piojected thing. Once textualized as pait of a homogenous
typeTouiiststhe thing can be indexed to othei things acioss social
space that in theoiy peimits of innite expansion, the congiuencies and
dieiences among individual things built up fiom vaiiations of type
(this[that type of Touiism, Touiist) anddimensionality (this[that aspect
of this[that type of Touiism, Touiist). These textual cieatuies undeipin
goveinment and business iepiesentations of how and why Aboiiginal
communities such as Wadeye should develop.
And yet when the pioduction of space is viewed with a focus on the
geneiation of suiplus value, it can be seen that building pathways foi
touiists to Aboiiginal communities initiates the movement of capital
out of the community. Moie piecisely, the community becomes a site
in which suiplus values aie geneiated foi those outside the commu-
nity (see Loveday and Cooke I,8_, Altman I,88, Knapman, Stanley, and
Lea I,,I). Even if no touiists evei y to Wadeye, consideiable piivate
capital has been geneiated by the thought that Wadeye is the type of
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place they would wish to go to. By convincing local leadeis that a cei-
tain type of touiismmight piovide a signicant inux of capital (toui-
ism is a s,oo-million-dollai industiy) and jobs (touiism employs x
numbei of peisons) and by linking social and mental health to capi-
tal and jobs (this will help cut down on juvenile violence by giving
young people jobs), multimillion-dollai contiacts can be tendeied and
awaided foi building aiields, ait galleiies, and hotels, geneiating ieve-
nue and jobs foi iegional non-Aboiiginal people. And deciding how to
stiuctuie a cultuially sensitive foim of spiiitual consumption geneiates
woik foi anthiopologists, linguists, and social woikeis. It is tiue that
some public funds andiesouices aie ieallocatedto local Aboiiginal men
and women thiough goveinment piogiams such as Community Devel-
opment and Employment Pioject (cuiv), a woik-foi-welfaie scheme
meant to piovide tiaining to the locally employed. But piivate build-
ing companies do not hiie local laboi, and anthiopologists infoimants
aie usually not paid. Instead, the local unemployed, who suei a degiee
of economic immiseiization unimaginable to most Austialians, usually
stand as silent witnesses to this consumptive building of theii Spiiit.
Such space as has been stiuctuied foi them can be seen unfolding in the
baibed-wiie halos some communities have been eiecting on electiical
poles to cuib youth suicide.
If touiists do aiiive in Wadeye in any signicant numbei, theii eco-
nomic value to the local community depends on theii consumption
of somethinga hunt, a piece of ait oi ciaft, a stoiy, an expeiience.
Iionically, peihaps, in buying any such commodity, touiists aie likely
to stimulate iathei than pievent the exploitation of the community foi
the geneiation of suiplus value to the benet of people outside the com-
munity. Most indigenous people living along the noithwest coastal ie-
gion do not pioduce paintings whose value lies in the s,,ooo iange.
Rathei they pioduce iawmateiials foi the aits-and-ciafts maiket. Take,
as an example, the ubiquitous didjeiidoo. Aboiiginal men and women
aie most likely to nd, cut, stiip, and hollow out the tiee tiunks fiom
which didjeiidoos aie made. They then sell these seminished pioducts
to local middlemen, usually non-Aboiiginal men and women, who do
the painting oi employ otheis to do it. (Many didjeiidoos, baik paint-
ings, canvas paintings, and boomeiangs aie pioduced entiiely by non-
Aboiiginal people.) Middlemen then sell the nished pioducts to stoies
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in iegional cities such as Daiwin, oi to othei middlemen who ship them
in tuin to southein poits. Finding, cutting, stiipping, and hollowing
out ten didjeiidoos consumes, at an aveiage, thiee days laboi foi one
skilled peison, at this stage, the value of each hollowed pipe is about
sI,. As the pioduct makes its way to the consumei, the piice may be
iadically incieased (s,o, sIoo, s:oo). This piice hike is ieplicated acioss
pioduct categoiies in the maiket foi cultuial aitifacts. At the bottom
of the chain aie the kinfolk of those piepaiing the object foi sale, who
aie ielied upon to be on the lookout foi the iaw mateiials to pick up oi
chop downseashells, toitoise shells, tieeswhile otheiwise engaged
in the bush. These oiiginal supplieis ieceive theii iemuneiation in the
foim of smoke, diinks, oi small change.
But what is the value of these hollow sticks to those who puichase
them: One way of nding an answei is to ietuin to Timothy Dumus
assessment of white consumei desiie. Befoie saying what his comment
demonstiates, let me ist say what I dont think it demonstiates: I dont
think that Dumu piesents us with an example of a cynical subject de-
ploying identity stiategically (though I could piesent numeious moie
oi less puie instances of such a deployment). Noi, foi that mattei, do
I think that this would be an instance of what Gayatii Spivak (I,8,)
calls stiategic essentialism. Instead, I would suggest that the poetic
foim and content of Dumus comment encodes his subjective expeii-
ence of discuisively embodied scales and levels of obligationcultuies
embodiment. If so, the veiy moment of the utteiance beais witness to
the subjective limit of cultuies objectication and tiansfoimation into
capital and the object-destination of capital consumption. At bottom,
the question of whethei to iegaid Dumus statement as a stiategic de-
ployment of customaiy identity oi as an instance of the subjective limit
to the commodication of Being-in-cultuie is a question about wheie
to locate the subject in oui ieading of the text. Is the subject to be iead
o the text: Oi is the subject outside the text commenting on it: Oi
should the text be iead as the pioduct of a socially mediated subject:
I cite a second example that can claiify what is at stake in these ques-
tions and the choice of models we can use to answei them. In a convei-
sation with me in I,,_, the late Betty Bilawag desciibed the feelings of
panic she expeiienced when she attended a meeting to discuss whethei
mining should be allowed in Maiiiamu countiy. When she iealized
youngei family membeis weie about tovote en masse in favoi of mining
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neai a paiticulaily dangeious Dieaming site, she desciibed hei actions
in this way:
I been panic. I been have to get up. I been have to get up, talk now.
No. No. Youie not going to foiget themDieaming. You cant foiget.
They still theie. They still going. They dangeious, that mob. You say
No.
Panic made Bilawag get up, but this panic can be undeistood as a
coipoieal indexa discuisive depth chaige of soitsof the embodi-
ment of vaiious oideis and levels of obligation. Because the modality
and timing of subjectivity is not equivalent to that of commodication,
this type of embodied obligation, oi modal subjectivity, impedes capi-
tals spatial expansion, thiows its timing o, if it does not halt it.
It is not necessaiy to conceptualize a coheient subject in oidei to
conceptualize the vital sociological consequences of moments in which
subjects expeiience contiasting yet compulsoiy obligations. At iisk in
these moments aie not simply discuisive noims and legal codes, but
the subject him- oi heiself. The psychic expeiience of numeious people
thioughout the noithwest coastal iegion piovides examples of the pei-
sonal consequences of acting wiongly. These aie people identied as
piya wedjirr (liteially head-iotten), who might be said to have been
tiaumatized by theii inability to ieconcile competing obligations and
desiies. Otheis point to themas evidence of the haid powei of Aboiigi-
nal law. Even so, I am not suggesting we think of these subject limits as
the limit of capital. Noi would I suggest that tiue iesistance to capital
must be aective in natuie and foim. But Bilawags panic does suggest
a type of moment that maiks a limit to capital inteinal to the subject.
As Bilawags ieminiscences suggest, this subjective embodiment of cul-
tuie vaiies, often signicantly, acioss age and social gioups within an
Aboiiginal communityhei youngei family membeis weie poised to
vote yes, aftei all. And what suipiise is this, that cultuies embodi-
ment ieects the vaiiations, slippages, dispeisions, and ambivalences of
discuisive foimations acioss the teiiain of indigenous social life:
But it is, in fact, the subjective stiain of inhabiting these elds of
embodied obligation, I am suggesting, that touiists, lawyeis, and othei
visitois mistake as a sign of the distinctive spiiitual natuie of Aboiigi-
nal society. Witnessing the thioes of hei panic, non-Aboiiginal people
expeiience Bilawags spiiituality iathei than hei tiavail within ide-
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ologies of capital and cultuie. Asubjective giinding in the midst of con-
tiasting social and cultuial elds is misappiehended as the movement
of the Spiiit. While capital might nd its limit in moments in which sub-
jects expeiience the tiauma of navigating contiasting social andcultuial
mandates, such moments aie quickly fetishized as authentic cultuie
as the valuable ieal stu of cultuie (and law). It is this tiauma that
touiists of the Spiiit seek to puichase.
Why then do touiists mediate theii puichase thiough objects
dione pipes, postcaids, and baik paintingsiathei than paying Ab-
oiiginal people diiectly foi theii acts of alienation, theii iefoimation
as a Heideggeiian biidge foi anothei: An answei seems to lie in the
object of puichase itself, which is not an Aboiiginal peison oi an Ab-
oiiginal way of Being in any paiticulai place, but an expeiience that Ab-
oiiginal people manifest when they inhabit paiticulai kinds of placing
themselves, oi being placed, in a limitwhen they stiaddle the clis
of contiasting discuisive oideis. Hollowdione pipes and othei cultuial
memoiabilia act as mnemonics foi this nomenic expeiience.
Theie is no gieat evil mastei plan that pushes indigenous subjects
like Timothy Dumu towaid the vaiiously conguied limits of theii sub-
jective well-being. Many boosteis of Aboiiginal spiiituality suppoit
local cultuial piactices against othei maiket foices. But it is piecisely
this suppoit that continually foices Aboiiginal subjects to inhabitto
embodythe thioes of being in the middle of contiasting and com-
peting deontic mandates. A Septembei I,,, issue of The Veekend Aus-
tralianfuinisheda goodcase inpoint. Inanaiticle about the pioduction
of Aboiiginal ait in the Kimbeilies, the suivival of Aboiiginal aitand
thiough this ait its cultuiewas pitted against the economic inteiests
of pastoialists (McCulloch-Uehlin I,,,: ,). While such an aigument
piovides a useful iemindei of the fiagmented natuie of capital, it also
cites and actually incieases the piessuie on Aboiiginal peisons to taiiy
in spaces of contiasting noimative injunctionsto inhabit not only
sites of competing Aboiiginal and non-Aboiiginal deontic oideis, but
also of competing non-Aboiiginal political and economic values.
Aboiigines have a limited statutoiy iight undei two sections of the
Westein Austialian Land Act of I,,_ to access theii tiaditional lands
without peimission fiom lessees, which may not be ielevant in the
case of the Texas Downs iefusal. Its a common expeiience foi Ab-
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oiiginal people iight acioss the Kimbeiley, said Kimbeiley Land
Council deputy diiectoi June Oscai. Many people hope Aboiigines
will simply walk on to a pastoial lease unannounced. (McCulloch-
Uehlin I,,,: ,)
As the example suggests, the ait maiket is haidly the only national
social eld that geneiates stiess on indigenous subjects while puipoit-
ing to suppoit theii spiiitually imbued customaiy law, encouiaging
them to occupy complex sites of negation while leaving unexamined
why many people within the nation might desiie they do so. Recall that
the ieason we went to Wadeye on Io August I,,8 in the ist place was to
pioduce a body of legally ecacious evidence demonstiating the sui-
vival of tiaditional Maiiiamu and Maiiitjaben customaiy law. In the
shadow of the police-supeivised ogging, we weie quickly ieminded
that this law is not a iecognized pait of the Austialian common law
today, any moie than it was in I,_o, I8,o, oi I,8,. But this legal fact did
not dissuade the state of Queensland in I,,o fiom pioposing a iadical
scheme that would make customaiy lawincluding the use of coipo-
ial punishmentcompulsoiy in isolated black communities (Emei-
son I,,o: ). The legislation was intended to police juvenile ciime in
iemote communities thiough the policed agency of tiaditional cultuie.
Viewed as a means of unbuidening state iesouices, this state-backed,
compulsoiy ietuin of customaiy law would be mediated by majoiitai-
ian, commonsense standaids of coipoieality (standaids that aie, in fact,
nevei desciibed, lest in the desciiption the imaginaiy of a shaied ma-
joiitaiian intuition about this coipoieality be punctuied). The Ministei
of Aboiiginal and Islandei Aaiis, Mi. Lingaid, ieassuied an (imag-
ined) jitteiy constituency that extieme punishments such as speai-
ing would be iuled out, though othei foims of coipoial punishment
would be acceptable but would have to be monitoied (Emeison I,,o:
). Fai fiom inciting the public to considei theii own commonsense
intuitions about coipoiealityto inteiiogate theii undeilying assump-
tions ciiticallyLingaid meiely cites the evei-biacketed foice of libei-
alism: Theie is no doubt that some people might say that customaiy
law might go too fai and that some time we might have to look at that
but I think the eldeis would have enough common sense not to go too
fai (Emeison I,,o: ).
As I mentioned above, in I,,: some Peppimenaiti men did go too
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fai and weie found guilty of manslaughtei. Cuiiously, this veiy case was
cited to me by a Belyuen iesident some yeais latei, on I8 Septembei
I,,,, as evidence of the national legal suppoit of customaiy law. As vice
piesident of the BelyuenCommunity Council andas a paiticipant inthe
cuiv piogiam, Maijoiie Bilbil had attended two meetings within the
span of a week, one a iegional meeting of local goveinments with tei-
iitoiy ocials, the othei a meeting of senioi Aboiiginal paiticipants in
cuiv. In both meetings, non-Aboiiginal peisons uiged senioi Aboiigi-
nal men and women to ievive customaiy lawsphysical sanctions and
iitualsas a method of settling down the young people. When she
discussed these meetings with me, Bilbil iefeiied to the Peppimenaiti
case, saying that the young men had not been punished much be-
cause theii actions had been tiaditional: They beiiagut, whites] dont
do much when they look that tiaditional law. Maijoiie Bilbil did not
stop hei analysis theie. Instead she noted that the uneven landscape of
national and local powei had led to a pattein of Aboiiginal male dis-
peision acioss the Top End. Like deseit way, they got that haid law.
But you look, that man he might be Ainhemway, oi Ropei way, oi any-
wheie, Bagot, Tiwi. They maiiy into that othei family, nd that women,
stay with hei family now. Too haid because, my law. I had to go. They
say that. In othei conveisations with othei senioi women fiom Be-
lyuen, the diculty of ieviving haid law is discussed fiom anothei
peispective: that women simply cannot biing themselves to kill theii
daughteis (kill, in this case, iefeiiing to the use of physical foice in a
way now consideied by them to be too iough).
To stop the stoiy heie would be to end with the following conclusion:
Juiists and businesses aie pioducing space to meet theii needs, though
impeded in theii quest by the subjective limits of commodication and
the inteinal dynamic of the ielatively autonomous elds of national so-
cial life. (What ciiminal law might piohibit, land-claim piocesses en-
couiage, what statutoiy legislation might outlaw, capital might fetishize
and commodify.) If subjectivity is viewed as a built inteinal dynamic,
its aichitectuie can in this case be consideied to be undei a constant
state of piessuie, as Aboiiginal subjects aie encouiaged to taiiy in elds
of competing deontic oideis.
But I want to go on to aigue that the entextualization of the Spiiit
the geneiic pioduction of indigenous spiiituality at the millennium
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mediates the building of physical and subjective space in such a way as
to impede this simple naiiative of giadual homogenization and domi-
nation by capital. Thus, I ietuin to the question of why capital is build-
ing and chasing this paiticulai phantasmatic foim. I focus on a specic
genie that I call pcpcntclcgy and examine how its guiation of Being
aiticulates with the commeicialization of spiiituality. To suggest how
a genie of the Spiiit soils eveiy dwelling built foi it, this analysis will
iange fai aeld fiom Poit Keats and Belyuen.
Befoie examining this geneiic space, let me pause ovei the simple fact
that most Austialian citizens and most citizens of othei nation-states
judges, wiiteis, touiistswill nevei encountei face-to-face the special
spiiitual ielationship that Austialian indigenous peisons aie said to
have with the landscape. No actually existing Aboiiginal subject will
desciibe to them the content, contouis, oi modalities of hei own pei-
sonal beliefs oi undeistanding of local community beliefs: what she
might believe, what must, oi should, be believed, oi on what eviden-
tiaiy giounds she might base these judgments insofai as can be said oi
known. Most people will nevei smell, taste, oi otheiwise coipoieally in-
habit the ieal space-time of hei social life oi that of anyothei indigenous
peison in any of the vaiiegated global spaces wheie she oi othei in-
digenous people aie thought to be found. Whatevei undeistandings ob-
seiveis have of an indigenous modeinity, they will nevei encountei the
iesistant oi compliant, but in eithei case dialogical, space of an actively
listening indigenous subject. Neveitheless, many people thioughout the
woild will come to believe that indigenous peisons like those living at
Wadeye have a unique ontotheological ielationship to theii land. That
is, knowing nothing of the Wadeye community, they will come to be-
lieve they know quite a lot about the spiiitual Being of people living
theie and will feel condent enough about this knowledge to foimu-
late judgments about indigenous spiiituality. An inquiiy into the souice
of this self-ceitainty would ieveal that it lies foi the most pait in cine-
matic and piint texts. As Aboiiginal scholai and activist Maicia Lang-
ton has wiitten, The most dense ielationship infoiming Austialian
undeistandings of Aboiiginal people is not between actual people, but
between white Austialian and the symbols cieated by theii piedeces-
soisand, it might be added, contempoiaiies (Langton I,,_: __, see
also Michaels I,,, Ginsbeig I,,I).
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r or out oi o cv
The teim pcpcntclcgy, shoithand foi populaiized ontotheologi-
cal novels and lms, will heie iefei to a wide iange of ctional and
quasi-ctional texts that desciibe an encountei with an unalienated
foim of spiiitual Being by specic types of human beings and social
lives. These textual foims and types, modes and modalities shaie cei-
tain chaiacteiistics. They aie maiked by and maiketed to class, gendei,
sexuality, iace[ethnicity, and ieligious gioupings, giadable into high-,
middle-, and lowbiow types, and manifested in lm, piint, and musi-
cal foims. Indigenous popontology is a subgenie of this foim, situat-
ing the spiiitual encountei with an indigenous peison, gioup, oi spiiit-
Being, usually fiom Austialia oi the Ameiicas, less so fiom Asia, Afiica,
and Euiope. Some sense of the iange of indigenous popontology texts
can be conveyed by these examples: classic and contempoiaiy New
Age texts such as The Teachings cf Dcn }uan (Castaneda I,o8), Mutant
Message Dcwn Under (Moigan I,,), and Crystal Vcman (Andiews
I,8,), tiavelogue accounts such as The Scnglines (Chatwin I,8,), high-,
middle-, and lowbiow lms such as Nicholas Roegs Valkabcut (I,,o),
Heizogs Vhere the Green Ants Dream, and Stephen Elliots The Adven-
tures cf Priscilla, ueen cf the Desert (I,,), and televisual public seivice
piogiamming such as the seiies of animated Dieamtime stoiies shown
by the Austialian Bioadcast Coipoiation (.vc) in I,,,.
Mikhail Bakhtin obseived long ago that theie is not a single new
phenomenon (phonetic, lexical oi giammatical) that can entei the sys-
tem of language without having tiaveised the long and complicated
path of geneiic-stylistic testing and modication (Bakhtin I,8o: o,).
Though many of the texts I diaw on will have little long-lasting com-
modity oi liteiaiy value, they aie valuable insofai as they index and en-
tail emeigent public anxieties about human Being in paiticulai human
cultuial, social, and technological foimations. They piesent the voic-
ings and legibilities of the piesent only insofai as they impoit teims,
phiaseology, and scenes fiomothei alieady geneiically oiganized social
and textual spaces.
The delicate but neveitheless sociologically meaningful natuie of
the discuisive emeigences captuied in these popontological texts is
suggested by two iecent lms, The Matrix (the Wachowski biotheis,
I,,,) and eXistenZ (David Cionenbeig, I,,,). In both, an insidious
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foim of iiiealis Being, made possible by advances in coipo-peiceptual
technology, thieatens the attachment of humans to iealityoi, iathei,
thieatens the continuing ielevance of a ceitain fiaming of ieality. In
the tiadition of such futuiistic cyboig fantasies as Blade Runner (Ridley
Scott, I,8:) andRcbcccp (Paul Veihoeven, I,8,), eXistenZcatches view-
eis up in a play of placement (wheie the chaiacteis are in ielation to
a iefeientially ungioundable cyboigian viitual-ieality) as opposed to a
moiality play (howone should be fully oi piopeily in any given ieality).
Although the fieedom ghteis of eXistenZ do ght foi a technologi-
cally unalienated and unmediated foimof ieality, the moial question
what it is to be tiuly, piopeily, and fully humanis displaced, oi at
least continually defeiied, by the placement question: Wheie (in what
ieality) aie we now: Not that eXistenZ maiks an epistemic displace-
ment of oldei discuisive foims of Being-piopei. The Matrix continues
this oldei anxiety about piopei Being, piesenting a stiuggle on behalf
of one foim of iefeientially giounded Being as moie piopei to human
being than anothei. But eXistenZ suggests the emeigence of a new set
of questions iegaiding Being in the context of a discuisively as of yet
undigested coipo-technology.
Likewise, popontological naiiatives aie not in themselves captivat-
ing, boiing, oi upsetting. They aie tiansfoimed into these qualities and
moodsaie pioduced as sites of success oi failuienot simply by the
inteinal logic of theii naiiative foimoi aitistic style, noi by the inheient
alluie of theii topic (spiiitual Being), but by subtlei, naiiatively gu-
iated expeiiences. People feel spiiitually addiessed because the text has
been shaped by the geneiic shape of the woild they inhabit. Even fiom
a puiely inteitextual peispective, such sites as Austialia and the Ab-
oiiginal Dieamtime oi Peiu and its Mayan initiations nd theii foot-
ing in pievious iepiesentations of India and its Hindu gods, Nepal
and its Sheipa shamans, Theosophy, Kiishna Consciousness, and Tian-
scendental Meditation.
1
But the textual eld that piovides legibility
to indigenous popontology is not limited to the indigenous and sub-
altein, theii gods and enchanted iealms. John Sayless Secret cf Rcan
Inish (I,,,) occupies a space opened by Robin Haidys eailiei lm,
Vicker Man (I,,_), itself giounded in a faux-Fieudian matiix of piimi-
tive (Celtic) and degeneiate (aiistociatic) sexuality. Independent lms
such as Safe (Todd Haynes, I,,,) and The Rapture (Michael Tolkin,
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I,,I), mass-maiket lms and television shows such as Ccntact (Robeit
Zemeckis, I,,,), The Sweet Hereafter (Atom Egoyan, I,,,), and The X-
Files likewise invaginate and piey on conveisations ciiculating about
seculai and modein, enchanted and disenchanted Being.
Fai fiom constituting a ievolutionaiy move, theiefoie, situating the
fantasy of ieal Being in a phantasmatic indigenous scene may be little
moie than anothei dispeision of types of bodies that will beai the in-
teiiogatoiy piessuie cuiiently exeited on Being-in-geneial in specic
social foimations. The indigenous is meiely anotheipeihaps not even
the latestidentity to piovide a piovisional stiuctuie to speculations
about the state of Being in Westein (post)modeinity. Indigenous po-
pontology as a distinct foim ieached a ceitain public attention in I,o8
with the publication of Cailos Castanedas The Teachings cf Dcn }uan. A
Yaqui Vay cf Kncwledge. Indeed, the evolving contouis and content of
the nonoidinaiy ieality of Castanedas thiee-decade-long caieei pio-
vide a case study of howpopontological guiations of indigenous being
simply constiuct a site that iegisteis and guies the shifting teiiain of
public debates.
2
What voicings aie being caught and guied in popontological ac-
counts of indigenous spiiituality: And in what way do the specic
media of this guiationpiint and lm mediacontiibute to how
these voicings aie guied and, subsequently, extended as the expecta-
tions of visitois iegaiding actually existing indigenous people: Some
voicings should not suipiise us. Foi example, many texts explicitly dis-
cuss the epistemological dilemma of staking tiuth claims while ac-
knowledging that all knowledge is the pioduct of paiticulaiizing cul-
tuies. That is, the texts voice cuiient academic and public debates about
multicultuialism, colonialism, moiality, tiuth, and toleiance. So, foi ex-
ample, if Castanedas wiitings maik the emeigence of indigenous po-
pontology, they also iegistei the constantly evolving piovisional textual
iesolutions of these cioss-feitilizing and contested social elds: activist
libeiation movements, academic and public debates, and nationalisms
and citizenship foims. Moie iecently, Castaneda (I,,8) has desciibed
the iole of cultuie as that of iestiicting the peiceptual capacity of
its membeis. He ciedits indigenous people with the discoveiy of this
piison-house of cultuie. In his commentaiy on the thiitieth anniveisaiy
of the publication of The Teachings cf Dcn }uan, he wiites:
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Don Juan Matus and the shamans of theii lineage iegaided aware-
ness as the act of being delibeiately conscious of all the peiceptual
possibilities of man, not meiely the peiceptual possibilities dictated
by any given cultuie whose iole seems to be that of iestiicting the
peiceptual capacity of its membeis.
Foitunately foi indigenized Geist, if the intention of cultuie is to im-
piison us, it would seem that the intent of the univeise is to be continu-
ally testing oui awaieness.
The shamans] sawthat the univeise cieates zillions of crganic beings
and zillions of incrganic beings. By exeiting piessuie on all of them,
the univeise foices themto enhance theii awaieness, and in this fash-
ion, the univeise attempts to become awaie of itself. In the ccgnitive
wcrld of shamans, theiefoie, awaieness is the nal issue. (Castaneda
I,,8: xix, emphasis added)
If populai naiiative accounts of ieal Being piopose that humans can
oveicome the blinding iestiictions of cultuial knowing and theieby ex-
peiience the wholeness piopei to human Being, in so aiguing they tuin
away fiom a simple cultuial ielativist position (a stiain of the cultuial-
ismCastaneda would have encounteied in anthiopology couises taught
in the Univeisity of Califoinia system duiing the I,oos). Instead, in his
and in otheis accounts, the actual paiallel woild in which tiue, un-
alienated Being iesides is not located in any one cultuial woild, noi the
composite of all cultuial woilds la Ruth Benedicts gieat aic of cul-
tuie oi Chailes Taylois nal hoiizon. The task of wisdom seekeis is
not to develop a theoiy oi undeistanding of the actual natuie of actual
cultuial woilds, but to diawon local cultuial knowledges to expeiience
what is beyond them, us, eveiyonethe possibility of ieaching beyond
eveiy actual cultuial foim into a subtending eneigy matiix. It is this
matiix of Beinga Being that dwells within some social locations moie
than otheisthat is the desiied object of these texts. No mattei the val-
oiization by iight-thinking scholais of entre ncus as the piopei position
of cosmopolitan consociality, these texts tuin towaid au-del, oi moie
accuiately, ccuper. The between-us is heie meiely a piovisional auial
and visual stiuctuie that acts as a conduit foi a getting-beyond. In othei
woids, it is neithei the self noi the othei sought in these scenes, but
iathei a passageway oi a tiansition. As Vincanne Adams (I,,o) wiites
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with iegaid to New Age iepiesentations of Sheipas, the soit of spiiitual
authenticity imputed to them is accessible only thrcugh intimate bonds
with the Sheipas themselves. This au-del, this desiie to be libeiated
fiom cultuie (a state now standing in foi the tiavails of contempoiaiy
national life), accounts in pait foi the paiticulai alluie of indigenous
spiiituality. Indigencus is nothing less than the name used to designate
the state of Being piioi to modeinity and its concomitant identity foi-
mation, nationalism (Povinelli I,,,).
The conseivative implications of this stiain of popontology have
been cleai to Native Ameiican activists such as Vine Deloiia foi quite a
long time, and to many Inteinet wiiteis and suifeis. Theie weie similai
cultuial ciitiques in I,,8 on the Web site Wanting to Be an Indian:
When this iitual is biought into a New Age context, its meaning and
powei aie alteied. The focus shifts to White peoples needs and visions,
which in most New Age venues aie about individual giowth and pios-
peiity. Theie is no accountability to a community, paiticulaily any
Native community.
The diveigent politics of indigenized popontology and indigenous
social stiuggles aie well expiessed by a statement in Mailo Moigans
Mutant Message Dcwn Under. Real Aboiiginal People aie] not con-
ceined with iacism, but conceined only with othei people and the envi-
ionment (Moigan I,,: xiiixiv). Acioss this liteiatuie, naiiative plots
ieinsciibe iacial hieiaichies as they puipoit to be leveling cultuial hiei-
aichies. In plot aftei plot, a nonindigenous peison just happens to be
the designated spiiitual heii appaient of a dying indigenous gioup. Cas-
taneda just happened to be the peison chosen by the last living mem-
beis of Don Juans gioup, a spiiitual selection Don Juan cannot ex-
plain. Moigan (I,,: _, I,) was called to hei spiiitual jouiney fiomtwo
thousand miles away, an extieme honoi the Aboiigines cannot ex-
plain. Two Naticnal Gecgraphic iepoiteis just happened to be the ones
chosen to become the spiiit-jouineyeis on the path of the Wisdom-
keepeis by the Giandfatheis of a Native Ameiican tiibe (Aiden and
Wall I,,8: I,, :I).
The discuisive voicings that popontological texts iegistei and me-
diate aie not only conceined with the dilemma of maintaining iacial
and cultuial hieiaichies in the shadowof late libeial foims of multicul-
tuialism and postcoloniality. Many of these texts compel ieadeis with
theii tieatment of what might be teimed the anxieties and aspiiations of
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little Being, and the exhaustions of oidinaiy Beingat least those anxi-
eties, aspiiations, and exhaustions that wiiteis and maiket ieseaich-
eis associate with theii ieadeiship, laigely middle-class white women.
Piominent themes in these texts thus include: the body (fat, defoima-
tion, aging, disease), libeial social issues (iacial, gendei, economic in-
equality, enviionmental depletion), and ielationships (divoice, isola-
tion, intimacy, the ethics of caie). Popontology is often not fiamed by
big people, big issues, oi big Being, but iathei by the little diamas of
eveiyday lifea message made explicit in Cailos Castanedas most ie-
cent wiitings. Even the woiks of indigenous authois and lmmakeis
tend to fiame naiiatives about spiiitual and cultuial iebiith in the quo-
tidian, familiai scenes of social exhaustion. The New Zealand lm Once
Vere Varricrs (Lee Tamahoii, I,,,), foi instance, opens with the ex-
hausted spaces of industiialization and the subject-destioying eects of
stiuctuial unemployment and undeiemployment on indigenous com-
munities.
Setting these themes aside foi a moment, let me ask what, then,
aie the means by which specic textual media voice the Spiiit: Put
anothei way, what ciitical puichase does undeistanding the linguistic
technology of the popontological Spiiit piovide towaid an undeistand-
ing of its mateiial entailments: Lest such questions seemtoo heady foi a
body of woik that amounts to cultuial otsam, let me piopose that what
is foiegiounded in many of these texts is nothing less than the pioblem
posed by the linguistic vehiculaiization of Being to the desciiption and
expeiience of Being. In Mutant Message, foi instance, Moigan ieects
on the dieience between language and the system of inteipietation
piopei to human beings. She and othei authois uige ieadeis to de-
centei language as the piimaiy semiotic vehicle of Being, emphasizing
instead music, movement, ihythmoi, moie accuiately, the vibiations
fiom which music, movement, and ihythm aie composed (see, foi in-
stance, Rael and Sutton I,,_).
The dilemma is this: If popontological spiiituality positions itself
against any and eveiy paiticulai language and cultuial system, it nevei-
theless ielies on the semiotic natuie of language to signal the piovision-
ality of any and eveiy linguistic pioposition. That is, even in negating
language, popontological texts iely on metalinguistic fiamings. They
use language to tianspose, oi map, one set of conventional schemata
(this is language) against anothei (I am iefeiiing to a domain out-
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side language). Popontology, as all metalinguistic texts, is tiapped in
the language it seeks to escape. Popontological Being is not located at
eithei end, so to speak, of a tiansposition-tianslation piocess, but in the
tiansitional moments of this movement into foim, in mapping iathei
than the map oi, moie exactly, in the sense of a tending towaid an in-
cipient mapping. Popontology ielies on a pioceduial iathei than sub-
stantive Spiiit. The pioceduialisms of Spiiit aie biaced by iepeated ex-
plicit dismissals of substantive Being. Dcnt fccus cn the ccntent cf the
wcrds, ieadeis aie told. Rathei, expeiience (in the movement of seman-
tic, piagmatic, and metapiagmatic piocesses) the Spiiit. In putting it
this way, these texts once again ieveal theii delicate ideological sinews,
how they incoipoiate political debates about the pioceduialism and
substantive natuie of libeial citizenship and multicultuialism within
theii spiiitual quests. Dieient popontology media diaw on dieient
semiotic functions to convey the expeiience of this movement. But all
cinematic, television, and piint media iely on a set of visual oi veibal
cioss-iefeiences that locate Being not in the nominalized scenes being
cioss-iefeienced, but in the metasemiotic expeiience of ciossing fiom,
ovei, and into.
Vhere the Green Ants Dream(I,8,) piesents a useful example of these
textual enactments of the indigenous Spiiit. The lm begins with two
sets of deseit mounds: one is composed of the debiis of industiial min-
ing, the othei is the home of gieen ants. At its simplest, the lm uses
a seiies of cuts between these two types of mound not to encouiage
the adoption of one peispective oi anothei, oi even of theii contiastive
natuie, but iathei to incite an inteipietive movement, the cieation of
a new sign fiom theii juxtaposition. Though the lm may encouiage
the sense that the new inteipietation aiises puiely fiom the juxtaposi-
tion of the two images, the movement of inteipietation among view-
eis involves a moie complex lamination and delamination of multiple
mounds and deseits. The Temptation of Chiist and othei tiopes of pio-
phetic lamentation ciowd into the scene, as do Native Ameiican images,
such as those cited in Kcyaanisqatsi (Godfiey Reggio, I,8_), itself cited
in The Adventures cf Priscilla, ueen cf the Desert.
The lms depiction of moments of tianslation (oi, moie accuiately,
paitial mistianslations) likewise guies the expeiience of semiosis and
inteipietation as a glimpse of unalienated Being. Take, foi instance,
a conveisation among the lms thiee cential chaiacteis: Tiibal Eldei,
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Spokespeison, and the white piotagonist, Hackett. Thioughout the
lm, Tiibal Eldei speaks in an uncaptioned Aboiiginal language, and
Spokespeison tianslates Tiibal Eldeis woids foi Hackett and the lis-
tening public. Spokespeisons tianslations aie nevei smooth. He fal-
teis, speaks haltingly, staits ovei, iepeats. Rathei than diminishing the
authoiity of Tiibal Eldeis and Spokespeisons utteiances, the seman-
tic opacity of the Aboiiginal language spoken and its halting tiansla-
tion intensies it. It does so by indexing the iealm the lmic naiiative
seeksmeaning beyond language, an impenetiable othei woild-Being.
This untianslatable meaning, beyond the peiceptual possibilities dic-
tated by any given cultuie, is in the lmmapped into othei inteiactional
spaces, foi example onto disputes about capitalisms fiustiation in cul-
tuially insciibed spiiitual spacethat is, a fiustiation with the type of
embodied obligations discussed above.
1viv.i iiuiv: Aboiiginal language]
u.cxi11: Whats he saying:
svoxisvivso: Theiell be no digging, and theiell be no blasting.
u.cxi11: Ah, I see. And may I evei so politely ask why:
svoxisvivso: This the place wheie the gieen ants dieam.
xoi (a mining engineei): Ants, gieen ants, dieaming heie. Why the
fuck cant they dieam somewheie else:
These mappings, iemappings, andunmappings acioss conventional-
ized and invaginated semiotic spaces cannot be followed to theii fullest,
not foi lack of time and space, but because they aie theoietically in-
nite in theii play. And it is, I would suggest, the unconscious expeiience
of the movement of this geneiic play, its innite invaginations, its pio-
visionalities, that is expeiienced as Beings unfuiling. In expeiiencing
this movement as spiiit, ieadeis and vieweis aie not mistaking semio-
sis foi Being, but iecognizing the conventional signs by which non-
Aboiiginal EuioAmeiicans and Austialians know Spiiituality, expeii-
ence it as such, and calibiate its piesence in paiticulai human beings.
Though lms such as Vhere the Green Ants Dream ciitique foims
of commodication and capital extiaction, popontological texts aie
cleaily not divoiced fiom the woikings of capital. Some of the texts
that make up this genie aie honest attempts to iethink the natuie of
Being in the histoiical conditions of the late twentieth centuiy. Butin
a case analogous to consumei suppoit of Aboiiginal aitgood inten-
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tions often iesult in incieasing the value of these texts as commodities.
In tiying to appeal to an audience, the authois of socially conscious
texts stiive to voice compelling ciitiques of the dehumanizing aspects
of capital. Paiadoxically, the bettei they achieve theii task, the moie
successful a commodity foim the text becomes.
Take, foi instance, Moigans Mutant Message Dcwn Under. The book
is an impassioned plea foi humanity to take seiiously the question of
Being, to undeistand that pulse of ] being human and human being-
ness that alone can begin the human piogiess towaid being and
stop the human destiuction of the eaith and of each othei (Moi-
gan I,,: xiv, 8, I,,). The Real People, a cential Austialian Aboiiginal
tiibe, lead hei on a spiiitual jouiney into the dual inteiioi of the con-
tinent and of hei self. Moigan iecounts hei insights as she giadually
heals the divisions within heiself, and between heiself and the woild,
and leains to undeistand the aiticiality of all social and natuial sepaia-
tions, all physical discomfoits, and all social and cultuial conicts. The
Real People teach hei tc Be, tiuly and fully, by teaching hei to undei-
stand all foims of havingincluding a foimal languageas being had
by false classication, being possessed by possessions, being alienated
fiom hei own and global oneness. Modeinity, she discoveis, has made
mutants of mankind. Though heiself a mutant, Moigan is chosen to ie-
lay the Real fiomdown undei, to denounce the distoiting enciustations
of contempoiaiy global social conict.
Moigan nanced the oiiginal piint iun heiself. But aftei hei book
sold moie than _,o,ooo copies, HaipeiCollins bought the iights foi
U.S. sI., million, and United Aitists began discussions about a possible
movie ventuie. Outiaged at what Robeit Egginton, cooidinatoi of the
Dumbaitung Aboiiginal Coipoiation, called the books cultuial geno-
cide of the spiiit (Egginton I,,,), a delegation of cential Austialian
Aboiiginal men and women tiaveled to the United States and Gieat
Biitain to piotest the books iepiesentation of tiaditional Aboiiginal
cultuie. Iniesponse, HaipeiCollins added a pieface desciibing the book
as a woik of ction, and sales continued biiskly.
Biacketing foi a moment the question of authoiial exploitation, one
thing this shoit maiket histoiy cleaily shows is that the moie fully cei-
tain texts captuie the feeling of modein alienation and anomie, the
bettei they seive consumptive capital. Eveiy time consumeis buy oi
uige someone else to buy Mutant Message oi any othei example of a
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myiiad of indigenously maiked books, lms, tapes, and cus, they posi-
tion themselves in the divine diama the text desciibes. They become
mutant messengeis of hope and open a potential passageway between
ieadei and divine healingeven as they become pait of the ciicuit of
capital.
r e c t i c i vt t c e s
Many wiiteis of popontology insist that theii puipose is not to en-
iich themselves thiough the exploitation of the Spiiit, but to make un-
alienatedspiiituality piactical. Onits dust jacket, the publisheis of Mas-
ter Dharma Drum. The Life and Heart cf Chan Practices tell ieadeis
that it oeis us fiesh insights into the ways we can biing Chan study
and piactice into oui daily lives (Sheng-Yen I,,o). I do not speak as
a Chan piactitionei, but I would not be suipiised if such a book did
indeed make spiiituality piactical, foi a chaiacteiistic featuie of popon-
tology texts is that they aie aiticulated within othei social elds in such
a way as to allow theii naiiatives to be piacticed. Undeistanding the
natuie of this piactice necessitates displacing the concept of genie
fiom a puiely liteiaiy domain into its bioadei inteiactional enviion-
mentiight back, in fact, to Wadeye and Belyuen. In othei woids, we
need to keep in mind Mikhail Bakhtins undeistanding of the dialec-
tical natuie of dialogical geniesthe long and complicated path of
geneiic-stylistic testing and modicationand theii embeddedness in
the multidimensional and multimediated space that Michael Silveistein
(I,,_) has called inteiactional textuality.
Though not obviously a pait of the popontological genie, Blanche
McCiaiy Boyds Revcluticn cf Little Girls neveitheless neatly captuies
the sociological natuie of textual aiticulations. Towaid the end of the
novel, the piotagonist desciibes hei iecent initiation by a shaman: Id
gone to Peiu to be initiated by a shaman, and, in the thiee months since
my ietuin, Id been puisued bya gioup of imaginaiy giils. Some people
get in touch with theii innei child, Meg said. You have to get a ciowd
(Boyd I,,I: I8:).
With light iiony, Boyd uses vaiious voicings to gain a foothold in
a iange of sociological spaces, speaking to ieadeis who might have had
iitations with oi still be committed to the NewAge, cultuial feminism,
psychological self-help, oi self-empoweiment. But Boyd also poten-
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tially incites some of hei ieadeis to follow hei chaiacteis tiack, to click
on the Inteinet and nd a Web page like Retuin of the Galactic Maya.
As of I, Januaiy I,,8, this Mayan initiation jouiney piomised a
chance to tap into the tiue powei of Mayan cultuie, which would pio-
vide a setting foi contemplating the beauty of the Gieat Spiiit as being
of light, a destiny . . . encoded in oui genes. It adveitised a sum-
mei solstice toui and initiation led by Eldei Hunbatz Men, Mayan sha-
man Quetza-Sha, and Di. Cailos Waitei, and piovided fax and phone
numbeis wheie ieseivation-takeis would be standing by, along with
state functionaiies, theii iegulatoiy enviionments, and the local com-
munities fashioned to ieceive them. Obviously, The Revcluticn cf Little
Girls and Retuin of Galactic Maya aie just isolated nodes in an un-
mappedunmappable because emeigentglobal tiack of New Age
tiavel, massage schools, and the casual suifeis, chat iooms, and com-
munities of the Inteinet.
The semiotic mediation of indigenous spiiituality piesents tiaveleis
with a set of expectations about what they might, and have a iight to,
expect fiom the people and places to which they tiavel. At the heait of
these textual mediations is the expectation of an expeiience of Being
in the piesence of the Spiiit. And this expectation is manifested spa-
tiallyit inteipiets physical space and is extended into social intei-
actional space. Compaie, foi example, Belyuen and Wadeye. Belyuen
lies on the Cox Peninsula acioss the Daiwin haiboi. Evei since the
Biitish settlement of Daiwin, the pioximity of indigenous camps on the
peninsula has piovided visiting dignitaiies, inteinational celebiities,
lmmakeis, wiiteis, and academics with access to Aboiiginal cultuie.
Peiiodically between the I,_os and I,,os, it seived as a base foi national
iadio piogiams, lms, and anthiopological studies, and tiaveling dig-
nitaiies, scholais, and celebiities who desiied and weie piovided with
a vaiiety of cultuial peifoimances, pioductions, and aitifacts gatheied
theie. Howevei, as the tianspoitation infiastiuctuie between the Cox
Peninsula and Daiwin impioved, Belyuen has gotten closei to Daiwin
and, in the piocess, lost its auia of distinctiveness. In I,8, when I ist
aiiived at Belyuen, the feiiy iide between Daiwin and the Cox Penin-
sula took upwaid of an houi. Nowadays, it takes fteen minutes. Like-
wise, the diive fiomDaiwin to Belyuen nowtakes ioughly seventy min-
utes, iathei than the two to thiee houis it pieviously took, depending
on the condition of the diit ioad.
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The legal status of Cox Peninsula lands has also contiibuted to a
sense that the cultuie of the aiea has whitened. Undei a land claim
uniesolved foi the last twenty yeais, most of the peninsula iemains
Commonwealth land, a no-mans land of economic and political piac-
tice. Capital investment foi laige- and small-scale business ventuies
continues laigely to be unavailable until the claim is iesolved. And no
Aboiiginal gioup has any cleai legally sanctioned mandate foi exclud-
ing non-Aboiiginal people fiom the countiy oi iestiicting theii activi-
ties in ceitain places. In late Septembei I,,,, non-Aboiiginal campeis
deled a womens ceiemonial giound. Seveial iesidents of a small iesi-
dential development neaiby iesponded by saying that, as Common-
wealth land, the aiea was open to eveiyone foi any type of use. It was
consideied white land as much as black land. The lack of legally
enfoiced Aboiiginal title encouiages and discouiages paiticulai types
of visitois. Middle-class families on package touis aie not likely to visit.
But self-desciibed fieaks, New Age tiaveleis, feials, oi spoitspeisons
camp on beaches oi in the sciub by themselves oi alongside Belyuen
men and women. These foims of inteiactions have theii own econ-
omy of scale, iesulting in small-scale exchanges: beei, food, shiits, oi
smoke foi small infoimal conveisations, song peifoimances, touis to
sacied sites.
If physical and iegulatoiy space have fashioned Belyuen as a place
too close to white society to piot fiom the commodication of the
Spiiit, Wadeye has been too isolated. Located o the Stuait Highway
and in the middle of a laige Aboiiginal ieseive, Wadeye is physically
haid to ieach. Seveial Aboiiginal communities lying closei to the main
highways piot fiom the touiist tiade. The iegulatoiy enviionment
likewise impedes touiism. Wadeye lies within the Daly Rivei Aboiiginal
Land Tiust, as designated undei the Aboiiginal Land Rights (Noithein
Teiiitoiy) Act of I,,o. The community can and does iequiie that non-
iesidents obtainpeimits befoie visiting, and, indeed, all non-Aboiiginal
people tiaveling within the land tiust aie supposed to have a peimit
issued foi some designated community. Even as they impede tiavel
to Wadeye, the diculty these physical and iegulatoiy enviionments
piesent tiaveleis functions as an inteipietant of that space as moie au-
thentically Aboiiginal.
The question facing those building iegulatoiy and physical enviion-
ments at Wadeye is how to captuie the touiism maiket now seiviced by
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othei Aboiiginal communities without, in the veiy piocess, deautho-
iizing space. Put it this way: As Wadeye becomes a biidge to Geist
as it foims mateiial space in the Spiiit of consumei capitalismit iisks
installing the deauthoiizing signs of Westein commeice.
If popontology, law, and economy piovide ciitical texts by which
space and thus its capital manifestations aie foimed and inteipieted,
they also oiient visitois expectations of what will be found in these
spaces. These expectations include an undeistanding that a visit to an
Aboiiginal community is not about: (I) the hoiioi, exhaustion, and
anxiety of being in the woild of capital space-time, but iathei the ex-
peiience of Geist in the midst of this space-time, (:) Aboiiginal people
oi theii lives, but iathei an expeiience only Aboiiginal people can af-
foid, (_) the apoiia of tiuth, ethics, oi moial action in the face of fun-
damental alteiity, but iathei the expeiience of a shaied movement of
human spiiituality in spite of this alteiity. Law and capital, publics and
politicians do not need to be colluding in some wayto be engaged
in a conceited mass conspiiacyto be seen to be pioducing in diei-
ent foims and foi dieient puiposes ceitain human beings as valuable
insofai as they aoid passageway to an enchanted spiiitual Being and
away fiom the conditions of the Spiiit of capital. Indeed, these vaiious
discuisive contexts and piactices dispeise commonsense undeistand-
ings of indigenous spiiituality and themselves constitute the dispeised
sites in which this spiiituality is pioduced.
And yet the people who aie chaiged with tianspoiting visitois to this
enchanted iealm, to an expeiience of Being-in-dwelling, themselves
dwell within the legal and economic debiis of advanced capital. They
inhabit a foim of poveity that makes well-intentioned visitois afiaid,
physically ill, subject to panic. It is a type of poveity that can place such
visitois in limits similai to those in which Timothy Dumu and Betty
Bilawag found themselves. Touiism in these limits iisks (and piomises)
opening expeiience not to the Spiiit that capital commodies, but to
the oveiwhelming piesence of libeial capitalisms bad faith, its diitycoi-
neis, its bioken covenants.
uot c s
1 Foi the concept of footing, see Goman I,,,.
2 By I,,8 Castaneda no longei consideied neai-death expeiiences with psychotiopic
substances to be the necessaiy entiyways into nonoidinaiy Being, iathei, body weight,
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exibility, and stiess aie diagnosed as what constiains the manifestation of desiie undei
commodity capital, and thus aie means by which the piactitionei of a newyoga inected
by indigenous knowledge (magical passes) can entei extant actual woilds (Castaneda
I,,8, see also Hainei I,,o).
e c r c e c uc c s
Adams, Vincanne. I,,o. Tigers cf the sncw and cther virtual Sherpas. An ethncgraphy cf
Himalayan enccunters. Piinceton, N.J.: Piinceton Univeisity Piess.
Altman, J. C. I,,8. Abcrigines, tcurism, and develcpment. The Ncrthern Territcry experi-
ence. Daiwin: .v0 (Noithein Austialian Reseaich Unit).
Andiews, Lynn. I,8,. Crystal wcman. Sisters cf the Dreamtime. New Yoik: Wainei
Biotheis Books.
Aiden, Haivey, and Steve Wall. I,,8. Travels in a stcne cance. The return tc the Visdcm-
keepers. New Yoik: Simon & Schustei.
Bakhtin, Mikhail. I,8o. Speech genres and cther late essays, edited by Caiyl Emeison.
Austin: Univeisity of Texas Piess.
Boyd, Blanche McCiaiy. I,,I. The revcluticn cf little girls. New Yoik: Random House.
Castaneda, Cailos. I,o8. The teachings cf Dcn }uan. A Yaqui way cf kncwledge. NewYoik:
Washington Squaie Piess.
-. I,,8. Magical passes. The practical wisdcmcf the shamans cf ancient Mexicc. New
Yoik: Haipei Peiennial.
Chatwin, Biuce. I,8,. The scnglines. New Yoik: Viking.
Ciaik, Jennifei. I,,I. Rescrting tc tcurism. Cultural pclicies fcr tcurism develcpment in
Australia. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Egginton, Robeit. I,,,. A iepoit on Mutant Message Dcwn Under. Bcunah Vcngee, Mes-
sage Stick Online, no. :, _I Octobei.
Emeison, Scott. I,,o. Tiibal law plan foi black youth. Australian, 8 August, .
Finlayson, Julie. I,,I. Austialian Aboiigines and cultuial touiism: Case studies of Ab-
oiiginal involvement in the touiismindustiy. Woiking papei no. I,, Centie foi Multi-
cultuial Studies, Univeisity of Wollongong, NSW.
Fiow, John. I,,,. Time and ccmmcdity culture. Essays in cultural thecry and pcstmcder-
nity. Oxfoid: Oxfoid Univeisity Piess.
Ginsbeig, Faye. I,,I. Indigenous media: Faustian contiact oi global village. Cultural An-
thrcpclcgy o, no. I: ,III:.
Goman, Eiving. I,,,. Footing. Semictica :,: I:,.
Hainei, Michael. I,,o. The way cf the shaman. New Yoik: HaipeiCollins.
Haivey, David. I,8,. The ccnditicn cf pcstmcdernity. An enquiry intc the crigins cf cul-
tural change. Cambiidge: Basil Blackwell.
Hayes v. Ncrthern Territcry. I,,,. ic. (, Septembei).
Jacobs, Jane M., and Fay Gale, eds. I,,. Tcurismand the prctecticn cf Abcriginal cultural
sites. Canbeiia: .cvs.
Knapman, Biuce, Owen Stanley, and John Lea. I,,I. Tcurism and gcld in Kakadu. The
impact cf current and pctential natural rescurce use cn the NcrthernTerritcry eccncmy.
Daiwin: .v0.
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Langton, Maicia. I,,_. Vell, I heard it cn the radic and I saw it cn the televisicn. An
essay fcr the Australian Film Ccmmissicn cn the pclitics and aesthetics cf lmmaking
by and abcut Abcriginal pecple and things. Sydney: Austialian Film Commission.
Loveday, P., and P. Cooke. I,8_. Abcriginal arts and crafts and the market. Daiwin: .v0.
McCulloch-Uehlin, Susan. I,,,. Gate slams shut onaitists dieaming land. Veekend Aus-
tralian, I8I, Septembei, ,.
Michaels, Eiic. I,,. Bad Abcriginal art. Traditicn, media, and technclcgical hcrizcns.
Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Moigan, Mailo. I,,. Mutant message dcwn under. New Yoik: HaipeiCollins.
Myeis, Fied. I,,8. Unceitain iegaid: An exhibition of Aboiiginal ait in Fiance. Ethcs o_,
no. I: ,,.
Povinelli, Elizabeth A. I,,,. Settlei modeinity and the quest foi indigenous tiaditions.
Alter/native mcdernities, edited by Dilip Gaonkai, special issue, Public Culture II: I,
,.
Rael, Joseph, and Lindsay Sutton. I,,_. Tracks cf dancing light. A Native American ap-
prcach tc understanding ycur name. Doiset, U.K.: Element Books.
Sheng-Yen, Chan. I,,o. Master Dharma Drum. The life and heart cf Chan practices. Elm-
huist, N.Y.: Dhaima Dium Publications.
Silveistein, Michael. I,8I. The limits of awaieness. Sociological woiking papei no. 8,
Southwest Educational Development Laboiatoiy, Austin, Tex.
-. I,,_. Metapiagmatic discouise and metapiagmatic function. In Reexive lan-
guage, edited by John Lucy. Cambiidge: Cambiidge Univeisity Piess.
Smith, Valene, ed. I,8,. Hcsts and guests. The anthrcpclcgy cf tcurism. Philadelphia: Uni-
veisity of Pennsylvania Piess.
Spivak, Gayatii. I,8,. In a woid: Inteiview with Ellen Rooney. dierences. A }curnal cf
Feminist Cultural Studies I, no. :: I:,o.
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and Hudson.
Uiiy, John. I,,,. Ccnsuming places. New Yoik: Routledge.
Watt, Bob. I,,:a. Flogging a custom, a couit told. Ncrthern Territcry News, :8 July, _.
-. I,,:b. Flogging outside law. Ncrthern Territcry News, o August, _.
Whoif, Benjamin. I,,o. Giammatical categoiies. In Language, thcught, and reality.
Selected writings cf Benjamin Lee Vhcrf, edited by John B. Caiioll. Cambiidge: mi1
Piess.
Wittgenstein, Ludwig. I,,8 I,,_]. Philcscphical investigaticns, tianslated by G. E. M.
Anscombe. Oxfoid: Blackwell.
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Cosmopolitanism and the
Banality of Geographical Evils
David Harvey
The revival cf the science cf gecgraphy . . . shculd create that unity cf kncwledge
withcut which all learning remains cnly piece-wcrk.Immanuel Kant
Vithcut a kncwledge cf gecgraphy gentlemen cculd nct understand a jnews-
paper].John Locke
Cosmopolitanism is back. Foi some that is the good news. Shaking
o the negative connotations of its past (when Jews, communists, and
cosmopolitans weie so fiequently cast as tiaitois to national solidaii-
ties), it is now poitiayed by many (most eloquently by Held I,,,]) as a
unifying vision foi demociacy and goveinance in a woild so dominated
by a globalizing capitalism that it seems theie is no viable political-
economic alteinative foi the newmillennium. The bad news is that cos-
mopolitanismhas acquiied so many nuances and meanings as to negate
its putative iole as a unifying ethic aiound which to build the iequi-
site inteinational iegulatoiy institutions that would ensuie global eco-
nomic, ecological, and political secuiity inthe face of anout-of-contiol,
fiee-maiket libeialism.
Some bioad-biush divisions of opinion immediately stand out.
Theie aie those, like Nussbaum (I,,o, I,,,), whose vision is con-
stiucted in opposition to local loyalties in geneial and nationalism in
paiticulai. Inspiied by the Stoics and Kant, Nussbaum piesents cosmo-
politanism as an ethos, a habit of mind, a set of loyalties to humanity
as a whole, to be inculcated thiough a distinctive educational piogiam
emphasizing the commonalities and iesponsibilities of global citizen-
ship. Against this aie ianged all mannei of hyphenated veisions of
cosmopolitanism, vaiiously desciibed as iooted, situated, veinaculai,
Chiistian, bouigeois, disciepant, actually existing, postcolonial, femi-
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nist, ecological, socialist, and so on and so foith. Cosmopolitanismheie
gets paiticulaiized and pluialized in the belief that detached loyalty to
the abstiact categoiy of the human is incapable in theoiy, let alone
in piactice, of pioviding any kind of political puichase even in the face
of the stiong cuiients of globalization that swiil aiound us.
Some of these counteicosmopolitanisms weie foimulated in ie-
action to Nussbaums claims. She was accused by some of hei iespon-
dents (see Nussbaum I,,o), foi example, of meiely aiticulating an ap-
piopiiate ideology foi the global village of the newlibeial manageiial
class. The famous line in the Manifestcthe bouigeoisie has thiough
its exploitation of the woild maiket given a cosmopolitan chaiactei to
pioduction and consumption in eveiy countiy (Maix and Engels I,,::
:)could easily be used to undeimine hei stance of neutiality. And
it is indeed haid to dieientiate hei aiguments fiom those iooted in
Adam Smiths neolibeial moial subject cheeifully iiding maiket foices
wheievei they go oi, woise still, those embedded in the globalizing
geopolitics of U.S. national and inteinational inteiests (Biennan I,,,:
:,). Theie is, in any case, something oppiessive, hei iespondents noted,
about the etheieal and abstiacted univeisalism that lies at the heait of
hei cosmopolitan discouise. How can it account foi, let alone be sym-
pathetic to, a woild chaiacteiized by multicultuialism, movements foi
national oi ethnic libeiation, and all mannei of othei dieiences: What
Cheah and Robbins (I,,8) call cosmopolitics then emeiges as a quest
to intioduce intellectual oidei and accountability into this newly dy-
namic space . . . foi which no adequately disciiminating lexicon has had
time to develop.
The widely held belief that such a new lexicon is needed may well
piopel us onto new intellectual teiiain in the new millennium. The ma-
teiial conditions that give iise to the need aie also widely undeistood to
be those of globalization (see Held I,,,: :o,). These same foices have
led othei commentatois such as Readings (I,,o) and Miyoshi (I,,,,
I,,8) to question pievailing stiuctuies of knowledge entiiely and to
ask what kinds of scholaily knowledge pioduction will be necessaiy to
sustain oi tiansfoim a woild in which millennial capitalism seemingly
ieigns tiiumphant. Readings, foi example, aigues compellingly that the
tiaditional univeisity has outlived its puipose. In Euiope, the kind of
univeisity founded by Wilhelm von Humboldt in Beilin two centuiies
ago helped guaid and solidify national cultuies. In the United States,
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the univeisity helped cieate tiadition, found mythologies, and foim
a iepublican subject able to combine iationality and sentiment and
to exeicise judgment within a system of consensual demociatic govei-
nance. But globalization (of cultuie as well as of economies), the iise
of tiansnational poweis, and the paitial hollowing out of the nation-
state (themes all advanced by Held) have undeimined this tiaditional
iole. So what happens, Readings asks, when the knowledge stiuctuie
that the univeisity was meant to pieseive goes global and tiansnational
along with eveiything else: Multicultuialismas a seeming antidote does
not help, as Miyoshi (I,,,: :o:) obseives. Rathei, multicultuialism and
cultuial studies conceal the] libeial self-deception of academics by
pioviding an alibi foi theii complicity in the 1c tiansnational coi-
poiation] veision of neocolonialism. These followeis of postcolonial
oi post-Maixist discouise, he aigues, aie meiely collaboiating with the
hegemonic ideology, which looks, as usual, as if it weie no ideology at
all. Meie iefoim of knowledge stiuctuies, says Readings (I,,o: Io,),
iisks blinding us to the dimensions of the task that faces usin the
humanities, the social sciences, and the natuial sciencesthe task of
iethinking the categoiies that have goveined intellectual life foi ovei
two hundied yeais.
Nussbaum likewise calls foi an entiiely dieient educational stiuc-
tuie (and pedagogy) appiopiiate to the task of iational political delib-
eiation in a globalizing woild. On this point both she and hei ciitics,
as well as a vaiiety of othei commentatois such as Held, Readings,
Miyoshi, Biennan, and Cheah and Robbins, would agiee. But what kind
of educational stiuctuie and what kind of pedagogy: Oui nation,
complains Nussbaum (I,,o: III:), is appallingly ignoiant of most
of the iest of the woild. The United States is unable to look at itself
thiough the lens of the othei and, as a consequence, is] equally igno-
iant of itself. In paiticulai, she aigues, To conduct this soit of global
dialogue, we need knowledge not only of the geogiaphy and ecology
of othei nationsscmething that wculd already entail much revisicn
in cur curriculabut also a gieat deal about theii people, so that in
talking with them we may be capable of iespecting theii tiaditions
and commitments. Cosmopolitan education would supply the back-
giound necessaiy foi this type of delibeiation (my emphasis). This
appeal to adequate and appiopiiate geogiaphical and anthiopological
undeistandings paiallels, peihaps not by accident, a moie geneial ie-
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vival of inteiest in geogiaphical knowledges in iecent times. But Nuss-
baum meiely follows Kant (without acknowledging it). Foi Kant held
that adequate geogiaphical and anthiopological knowledges piovide
the necessaiy conditions of all piactical application of knowledge to the
mateiial woild.
In what follows, theiefoie, I shall take a closei look at the poten-
tial positioning of geogiaphical and anthiopological knowledges in any
new intellectual oidei designed to build a moie cosmopolitan ethic as
a foundation foi demociatic goveinance within a globalizing capital-
ism. In the couise of oui inquiiy, we will nd that geogiaphical and
anthiopological knowledges play a ciucial, though often hidden, iole
in dening what any cosmopolitan pioject might be about in theoiy as
well as in piactice.
k ut s c c o c e r uv
I begin with Kant because his inspiiation foi the contempoiaiy ap-
pioach to cosmopolitanism is impossible to ignoie. (I have even heaid
it said that the Euiopean Union is the Kantian dieam of a cosmopoli-
tan iepublicanism come tiue.) I cite peihaps the most famous passage
fiom his essay on Peipetual Peace: The peoples of the eaith have
enteied in vaiying degiees into a univeisal community, and it is devel-
oped to the point wheie a violation of laws in cne pait of the woild is
felt everywhere. The idea of a cosmopolitan lawis theiefoie not fantastic
and oveistiained, it is a necessaiy complement to the unwiitten code of
political and inteinational law, tiansfoiming it into a univeisal law of
humanity (Kant I,,I: Io,8). Nowconsidei Kants Gecgraphy, a little-
known woik. Whenevei I have questioned Kantian scholais about it,
theii iesponse has invaiiably been the same: it is iiielevant, not to be
takenseiiously, oi it lacks inteiest. Theie is nopublishedEnglishedi-
tion (though theie is a tianslation of Pait I as a masteis thesis by Bolin
I,o8]), and a Fiench veision appeaied only in I,,,. Theie is no seii-
ous study of Kants Gecgraphy in the English language othei than Mays
(I,,o), though theie aie occasional foiays into undeistanding his iole in
the histoiy of geogiaphical thought in the woiks of Haitshoine (I,_,),
Tatham (I,,I), Glacken (I,o,), and Livingstone (I,,:). The intioduc-
tion to the Fiench edition piovides mateiials foi an assessment.
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In one sense the lack of inteiest is undeistandable, since the con-
tent of Kants Gecgraphy is nothing shoit of an intellectual and political
embaiiassment. As Dioit (I,,,: v) iemaiks, ieading it comes as a ieal
shock because it appeais as an unbelievable hodge-podge of heteio-
geneous iemaiks, of knowledges without system, of disconnected cuii-
osities. To be suie, Kant seeks to sift the silliei and obviously false tales
fiomthose that have some factual ciedibility, but we aie still left with an
inciedible mix of mateiials moie likely to geneiate hilaiity than scien-
tic ciedibility. But theie is a moie sinistei side to it. While most of the
text is given ovei to often bizaiie facts of physical geogiaphy (indeed
Physiche Gecgraphie was the title of his lectuies), his iemaiks on man
within the system of natuie aie deeply tioubling. Kant iepeats without
ciitical examination all mannei of piejudicial iemaiks conceining the
customs and habits of dieient populations. Thus we nd:
In hot countiies men matuie moie quickly in eveiy iespect but
they do not attain the peifection of the tempeiate zones. Humanity
achieves its gieatest peifection with the white iace. The yellow Indi-
ans have somewhat less talent. The negioes aie much infeiioi and
some of the peoples of the Ameiicas aie well belowthem. (Kant I,,,:
::_, my tianslation fiom the Fiench)
All inhabitants of hot lands aie exceptionally lazy, they aie also timid
and the same two tiaits chaiacteiize also folk living in the fai noith.
Timidity engendeis supeistition and in lands iuled by Kings leads
to slaveiy. Ostoyaks, Samoyeds, Lapps, Gieenlandeis, etc. iesemble
people of hot lands in theii timidity, laziness, supeistition and desiie
foi stiong diink, but lack the jealousychaiacteiistic of the lattei since
theii climate does not stimulate theii passion gieatly. (Cited in May
I,,o: oo)
Too little and also too much peispiiation makes the blood thick and
viscous. . . . In mountain lands men aie peiseveiing, meiiy, biave,
loveis of fieedom and of theii countiy. Animals and men which mi-
giate to anothei countiy aie giadually changed by theii enviion-
ment. . . . The noithein folk who moved southwaid to Spain have
left piogeny neithei so big noi so stiong as they, and which is also
dissimilai to Noiwegians and Danes in tempeiament. (Cited in May
I,,o: oo)
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As Kant wiites elsewheie as well, Buimese women weai indecent cloth-
ing and take piide in getting piegnant by Euiopeans, the Hottentots aie
diity and you can smell them fiom fai away, the Javanese aie thieving,
conniving, and seivile, sometimes full of iage and at othei times ciaven
with feai, . . . and so it goes (as Vonnegut might say).
Of couise, it is possible to excuse such thoughts as meie echoes of
Montesquieu and othei scholais such as Buon (to say nothing of mei-
chants, missionaiies, and sailois). Many of the feivent defendeis of uni-
veisal ieason and of univeisal iights at that time, Dioit (I,,,: v) notes,
cheeifully peddledall mannei of similaily piejudicial mateiials, making
it seem as if iacial supeiioiities and ethnic cleansings might easily be
ieconciled with univeisal iights and ethics (though Kant, to his ciedit,
did go out of his way to condemn colonialism). And all mannei of othei
excuses canbe manufactuied: Kants geogiaphical infoimationwas lim-
ited, the couise in geogiaphy was intioductoiy, meant to infoim and
iaise issues iathei than solve them, and Kant nevei ievised the mateii-
als foi publication (the text that comes down to us was compiled fiom
Kants notes, supplemented by those of his students).
But the fact that Kants Gecgraphy is such an embaiiassment is no
justication foi ignoiing it. Indeed, this is piecisely what makes it so
inteiesting, paiticulaily when set against his much-vaunted univeisal
ethics and cosmopolitanism. Dismissal in any case does not accoid with
Kants own thoughts and piactices. He went out of his way to gain
an exemption fiom univeisity iegulations in oidei to teach geogiaphy,
and he taught the couise no less than foity-nine times (compaied to
the fty-foui occasions he taught logic and metaphysicshis most im-
poitant couiseand the foity-six and twenty-eight times he taught
ethics and anthiopology, iespectively). Fuitheimoie, Kant consideied
that geogiaphy (togethei with anthiopology) dened the conditions of
possibility of all knowledge and that such knowledge was a necessaiy
piepaiationa piopaedeutic as he teimed itfoi eveiything else.
Although, theiefoie, geogiaphy was obviously in a pieciitical oi pie-
scientic state, its foundational iole iequiied that it be paid close at-
tention. It was piesumably one of Kants aims to biing it into a moie
ciitical and scientic condition.
The fact that he failed to do so, Kant latei hinted, was signicant: He
simply could not make his ideas about nal causes woik on the teiiain
of geogiaphical knowledge. Stiictly speaking, he wiote (in a passage
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that Glacken I,o,: ,_:] iegaids as key), the oiganization of natuie
has nothing analogous to any causality known to us. Piesumably Kant
deeply sensed this pioblem of analogy as he sought to constiuct geo-
giaphical undeistandings.
It is possible, May (I,,o) aigues, to ieconstiuct some of the puta-
tive piinciples of geogiaphical knowledge fiom the geneial coipus of
Kants wiitings. Geogiaphy was not only a piecuisoi but also, togethei
with anthiopology (see Kant I,,), destined to be the synthetic end-
point of all of oui knowledge of the woild (undeistood as the suiface
of the eaith, as mans habitation). The distinction between geogia-
phyand anthiopology laigely iested ona distinctionbetweenthe outei
knowledge given by obseivation of mans place in natuie (geogia-
phy) andthe innei knowledge of subjectivities (anthiopology). Geog-
iaphy oiganizes knowledge synthetically thiough the oideiing of space,
as opposed to histoiy, which piovides a naiiation in time. Geogiaphy
is an empiiical foim of knowledge that is maiked as much by contin-
gency and paiticulaiity as by the univeisality that can be deiived fiom
ist piinciples. Spatial oideiing, theiefoie, pioduces, accoiding to May,
iegional and local tiuths and laws iathei than univeisals.
May does not tell us how Kant pioposed to ielate such local tiuths
and laws to the univeisals of ieason. But if his account is iight, then
geogiaphical knowledge is potentially in conict with oi disiuptive
of Kants univeisal ethics and cosmopolitan piinciples. Even if it is
accepted, as Kant himself held, that the univeisality of ethics is im-
mune to any challenge fiomempiiical science, the pioblemof the appli-
cation of such ethical piinciples to histoiical-geogiaphical conditions
iemains. What happens when noimative ideals get inseited as a piin-
ciple of political action into a woild in which some people aie con-
sideied infeiioi and otheis aie thought indolent, smelly, oi just plain
ugly: Some of Kants moie tempoiizing iemaiks on the piinciples of
peipetual peace aiise piecisely when such actual geogiaphical cases
piesent themselves. But it boils down to this: eithei the smelly Hotten-
tots and the lazy Samoyeds have to iefoim themselves to qualify foi
consideiation undei the univeisal ethical code (theieby attening out
all geogiaphical dieiences), oi the univeisal piinciples opeiate as an
intensely disciiminatoiy code masqueiading as the univeisal good.
This contiast between the univeisality of Kants cosmopolitanism
and ethics and the awkwaid and intiactable paiticulaiities of his geog-
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iaphy is impoitant. If (as Kant himself held) knowledge of geogia-
phy denes the conditions of possibility of all othei foims of piactical
knowledge of the woild, and if his geogiaphical gioundings aie so sus-
pect, then on what giounds can we tiust Kants cosmopolitanism: Yet
theie is one way to see this as a fiuitful staiting point foi discussion. Foi
while it is possible to complain endlessly of the damage done by fac-
tion and intense local loyalties to oui political lives (Nussbaum I,,,:
8, citing the Stoics), it is also impoitant to iecognize how human pas-
sions (which Kant believed to be inheiently aggiessive and capable of
evil) so often acquiie a local and disiuptive expiession. The nethei side
of Kants cosmopolitanism is his cleai iecognition that eveiything as a
whole is made up of folly and childish vanity, and often of childish mal-
ice and destiuctiveness (cited in NussbaumI,,,: Io). If this asseition is
tiue of the geogiaphical[anthiopological woild that we inhabit and that
cosmopolitanismhas to confiont and defeat, then we might undeistand
ceitain iecent events in its lightfoi instance, the sight of .1o bombs
(oichestiated thiough that newfound cosmopolitan iepublicanism that
chaiacteiizes the Euiopean Union backed by the United States) iaining
down on Yugoslavia as ethnic cleansing and iape waifaie pioceed on
the giound in Kosovo. This kind of cosmopolitanismcoming to giound
geogiaphically is not a veiy pietty sight. Noi aie its justicationslike
Uliich Becks widely iepoited suppoitive comment on the bombing of
Kosovo as an example of .1os new militaiy humanismveiy con-
vincing (see Cohen I,,,: Io).
As seveial commentatois (foi example, Beck I,8:, Shapiio I,,8) have
obseived, theie is a staitling gap between Kants philosophical and
piactical geogiaphies. It is, I want to suggest, impeiative in the cuiient
conjunctuie, when Kants univeisalism and cosmopolitanism have the
puichase theydo, to nd means to biidge the gap. That task is even moie
compelling given that populai geogiaphical knowledge (as opposed to
politically coiiected academic wisdom) has not advanced much beyond
the disoiganized and piejudicial state in which Kant left it. Indeed, the
geneial state of geogiaphical knowledge among students at elite univei-
sities is even woise than what we nd in Kants Gecgraphy (piejudicial
content included). The nobility of Kants (and oui) ethical vision needs
to be tempeied by iefeience to the banality of his (oui) geogiaphical
knowledges and piejudices.
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r ouc uit s i uc ut c e
In The Order cf Things (I,,o), Foucault iecoids his iiiepiessible
laughtei upon ieading a passage in Boiges conceining a Chinese en-
cyclopedia with a wild taxonomy dividing animals into such dispa-
iate categoiies as embalmed, fienzied, belonging to the Empeioi,
painted with a veiy ne camelhaii biush, and so on. It is a pity that
Foucault ieseived his laughtei foi the humoious Boiges iathei than foi
the deadly seiious Kant. Foi Kants Gecgraphy is almost as bizaiie as
any Boiges stoiy.
The disiuption of meaning signaled in the Boiges stoiy led Fou-
cault to ieect upon the enigmatic multiplicity and the fundamen-
tal disoidei to which language could so easily lend itself. Theie is, he
obseived, a woise kind of disoidei than the inccngrucus, the linking
togethei of things that aie inappiopiiate, I mean the disoidei in which
fiagments of a laige numbei of possible oideis glittei sepaiately in the
dimension, without lawoi geometiy, of the hetercclite. This led him to
foimulate the concept of heteiotopias, which aie distuibing, piob-
ably because they secietly undeimine language, because they shattei oi
tangle common names, because they make it impossible to name this
and that. . . . Heteiotopias (such as those to be found so often in Boiges)
desiccate speech, stop woids in theii tiacks, contest the veiy possibility
of giammai at its souice, they dissolve oui myths and steiilize the lyii-
cism of oui sentences (Foucault I,,o: xviixviii). Kants Gecgraphy, by
this denition, is heteiotopic. Cosmopolitanism cast upon that teiiain
shatteis into fiagments. Geogiaphy undeimines cosmopolitan sense.
In a lectuie given to aichitects in I,o, (shoitly aftei The Order cf
Things was published), Foucault sought to give heteiotopia a moie tan-
gible iefeient, to take it beyond a meie eect of language and into the
iealm of mateiial piactices. The lectuie was nevei ievised foi publica-
tion, though he did peimit its publication shoitly befoie he died. In
this detail, it iesembles Kants unpublished Gecgraphy (of which Fou-
cault, as tianslatoi of Kants Anthrcpclcgy, may well have been awaie).
But theie the iesemblance ends. Extiacted by his acolytes as a hidden
gem fiom within his extensive oeuvie, the essay on heteiotopia, un-
like Kants Gecgraphy, has become an impoitant meanspaiticulaily
within postmodeinismof simultaneously iesuiiecting and disiupt-
ing the pioblem of utopia.
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Foucault appealed to heteiotopia in oidei to escape fiom the no
place that is a placeful utopia into sites wheie things aie laid, placed
and aiianged in ways so veiy dieient fiom one anothei that it is
impossible to dene . . . a common locus beneath them all (Foucault
I,,o: xvii). This was, of couise, a diiect challenge to iational planning
piactices as undeistood in the I,oos and the utopianism that infused
much of the movement of I,o8. Heteiotopia seemed set faii to piovide
a piivileged means to escape the noims and stiuctuies that impiisoned
the human imagination (including, incidentally, Foucaults own anti-
humanism). Thiough a study of the histoiy of spaces and an undei-
standing of theii heteiogeneity, it became possible to identify spaces in
which dieience, alteiity, and the othei might ouiish oi (as in aichi-
tectuie) actually be constiucted. Hetheiington (I,,,: viii) summaiizes
the concept of heteiotopia as spaces of alteinate oideiing. Heteiotopia
oiganize a bit of the social woild in a way dieient to that which sui-
iounds them. That alteinate oideiing maiks them out as Othei and
allows them to be seen as an example of an alteinative way of doing
things.
The foimulation is suicially attiactive. It allows us to think of the
potential foi coexistence in the multiple utopian schemesfeminist,
anaichist, ecological, andsocialistthat have come downto us thiough
histoiy. It encouiages the idea of what Maiin (I,8) calls spatial plays
to highlight choice, diveisity, dieience, incongiuity, and incommen-
suiability. It enables us to look upon the multiple foims of tiansgiessive
behaviois (usually noimalized as deviant) in uiban spaces as impoi-
tant and pioductive. Foucault includes in his list of heteiotopic spaces
such places as cemeteiies, colonies, biothels, and piisons. Theie aie,
Foucault assuies us, abundant spaces in which otheiness and, hence,
alteinatives might be expeiienced and exploied not as meie gments
of the imagination but thiough contact with social piocesses alieady in
motion.
But Foucault assumes that such spaces aie somehow outside the
dominant social oidei oi that theii positioning within that oidei can be
seveied, attenuated, oi, as in the piison, inveited. The piesumption is
that powei[knowledge is oi can be dispeised into spaces of dieience.
This idea is tacitly ieneged upon in Discipline and Punish and given
an entiiely dieient ieading in his I,,8 inteiview on Space, Knowl-
edge, and Powei (Foucault I,8: :_,,o). Fuitheimoie, heteiotopias
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piesume that whatevei happens in such spaces of otheiness is in piin-
ciple of inteiest and even in some sense acceptable oi appiopiiate. The
cemeteiy and the concentiation camp, the factoiy and the shopping
malls, the Disneylands, Jonestown, the militia camps, the open-plan
oce, New Haimony, and gated communities aie all sites of altei-
native ways] of doing things and theiefoie in some sense heteio-
topic. What appeais at ist sight as so open by viitue of its multiplicity
suddenly appeais as banal: an eclectic mess of heteiogeneous and dif-
feient spaces within which anything dieienthowevei dened
might go on.
Ultimately, the whole essayon heteiotopia ieduces itself to the theme
of escape. The ship is the heteiotopia pai excellence, wiote Foucault
(I,8o: :8). In civilizations without boats, dieams diy up, espionage
takes the place of adventuie and police take the place of piiates. I keep
expecting these woids to appeai on commeicials foi a Caiibbean ciuise.
But heie the banality of the idea of heteiotopia becomes all too plain,
because the commeicialized ciuise ship is indeed a heteiotopic site if
evei theie was one, and what is the ciitical, libeiatoiy, and emancipa-
toiy point of that: Foucaults heteiotopic excuisionends up being eveiy
bit as banal as Kants Gecgraphy. I amnot suipiised that he left the essay
unpublished.
Yet he must have sensed that something was impoitant in the essay,
indeed, he could not let it die. He latei woiiied, peihaps with a ciitique
of Kant in mind, at the way space was tieated as the dead, the xed, the
undialectical, the immobile, while time, onthe contiaiy, was iichness,
fecundity, life, dialectic (Foucault I,8: ,o). If space is fundamental
in any foim of communal life, then space must also be fundamental
in any exeicise of powei, he aigued. The implication is that spaces out-
side of powei, heteiotopia, aie impossible to achieve. But, like Kant with
iespect to geogiaphy, he lets the idea of heteiotopia iemain in ciicula-
tion but does not take iesponsibility foi its content, leaving it to otheis
to pick up the pieces. And when asked in I,,o by the editois of the
newly founded iadical geogiaphy jouinal Hercdcte to claiify his aigu-
ments, Foucault gave evasive and seemingly uncompiehending answeis
to what, on the whole, weie quite ieasonable piobing questions (Fou-
cault I,8o). By iefusing again and again to elaboiate on the mateiial
giounding foi his inciedible aisenal of spatial metaphois, he evades the
issue of a geogiaphical knowledge piopei to his undeistandings (even
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in the face of his use of actual spatial foims such as panopticons and
piisons to illustiate his themes) and fails to give tangible meaning to
the way space is fundamental to the exeicise of powei. And his nal
admission that a piopei undeistanding of geogiaphy is a condition of
possibility foi his aigumentsthe Kantian piopaedeutic once moie
seems like a tactic to get his geogiaphei inteilocutois o his back. Inany
case, he nevei elaboiated on his nal iecognition that geogiaphy must
indeed necessaiily lie at the heait of his] conceins. Noi, inteiestingly,
have any of his followeis taken up this challenge.
c c o c e r ui c us i ut c e e ur t us
So what, then, aie we to make of these two cases of gieat philosophi-
cal guies who failed to pin down geogiaphical knowledge and spatial
undeistandings in any systematic oi oiganized way, but who explicitly
acknowledged the impoitance of that knowledge to theii moie gen-
eial philosophical and political conceins: Theie is one simple answei.
If heteiotopias aie distuibing and undeimining of ieceived foims of
sense and meaning, and if geogiaphical knowledge is inheiently heteio-
topic (oi, as Kant had it, always local, iegional, and contingent), then
geogiaphical and spatial undeistandings undeimine and distuib othei
foims of iational undeistanding. Those committed to tiaditional iatio-
nality (in goveinance, demociacy, oi anything else) then have a vested
inteiest insuppiessing oi evading geogiaphical questions (inexactly the
way that Foucault did in his I,,o inteiview). The seeming banality of
geogiaphical knowledge makes it an easy enough taiget foi dismissal.
Yet theie is also something tioubling about geogiaphies. I have long
espoused the viewthat the inseition of space (let alone of tangible geog-
iaphies) into any social theoiy (including that of Maix) is always deeply
disiuptive of its cential piopositions and deiivations (see Haivey I,8).
I see no ieason to ienege on that view now. This disiuptive eect makes
space a favoied metaphoi in the postmodeinist attackinspiied, foi
example, by Foucaults The Order cf Thingsupon all foims of uni-
veisality. Considei an example that piedates the moie familiai post-
modeinist positions. In the eld of economicswhich is, aftei all, the
most complete of all the social sciences as a iationalized foim of
knowledge[powei woiking fiom ist piinciplesthe pioblem of spa-
tial oideiing pioduces some deep and seemingly uniesolvable paia-
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doxes. In I,,, Koopmans and Beckman published an aiticle that thiew
seiious doubt on the possibility of sustaining an ecient locational
distiibution of activities thiough a piice system. The decisive di-
culty, Koopmans (I,,,: I,) iepoited, is that the dependence of one
mans (locational) decision ciiteiion on othei mens decisions appeais
to leave no ioomfoi ecient piice-guided allocation. Thiowspatiality
into the hoppei of economic ieasoning and the whole logic falls apait
because piices can nevei do theii piopei woik. This is not an unusual
iesult, as Webbei and Rigby (I,,o) have iecently conimed. Koopmans
and Beckman (I,,,: ,) iepoited they weie so distiessed by the iesult
that they delayed publication foi seveial yeais (though, unlike Foucault
and Kant, they did at least diiectly acknowledge the fundamental natuie
of the diculty).
But now that the issues of spatiality (and to some degiee of geogia-
phy) have been iediscoveied and paitially ieinseited into mainstieam
theoiies and piactices, what exactly gets done with them: Considei,
ist, how a disiuptive spatiality woims its way into ciitical examina-
tion of cosmopolitanism. Connolly (I,,,: I_,), foi example, aigues
(coiiectly, in my view) foi a moie cosmopolitan, multidimensional
imagination of demociacy that distiibutes demociatic eneigies and
identications acioss multiple sites. But when faced with the obvi-
ous next step of identifying what a moie multiplicitous spatialization
of demociatic eneigies might mean, he ieviews othei political theo-
iists only to conclude that thiough the optic of political nostalgia
(and by implication thiough the optic of political theoiy), it is impos-
sible to identify the place that might, if not supplant loyalty to the
state, compete with it so that sometimes a new we nds itself be-
stowing allegiance on constituencies and aspiiations in ways that con-
test the states monopoly ovei political allegiance (Connolly I,,,: I,,).
Connolly (I,,8) latei accepts the disiuptive consequences foi political
theoiy in geneial (and Kants cosmopolitanismin paiticulai) of iapidly
shifting spatialities (appealing to Viiilios concept of speed), but seeks
this time to inteipiet time-space compiession as an ambivalent oppoi-
tunity foi a new kind of ihizomatic and fiagmented cosmopoli-
tanism in which the Inteinet guies laige as a vehicle foi demociatic
possibility.
What Connolly needs to complete his pioject is some sense of how
spatialities and geogiaphies (the actual places he is looking foi) aie ac-
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tively pioduced and with what consequences. He fails to iegistei, foi
example, that speedup in modein cultuie has been pioduced by a
capitalist-militaiy alliance as a means to pieseive and enhance specic
class and teiiitoiial poweis, and that the Inteinet has no libeiatoiy
potential whatsoevei foi the billion oi so wagewoikeis who, accoiding
to the Woild Bank (I,,,: I:), aie stiuggling to eke out an existence on
less than a dollai a day. Tangible geogiaphical knowledge is essential
at just the point wheie political theoiizing bieaks o. Key concepts of
site, spatiality, speed, and place piovide only convenient meta-
phois to disiupt ieceived political wisdoms. Such concepts iemain un-
theoiized even though Connollys is pieeminently a sophisticated theo-
ietical woik. The disiuptions of spatialities piovide meiely a means to
aigue foi a bioad-based political pluialism and a multidimensionalism
of dieience. In the tiacks of Foucault, Connolly evades questions of
ieal geogiaphy and even the pioduction of space.
Shapiio (I,,8), to take anothei example, sets out to exploie the
Kantian ethics of global hospitality in the midst of global dieience.
He points out that Kant envisioned a woild in which an enlaiged ethic
of hospitality would diminish the signicance of the boideied woild,
but that he did so in a way that eaces much of the dieience that
the Kantian ethics of global hospitality is designed to appieciate. Kant
was not sensitive to peoples and nations that weie not oiganized in
the foim of states. His notion of peace, it follows, depended upon ie-
lationships between states, and his notion of wai did not iecognize
contested teiiainsfoi example, the stiuggles between settleis and in-
digenous peopleswithin states (Shapiio I,,8: ,oI). Faced with the
dilemma of howto ieconcile Kants philosophical and piactical geogia-
phies, howevei, Shapiio meiely iesoits to a self-iefeiential study of the
vaiiety of spatial, geogiaphical, and teiiitoiial metaphois deployed by
the usual suspects (Deiiida, Foucault, and Lyotaidthough, inteiest-
ingly, Deleuze and Guattaii get passed ovei), ignoiing the active teiiain
of the pioduction of space and of geogiaphiesas if the only thing that
matteis is getting the metaphois iight iathei than investigating the ma-
teiial geogiaphical and social piocesses wheieby human populations
get disaggiegated and dieientiated. Had Shapiio iead Kants Gecgra-
phy, he might have woiiied moie about Kants iecoided sensitivities
to people and places. As it is, the study is inteiestingly leained, but sadly
decient in its undeistanding of the contingencies that aiise fiom the
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inteiactions of space and discouise within the contempoiaiy political
economy of globalization.
And it is not too helpful, eithei, simply to dismantle Kantian univei-
sals into local and contingent meanings as, foi example, Walzei (I,8_:
_I) does in foimulating a iadically paiticulaiist theoiy of justice in
which eveiy substantive account of distiibutive justice is a local ac-
count. Like Foucaults heteiotopia, this all sounds veiy noble until
confionted with the iealities of conicting senses of justice between
dieient gioups, which pit, foi example, the militia movement and
the xxx against immigiants and non-Caucasians (whoevei they aie).
The sense of justice vaiies fiom neighboihood to neighboihood in
most cities (I know a neighboihood wheie incest and homophobia aie
stiongly accepted as social noims), and such dieiences often become
a manifest souice of seiious political and juiidical conict. What Elstei
(I,,:) calls local justice is a fact of geogiaphical as well as of insti-
tutional life and a fact that deseives close attention. Theoietically, this
seems to pose an intiactable dilemma. We aie caught between a iela-
tivism that suggests that foi each cultuial gioup theie is some theoiy of
justice that captuies its ethical intuitions and moial univeisals that may
be just as unpalatable even if they can be dened. But because justice,
as Walzei (I,8_: _I) aigues, may be iooted in the distinct undeistand-
ings of places, honois, jobs, things of all soits, that constitute a shaied
way of life, it does not follow that to oveiiide those undeistandings
is (always) to act unjustly. The cosmopolitan temptation is, of couise,
to ieveit to Zenos dieam of a well-oideied and philosophical com-
munity wheie we should not be divided fiom one anothei by local
schemes of justice, but iegaid all human beings as fellow citizens
(cited in Nussbaum I,,,: o).
Such aiguments ignoie how places and localized ways of life aie ie-
lationally constiucted by a vaiiety of inteisecting socioecological pio-
cesses occuiiing at quite dieient spatiotempoial scales (see Haivey
I,,o: _,o,:). They do not pay attention to histoiical-geogiaphical pio-
cesses of place and community constiuction. To ignoie these piocesses
and build a paiticulaiist theoiy of local justice with iespect to places
and cultuies as embodied things is to advocate a fetishistic politics that
would tiy (foitunately, against all odds) to fieeze existing geogiaphical
stiuctuies of places and noims foievei. The eect would be as dysfunc-
tional as it would be oppiessive. Compaied to that, Kants cosmopoli-
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tanismas a noimfoi inteivention in an unsatisfactoiyand violent woild
of geogiaphical dieience appeais positively libeiatoiy.
Considei, now, this same pioblemfioma dieient disciplinaiydiiec-
tion. Kant, iecall, saw anthiopology and histoiy as necessaiy comple-
ments to geogiaphy as the basis foi a holistic and synthetic undeistand-
ing of the woild. While Kants foimal distinctions have been iendeied
somewhat poious with the passing of time, it is stunning to contemplate
the puichase they still have upon piofessional disciplinaiy distinctions.
The focus on subjectivities (identities) in anthiopology still contiasts
with the object stance often taken in geogiaphy. Though we have been
uiged again and again to see the woild in moie unied spatiotempo-
ial teims, histoiy and geogiaphy still dene themselves, iespectively,
thiough naiiative and spatial oideiing.
The subaltein studies gioup in South Asia seems to have succeeded
in bluiiing the boundaiies between anthiopology and histoiy, but how
does it tieat geogiaphy: Deshpande (I,,8) piovides one example. He
investigates the ielations between globalization, conceptions of the
Indian nation, and the constiuction of Hindu-ness (oi hindutva) as
a locus of distinctive identity and meaning. He sees the histoiy of these
ielations as closely and ciucially inteitwined with a geogiaphy (:,,).
Nehius seculai developmental model depended, foi example, upon a
piivileged pan-Indian elite that could, by and laige, aoid to cut loose
its iegional mooiings (:oI). It entailed a distinctive spatial logic (the
histoiy of which has yet to be wiitten) of multi-dimensional iela-
tions of domination established along the intei-iegional, iuial-uiban,
and city-megacity axes (:oo). The eect was to constiuct a distinc-
tive social geogiaphy within the Indian national space. But its coiollaiy
was to spawn a vaiiety of iegional-ethnic movements. Hindutva, as an
oppositional movement, exploits the ideological vulneiability of the
placeless univeisalismof the Nehiuvian nation-space and seeks to ie-
kindle a peisonalised commitment to paiticulai places that aie nevei-
theless embedded within the abstiact social space of hindutva (:o_).
Hindutva appeals to the sedimented banalities of neighbouiliness
the long-teim, live-in intimacy of iesidential ielationships among pei-
sons andfamilies andbetweenthemandtheii local enviionment (:,o).
The teims aie inteiesting, it is the banality of mundane eveiyday
local expeiiences that denes tiuths that acquiie the status of self-
evident common sense. This foims the basis foi a politics (includ-
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ing pathological expiessions of inteicommunal violence) that is fai
iemoved fiom Kants cosmopolitanism. The banalities of local geo-
giaphical loyalties disiupt the cosmopolitan ideal of Nehiuvian de-
velopmentalism. This seems a pioductive line of enquiiy until Desh-
pande tuins to Foucault foi enlightenment: One way of undeistanding
spatial stiategies is to think of them as ideological piactices involved
in the constiuction of heteiotopias. This is the sense in which spatial
stiategies attempt to tie an imagined space to a ieal place in such a
way that these ties also bind people to paiticulai identities and to the
political[piactical consequences they entail (:,I). The foimulation is,
as usual, suicially attiactive. It also has theoietical cachet. But it ends
up attening anotheiwise inteiesting aigument into a conceptual woild
that is no less banal than the sedimented banalities of neighbouiliness
that it inteipiets. Deshpande soon discoveis that the full implications
of heteiotopia ciucially depend upon the context of its mobilisation
foi some laigei than eveiyday activity oi campaign (:,:) (i.e., it is de-
pendent upon some nonlocal souice of powei). Nehiu had his steel
mills andhindutva has its symbolic centeis. Bothaie equally heteiotopic
sites. And so what:
1
t uc s u i i t v or c c o c e r ui c i c v i i s
How, then, aie we to undeistand the geogiaphical iacisms and ethnic
piejudices of Kants Gecgraphy, the eclectic and amoial heteiotopia of
Foucault, and the tendency of theoiists of all stiipes to simply delight
(as Smith and Katz I,,_] point out) in the conveniently disiuptive
metaphois of spatialities, caitogiaphic metaphois, and the like, iathei
than to confiont the banal pioblematics of mateiialist geogiaphies: It
is exactly at this conjunctuie that the imposing guie of Heideggei
looms so laige. Foi, if theie is any theoiist of iootedness in locality
who ieally takes it all the way, then suiely Heideggei is it. His attach-
ment to dwelling and place, coupled with his thoiough iejection
of all foims of cosmopolitanism (capitalist, socialist, modeinist), seems
to place him in polai opposition to Kantian ethics. And Heideggei at-
tiacts as much, if not moie, attention among the scholaily elite as does
Kant. The battle between those two philosophical titans and the tiadi-
tions they have spawned will doubtless iage foi the next millennium in
much the same way that the foundeis of Gieek philosophy (both Kant
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and Heideggei diew heavily foi inspiiation on dieient stiains of pie-
Sociatic thought) dened majoi intellectual schisms in the past.
Theie is one aspect to this debate that stiikes me as odd. Foi Hei-
deggei, it is the phenomenological expeiience of objects, places, spaces,
time, and cultuies (languages and myths) that counts. But these aie
laigelydeployedas metaphysical concepts. He avoids thewoildof actual
time-deepened mateiial geogiaphical expeiiences (though his alia-
tions to the Geimanic cultuial and linguistic tiadition aie evident). Like
Foucault, he fails to connect to the mateiial ciicumstances of a lived
geogiaphy. The most famous exception is Heideggeis (I,,I) invoca-
tion of the tiaditional Black Foiest faimstead as a site of dwelling and
being in the woild. But his piesentation is iomanticized. Heideggei
accepts that the conditions he desciibes aie not mateiial qualities of the
contempoiaiy woild and that this paiticulai heimat is not something to
which he oi we can ietuin. This has left his followeis stiuggling with the
question of how to dene the authentic qualities of ieal places and
what the iootedness of a woik of ait might meanin shoit, how to
give moie tangible meaning to Heideggeis abstiactions. We also have
to stiuggle to compiehend Heideggeis suppoit foi National Socialist
ideology (and its active political piactices). What do such cultuial and
political attachments have todowithhis philosophical aiguments about
dwelling in place:
It was Hannah Aiendt (I,,,), whose longtime and abiding attach-
ments to Heideggei have also pioved a puzzle, who coined the phiase
the banality of evil as she watched the Eichmann tiial in Isiael. The
connections heie may seemfaifetched oi even bizaiie (though no moie
so than the intimacy of the Aiendt-Heideggei ielationship). Foi what
if Aiendts chaiacteiization of evil has some subteiianean connec-
tion to the banalities of dwelling, of place, and of heimat as so-
cial constiucts essential to the human condition: What if Deshpandes
sedimented banalities of neighbouiliness aie so fundamental to the
human condition (as even Foucault ended up acknowledging of space)
that they foim the pieconditionsthe Kantian piopaedeuticfoi all
knowledge of and action in the woild (including those of Eichmann):
Fiomthis peispective, would it not be tiue that Heideggei gives a meta-
physical foundation, a philosophical voice, to Kants Gecgraphy:
Such a possibility gets evaded in contempoiaiy discussions. Hei-
deggei iates only one entiy, foi example, in Cheah and Robbinss
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Ccsmcpclitics (I,,8), even though the fiequent appeals to some soit
of iooted cosmopolitanism aie loud and iecuiient thioughout the
book. But the one entiy foi Heideggei is telling: The citation ieads,
Nationalism is not oveicome thiough meie inteinationalism, it is
iathei expanded and elevated theieby into a system. It is that thought
that leads Jonathan Ree (I,,8: ,8) to comment on the way that Kants
tiansition fiom the idea of cosmopolitanism to the idea of peipetual
peace involved the ieduction of the shining ideal of woild citizenship
to a giudging concession that we ought always to allow foieigneis to
tiavel among us unmolested, piovided they do not stay aiound too
long. Perpetual Peace, Ree contends, allows cosmopolitan iights to be
swallowed up again by the old patiiotisms they weie oiiginally meant to
supplant. The aigument is exactly the opposite of Shapiios. The ioot-
edness of peoples in place (the geogiaphical iootedness of the nation-
state inpaiticulai) diaws us iathei awkwaidly back to Kants actual geo-
giaphical woild chaiacteiized by folly and aggiession, childish vanity
and destiuctiveness, the woild of piejudice that cosmopolitanism must
counteiact oi actively suppiess in the name of human piogiess. It takes
but a small step then to see geogiaphies and spatialities (and local loyal-
ties) not only as disiupteis of oidei and of iational discouise, but as
undeimining univeisal moiality and goodness. They become, as with
Kants Gecgraphy, the fount of all piejudice, aggiession, and evil. Even
the knowledge of that geogiaphy (as with that of Kant) must be sup-
piessed. Heideggeis uncompiomising honesty takes us piecisely to the
metaphysical ioot of what that paiticulai evil (both intellectually and
politically) might be about. East Timoi, Rwanda-Buiundi, and Kosovo
tell us what it might mean on the giound.
But what if this is only half of the stoiy: Heideggei ceitainly did not
believe himself to be peddling the metaphysics of inheient evil. His aco-
lytes would nd the equation of the banalityof evil with his metaphysics
unacceptable. In theii view, the evil (if such it is) aiises out of the diead-
ful cosmopolitan habit of demonizing spaces, places, and whole popu-
lations as somehow outside the pioject (of maiket fieedoms, of the
iule of law, of modeinity, of a ceitain vision of demociacy, of civilized
values, of inteinational socialism, oi whatevei). What if Heideggei is
iight in insisting that Kants cosmopolitanism inevitably slips into an
inteinationalism iooted in nationalism: Isaiah Beilin (I,,,), foi one,
was also piepaied to see Kant as an unfamiliai souice of nationalism,
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the Kantian ideal of autonomy of the will, he iemaiked, when blended
with the doctiines of Heidei and Rousseau, led to teiiible explosions
and pathological foims of nationalism. In this light, the peculiai vei-
sion of U.S. cosmopolitanism makes sense: It is based on an Ameii-
canism distinct fiom patiiotism that idealizes Ameiica as a beacon to
humanity and that expoits Ameiicanism as a poitable ethos and as
an object of univeisal desiie (Biennan I,,,: _o8). But the myth can-
not be sustainedwithout emphatic denunciations anddemonizations of
evil empiies (one of Reagans favoiite phiases) and iesistant spaces
Cuba, Iian, Libya, Seibia oi, foi iespectable subuibanites, the innei
city (with all its iacial codings).
This tension points to an intellectual impasse in oui dominant iep-
iesentations (the collection of commentaiies in NussbaumI,,o ieeks of
it). An awful symmetiy denes the two positions. And the symmetiy is
secuied because we cannot deal with the banality of evil (as manifest
in East Timoi, Rwanda-Buiundi, Yugoslavia, in inteicommunal vio-
lence in South and Southeast Asia see Das I,,o, I,,,], and even in
the peiiodic eiuptions of disoidei in oui own cities)because, in tuin,
we cannot deal with geogiaphical dieience itself. Nussbaum (I,,,: :_)
inveighs against the collapse of values and the indieience to cosmo-
politan goals, which she nds aie in giave jeopaidy even outside the
United States. A woild in which ieligious, ethnic, and iacial conict aie
so iife piovides ieason foi pessimism, as does the fact that the veiy
values of equality, peisonhood and human iights that Kant defended,
and indeed the Enlightenment itself, aie deiided in some quaiteis as
meie ethnocentiic vestiges of Westein impeiialism.
But what kind of geogiaphical knowledge is piesupposed heie: How
easy it is to justify (as Beck appaiently does) those .1o bombs on Sei-
bia as a giand eoit to eiadicate a paiticulai geogiaphical evil in the
name of Kantian ethics: It is even possible to suppoit State Depait-
ment thieats against Seib authoiities foi ciimes against humanity while
suppoiting the U.S. iefusal to sign the inteinational convention against
such ciimes in oidei to piotect Heniy Kissingei and his innumeiable
colleagues fiomindictment. Failuie to specify oi investigate the anthio-
pological and geogiaphical conditions makes such double positions en-
tiiely feasible, all in the name of univeisal ethics.
It is piecisely at this point that Nussbaum needs to follow Kant into
the nethei iegions of his Gecgraphy and theie, peihaps, confiont the
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metaphysical foundation given to that Gecgraphy by Heideggei. The
only way out of the impasse, to bieak the awful symmetiy aiound which
politics has iotated so feaifully foi two centuiies oi moie, is to piess
foi that ievival of the science of geogiaphy that will not only cie-
ate that unity of knowledge without which all leaining iemains only
piece-woik, but will also bettei equip us to deal with the palpable but
seemingly intiactable pioblem of the banality of geogiaphical evils on
the giound (Kant, cited in May I,,o: v).
But within that pioject luiks anothei: What kind of geogiaphical
knowledge is adequate to what kind of cosmopolitan ethic: Failuie to
answei that deepei question condemns cosmopolitanism of any soit to
iemain an abstiacted discouise with no tangible meaning othei than
the ad hoc, piagmatic, and often oppoitunistic application of univei-
sal piinciples to paiticulai geogiaphical instances (the devastating hall-
maik of foieign policy habits in the United States). So what kind of
geogiaphical knowledge do we now possess, and is it adequate to Nuss-
baums cosmopolitanism: To answei these questions iequiies a biief
consideiation of the status and iole of geogiaphical knowledges in oui
intellectual and political constiuctions.
s uoe t ui s t oev or voo c e u c c o c e r uv s o i s c i r i i uc
Kants teaching on the ielevance of geogiaphy was not without im-
mediate eects. Peihaps the most inteiesting way to look at this is
thiough the caieeis of the biotheis Humboldt, both of whom weie di-
iectly and deeply aected by Kant. Wilhelm von Humboldt was diawn
to the innei life. He became a logician, linguist, and histoiian, and
founded the Univeisity of Beilin as a model foi the modein univeisity.
As Wilhelms cosmopolitanismbecame diluted by ethnic inuences and
allegiances, so he became moie closely identied with the state appaia-
tus, taking on state functions. In paiallel fashion, knowledge pioduc-
tion within the univeisity he founded became moie and moie subsei-
vient to state and ethnic inteiests (Readings I,,o). This was the model
that was caiiiedelsewheietothe UnitedStates, foi example, wheie the
Johns Hopkins Univeisity was founded as that countiys ist ieseaich
univeisity. This is the model that Readings iegaids as now defunct.
Alexandei von Humboldt was inspiied by Kants Gecgraphy. Unlike
Kant, who nevei left Konigsbeig, he took to an outei life of exploiation,
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of tiavel and scientic obseivation, culminating in a gloiious attempt at
Kantian-style synthesis of geogiaphical undeistandings. This massive
scientic woik was entitled, appiopiiately enough, Ccsmcs (Humboldt
I8,). Alexandeiwhose intellectual centei of giavity was Paiis iathei
than Beilindiewheavily upon an oldei tiadition that, beginning with
the Renaissance, pioduced a massive explosion in geogiaphical knowl-
edge and geogiaphical sensibilities, exeicising some of the nest mathe-
matical minds (Meicatoi, Gauss) and some of the most poweiful of
the Enlightenment and political thinkeis (Montesquieu, Rousseau, and
Adam Smith, as well as Kant). No mattei how oddly and bizaiiely foi-
mulated, geogiaphical knowledge duiing this peiiod was implicated in
the constiuction of all mannei of othei knowledges (see Glacken I,o,).
Alexandei was enamoied of this tiadition and ieveled in its excite-
ments. He was, Zeldin (I,,: I,8:o:) aigues, a pioneei of global
thinking, without concealing that his puipose was not meiely to undei-
stand the univeise in its entiiety, but no less to avoid the pain caused by
the tiagedies it constantly pioduces. His Views cf Nature (I8o8) is dedi-
cated to minds oppiessed with caie . . . needing] to escape fiom the
stoim of life. In oidei to giapple with such evils, Alexandei had to do
something else with the encyclopedic knowledge he had amassed.
He] tiied to extiact a new way of life fiom his ieseaiches, abstiact
though some of them might seem. This is iaie, because it conicts
with the iules of specialisation, which iequiie one to keep ones
mouth shut on subjects on which one is not a tiained expeit, and
since nobody can be an expeit on the ait of life, it has become dan-
geious to speak about it. Intellectuals have incieasingly been limit-
ing themselves to lamenting the lack of values in modein times. The
impoitance of Humboldt is that he daied to make a link between
knowledge and feeling, betweenwhat people believed and do inpub-
lic and what obsesses them in piivate. (Zeldin I,,: I,8)
Theie is, in this, a peculiai iiony. Alexandei moves closei to being
the ieal and thoioughly infoimed cosmopolitan, an inteidisciplinaiian
sensitive to the pain of the woild by viitue of his geogiaphical undei-
standings, while his biothei, who began as the ethical cosmopolitan,
succumbs to national inteiests elevated into inteinationalism (cf. Hei-
deggeis complaint cited above). Wilhelm became moie and moie di-
iectly embioiled in Geiman politics, while Alexandei became a moie
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and moie isolated monadic guie in Paiis until his expulsion fiom
Fiance as a potentially dangeious iadical fiee thinkei in the ievolutions
of I88. We have diveiged like two opposite poles, wiote Wilhelm
(May I,,o: ,8).
Not eveiything was well with Alexandeis geogiaphy, of couise. It ie-
tained its Euiocentiism(and much of the piejudice that went with it), it
documented iesouices and populations that weie open to commeicial
exploitation, and it adeptly shaped geogiaphical knowledge towaid the
inteiests of pations (locating the gold mines of Mexico foi the King of
Spain in ietuin foi ieseaich funding, foi example). But it also managed
to tianscend these inteiests and give a moie systematic and scientic as
well as humanistic giounding to the mateiials that Kant had left so dis-
oideied. It pointed the way to a thoiough geogiaphical foundation foi
Kants cosmopolitanism. But Ccsmcs, as May iemaiks, fell still boin
fiom the piess, and that foi two compelling ieasons.
Fiist, theie was little space oi place foi Alexandeis exeitions in the
kind of univeisity stiuctuie that Wilhelm had pioneeied. Knowledge
got caived up and fiagmented into distinctive, piofessionally oiganized
disciplines as the nineteenth centuiy woie on. This disciplinaiy caive
up pioduced a pattein of knowledge that seived the puisuit of national
inteiests, such as empiie and militaiy powei, national identity and soli-
daiities, inteinal administiation, and so on. This was piecisely the al-
luie that Daniel Coit Gilman, a geogiaphei, gave to the Johns Hopkins
Univeisity as its founding piesident in I8,o. He paid lip seivice to Alex-
andeis achievements, but anothei geogiaphei, Ainold Guyot, was his
tiue mentoi. Guyot aigued that geogiaphy piovided scientic justi-
cation foi the EuioAmeiican domination of the woild, and that iacial
supeiioiities weie innate, he aigued that the people of the tempeiate
continents will always be the men of intelligence, of activity, the biain
of humanity, while the people of the tiopical continents will always be
the hands, the woikmen, the sons of toil (cited in Heyman foithcom-
ing). Gilman theiefoie appiopiiated the ethnicized veision of the Beilin
Univeisity model and designed the system of knowledge pioduction at
Hopkins with the geopolitical inteiests of the United States specically
in mind. He did not nd it necessaiy, howevei, to set up a geogiaphy
depaitment, the whole univeisity was constiued as a geopolitical agent.
Fuitheimoie, as the woid discipline announces only too diiectly,
knowledge pioduction was incieasingly policed and put undei suiveil-
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lance by a whole appaiatus of gioup identications and evaluations that
seem to have set themselves moie imly in conciete with the passing
of time. The Renaissance tiadition of geogiaphy as eveiything undei-
stood in teims of space, of Ccsmcs, got squeezed out. It was foiced to
buckle down, administei empiie, map and plan land uses and teiiitoiial
iights, and gathei and analyze useful data foi puiposes of business and
state administiation. The founding of geogiaphical societies thiough-
out Euiope exactly miiioied the iise of administiative conceins about
empiie (Capel I,8I, Livingstone I,,:, chap. ,). Caught between Duik-
heimian sociology and the histoiians, foi example, the Fiench geogia-
pheis weie left with haidly anything of substance to chew upon, even
as the histoiians appiopiiated ideas fiom geogiapheis like Vidal de la
Blache to found the celebiated Annales School (which laudably ietains
its geogiaphical gioundings to this day). Caught, in the United States,
betweengeologyand the social sciences, geogiaphyas a discipline eithei
battled foi a niche thiough concepts of landscape and the paiticulaii-
ties of iegion oi, as with Isaiah Bowman, sought a iole as geopolitical
advisei to the U.S. national inteiest (Smith I,8, Godlewska and Smith
I,,). Bowman, as piesident of Johns Hopkins Univeisity, nally estab-
lished a geogiaphy depaitment in the national inteiest in I,8 (see
Smith n.d.).
But theie was anothei deepei intellectual pioblem with Alexandeis
woik. He accepted the Kantian distinction between histoiy as naiiation
and geogiaphy as spatial oideiing, and displayed little inteiest in dy-
namics. He aigued in Ccsmcs that the mysteiious and unsolved piob-
lems of development do not belong to the empiiical iegion of objective
obseivation, to the desciiption of the developed, the actual state of oui
planet (cited in May I,,o: ,8). This pioved a fatal eiioi. Alexandeis
woik could be celebiated as a pioduct of one of the last gieat Renais-
sance thinkeis. But it was destined to be swept aside by the Daiwinian
ievolution, in which evolution and piocess (and by implication time
and histoiy) took piecedence ovei pattein and foim (space and geog-
iaphy) in eveiy bianch of knowledge pioduction including, of couise,
the social sciences.
Geogiapheis of vaiious stiipes stiuggled towaid the centuiys end
to give theii geogiaphy a moie evolutionaiy and emancipatoiy twist.
The social anaichistsgeogiapheis like lise Reclus andPetei Kiopot-
kininvented a veision of the geogiaphy of fieedom (Fleming I,88)
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that has iemained inuential as a subveisive stiain of thought to this
day, but foi obvious ieasons sueied maiginalization fiom the main-
stieam (except in the iefiacted veisions in the uiban and iegional plan-
ning of Patiick Geddes and Lewis Mumfoid). At the tuin of the cen-
tuiy, Fiiediich Ratzel took the innovative stepof collapsing Kants innei
and outei distinctions into something called Anthiopogeogiaphie,
but unfoitunately got so lost in oiganic metaphois (of the state in pai-
ticulai) and social Daiwinism that he was latei iegaided, unfaiily as
it tuins out, as the foundei of Nazi geopolitical thought. This kind of
Daiwinian geopolitical and impeiialist geogiaphy (which had its Anglo
and Fiench counteipaits in Guyot, Halfoid Mackindei, and Albeit De-
mangeon), along with enviionmental deteiminism (the othei majoi
stiainof independent geogiaphical thinking), lost iespectabilityevenas
it stiuggled to ietain some semblance of Humboldtian synthesis. When
Readers Digest condemned the hundied geogiapheis behind Hitlei
(Doipalen I,:) in the midst of Woild Wai II, piofessional geogia-
pheis sueied all the indignities that Heideggei was latei to expeiience,
but without any of the deepei intellectual iesouices needed to defend
themselves. Piofessional geogiapheis foi the most pait ietieated into
the safety of meie desciiption of spatial oideiings (Smith I,,,).
Attempts to tieat as poious the boideis between geogiaphy and
anthiopology (in the woik of Daiyll Foide, Cail Sauei, and Alfied
Kioebei, foi example) oi between histoiyand geogiaphy (Ainold Toyn-
bee, Paul Wheatley, and Donald Meinig, foi example) indicated the
possibility of cioss-disciplinaiy feitilization, but iemained isolated en-
deavois in an incieasingly segmented and piofessionalized woild of
knowledge pioduction. Even today, when the giounds foi sepaiation
between anthiopology and geogiaphy as intellectual tiaditions appeai
shakiei and shakiei (and with a good deal of inteiaction between the
disciplines occuiiing inpiactice), the disciplinaiy police foices attached
to tiadition seem hell-bent on keeping the piofessional identities sepa-
iate andsaciosanct. Fiomtime to time, geogiapheis of a moie academic
peisuasionhave tiiedto iesuiiect the powei of theii Renaissance oiigins
by waving the ag of synthesis (usually with a little help fiom Kant).
But the disciplinaiy caive-up of the late nineteenth centuiy iemains
poweifully with us, entienching itself evei moie deeply as it becomes
less and less ielevant. Geogiaphy as a foimal discipline lost its appetite
foi synthesis. The Humboldtian inspiiation was laigely lost. Geogiaphy
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as a discipline laigely stuck to static desciiptions of spatial oideis and
hoped foi the best.
s uoe t ui s t oev or voo c e u c c o c e r ui c i k uowi c o c c s
The maiginalization of the discipline of geogiaphy did not diminish
the signicance oi powei of geogiaphical undeistandings. No society,
aftei all, can do without a woiking knowledge of the distiibution
and oiganization of those conditions (both natuially occuiiing and
humanly cieated) that piovide the mateiial basis foi the iepioduction
of social life. No social gioup can subsist without a woiking knowl-
edge of the denition and qualities of its teiiitoiy, of its enviionment,
of its situated identity in the woild, of the spatial conguiations of
actually existing and potential uses (including symbolic and aesthetic
as well as economic values) essential to its existence. No social oidei can
aoid to tuin its back upon the poweis to pioduce space, place, and
enviionments accoiding to its own vital needs, desiies, and inteiests.
No society daie ignoie the untowaid and unintended consequences of
the enviionmental and geogiaphical tiansfoimations it has wiought.
Eveiy individual and eveiy social gioup possesses, theiefoie, a distinc-
tive geogiaphical loie and geogiaphical piaxis, some loosely stiuc-
tuied body of knowledge and expeiience about matteis geogiaphical.
The social tiansmission of that knowledge is vital to the peipetuation
oi tiansfoimation of any social oidei. It is a vital aspect of powei and
an object of political and social stiuggle.
Geogiaphical knowledges have theiefoie often ouiished in sub-
teiianean enviionments not open to ciitical sciutiny: To begin with,
the United States, the Pentagon, the State Depaitment, and the ci.
aie good examples. A wide aiiay of geogiaphical technologies, such as
Geogiaphical Infoimation Systems and iemote sensing foi espionage
and missile taigeting, have been devised to secuie militaiy and tacti-
cal advantages. But it is only a ceitain kind of geogiaphical knowledge
and piaxis that ouiishes in these enviionments. Oiganized fiom the
standpoint of the geopolitical suivival of the United States, geogiaphi-
cal knowledge is oiiented to militaiy, economic, and cultuial contiol
of the woild (it was mobilized as a tool of Cold Wai politics, as was an-
thiopology, pait of whichbecame involvedwithfiactious disciplinaiy
consequencesin counteiinsuigency woik in Asia and Latin Ameiica).
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This kind of geogiaphy exhibits a delibeiate and biutal ignoiance of
and deep lack of iespect foi local tiaditions, meanings, and commit-
mentsexcept and insofai as such knowledge piovides means to ma-
nipulate and deceive. It demonizes spaces and places foi political pui-
poses. This geogiaphy was and is eveiy bit as evil as that constiucted
by the hundied geogiapheis behind Hitlei, but it is piotected fiomciiti-
cal and ethical judgment by an auia of benevolently conceived national
and global secuiity inteiests. When this knowledge leaks out into elds
such as inteinational ielations oi stiategic studies, its iole is well undei-
stood. Academic think tanks (appiopiiately nanced) and even whole
univeisity depaitments ouiish with cleai signs that iead: No admit-
tance except on the business of the national inteiest. This geogiaphy
ieects a distinctively U.S.-based cosmopolitanism (cf. Biennans chai-
acteiization cited above). Fiee-spiiited ciitics aie kept out oi actively
iepiessed, as happened most spectaculaily duiing the McCaithy yeais
in the United States.
2
These aie not the only places wheie geogiaphical knowledges oui-
ish. In all of the majoi institutions engaged in the geopolitics of polit-
ical-economic development (fiom the Woild Bank and the oicu to the
boaidiooms of laige coipoiations and into the piolifeiating mass of
cos woiking towaid a vaiiety of ends), ceitain kinds of geogiaphical
undeistandings have opeiated as ciitical undeigiidings foi policy foi-
mulation and political-economic stiategizing. Fiom time to time, these
undeistandings get explicitly foimulated oi iendeied moie sophisti-
cated (as, foi example, at the I,,8 Woild Bank Confeience on Devel-
opment Economics, which devoted consideiable space to the theme
Is Geogiaphy Destiny: Pleskovic and Stiglitz I,,,]). Each nation-
state, each ievolutionaiy movement, and eveiy institution (fiom the
Vatican to the Iianian Mullahs) possesses its own distinctive veision
of geogiaphical and geopolitical knowledge, tailoied to its distinctive
inteiests.
Developeis and ieal estate inteiests, nancieis and supeimaiket
chains, maiketing oiganizations and the touiist industiy, all pioduce
geogiaphical knowledges thiough theii puisuit of commeicial advan-
tage and political-economic powei. Populai magazines (such as Na-
ticnal Gecgraphic), the pioduceis of commeicial tiavelogues and
biochuies, lms and television piogiams, the nightly news and docu-
mentaiies tiansmit geogiaphical infoimation in ways that give a powei-
z;
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ful ideological cast (in which the inteiests of the dominant classes and
the nation-state biook laige) to oui undeistanding of the woild. Beset
by inteiminable banalities and thoioughly lteied thiough the media
(even sometimes with a benevolent aim, as foi famine ielief ), the ag-
giegate eect of such diveise activities occuiiing at multiple sites is to
pioduce ideological iepiesentations and images of the woild that hai-
boi all mannei of tacitoi in some cases explicitexpiessions of geo-
giaphical, iacial, ethnic, cultuial, oi political dieience with moie than
a hint of class oi ethnic supeiioiity attached. When assembled as a col-
lective powei, these multiplicitous geogiaphical visions pioduce what
Smith (I,,,) calls the satanic geogiaphies of contempoiaiy global-
ization. This is not, piesumably, the kind of geogiaphical knowledge
Nussbaum has in mind as basic piepaiation foi hei cosmopolitan ethic.
When cast as a piagmatic handmaiden to the puisuit and main-
tenance of political-economic powei, the subveisive and potentially
emancipatoiy side of geogiaphical science (of the soit that Alexan-
dei von Humboldt pioneeied and the social anaichists tiied to pei-
petuate) gets lost. But the need foi bettei and moie systematic geo-
giaphical undeistandings has welled up fiom the political-economic
base to peimeate othei zones of knowledge pioduction wheie it has
been less easy to contiol. It suuses inteinational ielations, ceitain aieas
of sociology, planning, and economics (most paiticulaily thiough a
concein with what is called the neweconomic geogiaphysee Kiug-
man I,,,, Stoipei I,,,). It appeais, above all, in histoiy and anthio-
pology (the othei half of the Kantian piopaedeutic, with its empha-
sis upon localities, cultuies, innei identications, symbolic meanings,
local knowledges, and thick desciiptions of a fiagmented and un-
evenly developed woild). Geogiaphical systems of iepiesentation have,
mainly couitesy of cultuial studies, become common giist foi discus-
sion in the humanities. Postcolonial wiitings, most notably of the soit
pioneeied by Guha (I,8_, I,,,) and otheis, coupled with the piomi-
nence of Saids (I,,8) woik, have opened a vital dooi to a bioad-based
ciitical geogiaphical sense in seveial disciplines. Enviionmental and
ecological contiadictions have similaily opened up a massive teiiain of
debate about matteis geogiaphical (of the soit that both Kant and Alex-
andei von Humboldt would have appieciated) that demand close at-
tention acioss multiple elds of ecology, zoology, hydiology, epidemi-
ology, andthe like. All of this has beenpaialleledby the vigoious giowth
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of ciitical peispectives within the hitheito maiginalized discipline of
geogiaphy itself.
Nussbaums appeal foi moie adequate geogiaphical and anthiopo-
logical undeistandings occuis, theiefoie, in the context of a geneial
ievival of inteiest in geogiaphical knowledges. The cuiient inteiest in
issues such as the iole of spatiality in social and political life, attach-
ments to place, and the possibilities and pitfalls of caitogiaphy and
mapping signal this ievival, so, too, does the extiaoidinaiy piolifeiation
of spatial, caitogiaphic, and geogiaphical metaphois as tools foi undei-
standing the fiagmentations and fiactuies evident within a globalizing
woild. Geogiaphical knowledges aie vastei, moie sophisticated, and
moie multiplicitous than evei in theii detailed and specialized mani-
festations. But they iemain fiagmented, undeitheoiized, and often be-
yond systematic consideiation. Even though its multiple paits consti-
tuted acioss many disciplines aie moie vigoious than evei, geogiaphy
as a whole is still declaied dead (foi who could possibly be inteiested
in, let alone place theii emancipatoiy hopes in, dead space, given the
fecundity and iichness of eveiything tempoial:).
But if Nussbaums cosmopolitanism is to become anything othei
than a pious hope, nothing shoit of a modein-day (Alexandei) Hum-
boldtian synthesis will do. The fiagmented pieces of geogiaphical
knowledge cannot t the bill because they collectively fail to match the
univeisality of the cosmopolitan ideal. Cosmopolitanism, in shoit, is
empty without its cosmos. But Alexandeis Ccsmcs, while it may in-
spiie, is not a model to be followed. Its acceptance of the Kantian pie-
sciiption to constiue geogiaphical knowledge as meie spatial oideiing,
kept apait fiom the naiiatives of histoiy, must be tianscended. A ievo-
lutionaiy tiansfoimation of histoiicogeogiaphical knowledges suited
to the times can be accomplished thiough the dynamic unication of
dead spatiality with live naiiative (the conveision of concepts of
space and time into a moie unied eld of thought dened by space-
time), and thiough the unication of histoiical and geogiaphical pei-
spectives. If capitalismpioduces its own distinctive geogiaphyieplete
with competing geopolitical powei plays foi competitive advantage
within an incieasinglycosmopolitan systemof pioduction foi the woild
maiket, then the dynamics of that piocess, including its unintended
consequences, must be in the foiefiont of both theoietical and political
conceins. A ievolution in knowledge-stiuctuies that lays out, as Kant
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demanded, the common pieconditions foi piactical inteivention in the
woild by unifying geogiaphical, histoiical, and anthiopological undei-
standings is both necessaiy and possible.
3
c c o c e r ui c i k uowi c o c c s uo vi i i c uui i uc c o s
A slow ievolution in the iole of geogiaphical knowledge has been
long gestating in the subveisive inteistices of thought and action.
In pait this must be attiibuted to the demand foi impioved knowl-
edge stiuctuies to encompass capitalisms millennial pioblems and
needs (enviionmental tiansfoimations and uneven geogiaphical devel-
opments that call foi fai bettei global management). But opposition
to the bland homogeneities of globalization (with all of its powei in-
equalities) incieasingly focuses on geogiaphical dieiences, on iegional
iesistances, on place-bound ethics and identications (nationalisms,
ciitical iegionalisms, and even localisms). Deshpandes sedimented
banalities of neighbouiliness aie called upon to do duty in political
lines of ie. Time-space compiessions engineeied thiough the mechan-
ics of capital accumulation have helped pioduce localized ieactions at
a vaiiety of scales that fetishize places and spaces, even thieatening to
tuin them into exclusionaiy and sepaiatist zones of iadicalized iesis-
tance and dieience (see Haivey I,8,: _o_o). Local iesistances and
sepaiatisms piolifeiate as an antidote to neolibeial globalization. The
iesult is a chionically unstable dialectics of space and place that biings
geogiaphical elements into the centei of politics. New foims of geo-
giaphical knowledge aiise in iesponse to such tensions.
Fiom such a peispective, in which histoiy and dynamics cannot
be evaded, geogiaphical knowledges tuin out not to be so banal as
they seem. Histoiical-geogiaphical concepts of space, speed, site, place,
iegion, motion, mobility, enviionment, and the like aie iich in possi-
bilities. As many geogiapheis have aigued, they can be integiated theo-
ietically with social, liteiaiy, and ecological theoiy, albeit in a tians-
foimative way (see, foi example, Giegoiy I,,, Haivey I,,o, and the
iecent suivey by Biennei I,,,). Static spatial and geogiaphical concepts
can and must be iendeied dynamic. They can be admitted into theoiy
as active aspects oi moments in social piocesses (see Giddens I,8I,
I,8). Topics such as the pioduction of space (Haivey I,,_, Lefebvie
I,,I), the shifting geogiaphical mobilities of capital and laboi, detei-
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iitoiialization and ieteiiitoiialization (the pioduction of iegionality in
human aaiis), massive uibanization and migiatoiy movements, the
degiadation and pioduction of iesouice complexes oi even of whole
ecosystems, and the iadical tiansfoimations in time-space ielations and
of geogiaphical scales occuiiing in social, political, and cultuial life can
all be built into undeistandings of the tempoial dynamics of capitalism
with advantage.
Spatiality and geogiaphy, taken dynamically, do not necessaiily be-
token the total disiuption of all ieceived wisdoms. But theydo challenge
and tiansfoim meanings and modes of expiession in impoitant and
sometimes unexpected ways. Noi aie iegional, local, and geogiaphical
loyalties necessaiily to be peiceived as the inheient locus of all political
evils. Howevei, the cultivation oi even the invention of such loyalties
is so often such a vital aspect of biutalizing geopolitical powei that it
is all too often delibeiately held apait fiom ciitical inteiiogation (often
by appeal to an unshakable and unquestioned oiiginaiy oi founding
myth of nationhood that suppoits otheiwise naked state powei as
some kind of manifest destiny). The depiction of otheis geogiaphical
loyalties as banal oi iiiational (as in the case of inteicommunal vio-
lence) helps fostei ignoiance of and disinteiest in the lives of those
otheis, meanwhile, space aftei space is oppoitunistically demonized oi
sanctied by some dominant powei as a justication foi political action.
Suchbiasedgeogiaphical knowledges, delibeiately maintained, piovide
a license to puisue naiiow inteiests in the name of univeisal goodness
and ieason. The last two centuiies have seen plenty of that.
But the iesult of such delibeiate distoitions of geogiaphical undei-
standings, as Henii Beigson long ago complained, is to peimit a hidden
spatiality and geogiaphy to contiol oui lives. As this hidden contiol
is incieasingly iecognized foi what it is, the need to iefound a moie
unied ciitical geogiaphical undeistanding of the woild to paiallel the
contempoiaiy stiiving foi a cosmopolitan ethic becomes even stiongei.
Foi geogiaphical dynamics peivade eveiything we do, no mattei how
emphatically they may be ignoied oi dismissed as analytical categoiies
open to question. Retiospectively we see how geogiaphical dynamics
have pioven cential in the quest to dominate natuie and othei peoples,
to build and peipetuate distinctive powei stiuctuies (such as a capital-
ist class oi impeiialist systems) oi social identities (such as the nation-
state). Like maps, the pieeminent foim of iepiesentation in geogiaphy,
c1
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what Hailey (I,88: _oo) calls the ideological aiiows have tended to y
laigely in one diiection, fiom the poweiful to the weakei in society.
The social histoiy of geogiaphical knowledge, like that of maps, ex-
hibits few genuinely populai, alteinative, oi subveisive modes of ex-
piession, hitheito, geogiaphical knowledges and maps have pieemi-
nently been a language of powei not of piotest.
Aciitical undeistanding of such dynamics can become a foice foi the
constiuction of alteinative social oideiings. Radical ieconstiuctions of
ieceived iepiesentations and meanings of geogiaphical infoimation aie
possible: if geogiaphy has been imagined and made a pait of capital-
isms histoiical geogiaphy, then it can be ieimagined and iemade in an
image othei than that of capital in the futuie. The tiansfoimation of
physical and social enviionments, the pioduction of newkinds of space
ielations, the fiee piolifeiation of uneven geogiaphical developments,
and the ieconguiation of iegional conguiations can be seen as pait
of a libeiatoiy political piaxis (see Haivey :ooo). In iemaking oui ge-
ogiaphies, we can iemake oui social and political woild. The ielations
aie both iecipiocal and dialectical.
So what kind of geogiaphical knowledge will t with what kind of
cosmopolitanism: The two issues aie, in the nal instance, mutually de-
teimining, dialectically inteitwined. Some foimof geogiaphical knowl-
edge is piesumed in eveiy foim of cosmopolitanism. Almost any use
of cosmopolitanism implies some embedded geopolitical allegoiy,
wiites Wilson (I,,8: _,:). The ieluctance to ieveal oi even acknowl-
edge what that knowledge oi allegoiy might be about (signaled at the
veiy outset by the iefusal within the academy to biing Kants cosmo-
politanism into dialogue with his Gecgraphy) is both a moial failing
and a political liability. Cosmopolitanism beieft of geogiaphical speci-
city iemains abstiacted and alienated ieason, liable, when it comes
to eaith, to pioduce all mannei of unintended and sometimes explo-
sively evil consequences. Geogiaphy uninspiied by any cosmopolitan
vision is eithei meie heteiotopic desciiption oi a passive tool of powei
foi dominating the weak. Libeiating the dialectic between cosmopoli-
tanism and geogiaphy seems a ciitical piopaedeutic to the foimation
of any iadically dieient way of thinking and acting in the woild.
If the fiozen stiuctuies of knowledge pioduction despeiately need
to be iefoimed (Nussbaum) oi ievolutionized (Readings) to cope with
contempoiaiy conditions and needs, then the ieconstitution of geo-
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giaphical knowledges in a dialectical ielation to cosmopolitanism must
be cential to that eoit. The need is plainly theie. One does not have
to accept the moie hypeibolic statements about globalization (includ-
ing those of Readings) to know that theie aie multiple confusions ovei
how spaces and places aie being constituted, how whole ecologies of
life aie being oveituined and displaced, how social ielations aie being
sustained oi tiansfoimed, how new geogiaphies aie daily being pio-
duced. The hidden spatialities and containeis of oui thinking, being,
and acting in the woild have been bieaking down. Oui geogiaphy is
being iemade to constitute an entiiely newkind of amoial oidei of capi-
talist powei.
Abundant iesouices and oppoitunities to ieconstitute geogiaphical
knowledges nowexist. Some of those iesouices lie within the discipline
of geogiaphy itself, as it incieasingly escapes its ghettoized maiginaliza-
tion thiough the iise of a poweifully aiticulated ciitical geogiaphy (see,
foi example, Peet I,,8, Giegoiy I,,, Haivey I,,o). But geogiaphical
knowledge is too bioad and too impoitant to be left to geogiapheis.
Its ieconstiuction as a piepaiation foi a civilized life and its synthe-
sis as an endpoint of human undeistandings depends on oveicoming
the old Kantian distinctions between histoiy (naiiation) and geogiaphy
(spatial oideiing) and between geogiaphy (the outei woild of objec-
tive mateiial conditions) and anthiopology (the innei woild of subjec-
tivities). That would piobably iequiie the ieconstitution of some new
stiuctuie of knowledge (peihaps the anthiopogeogiaphy that Ratzel
piematuiely sought to establish). Imagine poweiful institutes dedicated
to getting the conditions of all knowledgethe Kantian piopaedeu-
ticexactly iight! The iethinking of the categoiies that have gov-
eined intellectual life foi the last two hundied yeais, which Readings
deems essential, is possible because it is necessaiy. Kant and Alexan-
dei von Humboldt may not have gotten it iight, but in theii piesump-
tion that full and appiopiiate geogiaphical knowledge was a necessaiy
condition foi cosmopolitan being in the woild, they set a goal that has
nevei yet been met. A hefty dose of geogiaphical enlightenment, fiom
whatevei souice, nowas then, continues to be a necessaiy condition foi
any kind of peace, peipetual oi otheiwise, in the millennium to come.
It must be cential to the ieconstiuctions that Nussbaum and Readings
have in mind.
But to aigue foi opening up the dialectic between the cosmopolitan
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tiadition and geogiaphical knowledge and theieby getting the Kantian
piopaedeutic iight is fai too vague. The unfolding of that dialectic de-
pends on the undeilying natuie of the political pioject and is bound to
be penetiated by political powei as much in the futuie as it has been in
the past. The ievolutionaiy tiadition of geogiaphical thought (Reclus
and Kiopotkin), with its emphasis upon the geogiaphy of fieedom, is
open to ieconstiuction. The woikeis of the woild (whom Maix and
Engels eiioneously thought of as ideal cosmopolitan subjects because
they had no countiy) can still seek to unite and oveithiow global
bouigeois powei, with its distinctive foim of cosmopolitanism, though
this time they too must be fai moie mindful of uneven geogiaphical de-
velopments (the dialectic between socialist inteinationalism and geog-
iaphy has nevei functioned fieely, if it has functioned at all). Enviion-
mentalists may likewise seek to challenge bouigeois powei foi othei
ieasons, and in so doing constiuct a newecological cosmopolitanism
one that is aiticulated thiough appiopiiate bioiegional stiuctuies and
sustainable communities, and one that is oiganized acioss the suiface of
the woild accoiding to thoioughly giounded geo-ecological piinciples.
This biings us back to all those hyphenated cosmopolitanisms with
which we began. But now we see them dieiently. Many of them dis-
appeai as iiielevant because to open the dialectic between cosmopoli-
tanism and geogiaphy is immediately to see that theie can be no uni-
veisality without paiticulaiity and vice veisa, that both aie always
implicated in(aninteinal ielationof ) the othei (OllmanI,,_, Haivey
:ooo). To pietend, then, that we have to make some choice between
univeisal and iooted cosmopolitanism (oi even, in the end, be-
tween Kant and Heideggei) is a false chaiacteiization of the pioblem.
Leaining to see cosmopolitanism and geogiaphy as inteinal ielations
of each othei iadically ieconstitutes oui fiamewoik foi knowledge of
the woild.
But some of the hyphenated veisions of cosmopolitanismstill stand.
Foi a ciitical histoiy shows that Westein cosmopolitanism these last
two hundied yeais has eithei been infected by ieligious powei (the
Catholic cosmopolitanism of which Antonio Giamsci complained) oi
by bouigeois sensibilities, pieties, andfeel-good justications foi theii
hegemonic pioject of global domination of the woild maiket. It is eithei
that oi being held captive (as in Ameiican political life) to local inteiests
pioclaiming noble univeisal values (this habit began most emphatically
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when ievolutionaiies in Paiis pioclaimed the univeisal iights of man).
Modein veisions of cosmopolitanism cannot evade such connections.
Thus Helds (I,,,) eloquent plea foi a newfoimof cosmopolitan govei-
nance and demociacy has as much to do with making the woild safe foi
capitalism, maiket fieedoms, and social demociacy as it has to do with
any othei conception of the good life. Political connections of this soit
aie both inevitable and necessaiy, even though, foi obvious ieasons, the
piomulgatois of such univeisalisms often take as many pains to fudge
oi obscuie theii political undeipinnings as to hide theii geogiaphical
piesuppositions and implications.
A meaningful cosmopolitanism does not entail some passive con-
templation of global citizenship. It is, as Kant himself insisted, a piin-
ciple of inteivention to tiy to make the woild (and its geogiaphy) some-
thing othei than what it is. It entails a political pioject that stiives to
tiansfoim living, being, and becoming in the woild. This obviously ie-
quiies a deep knowledge of what kind of geogiaphical woild we aie
inteivening in and pioducing, foi new geogiaphies get constiucted
thiough political piojects, and the pioduction of space is as much a
political and moial as a physical fact. The way life gets lived in spaces,
places, and enviionments is, like the Kantianpiopaedeutic itself, the be-
ginning and the end of political action. The cosmopolitan point is, then,
not to ee geogiaphy but to integiate and socialize it. The geogiaphical
point is not to ieject cosmopolitanism but to giound it in a dynam-
ics of histoiical-geogiaphical tiansfoimations. The political point is not
only to change oui undeistanding of the woild by getting the Kantian
piopaedeutic iight, but to iemake the woilds geogiaphy in emancipa-
toiy and piactical ways.
c uo c vc
I have enjoyed this discussion with you because Ive changed my
mind since we staited. . . . NowI can see that the pioblems you put to me
about geogiaphy aie ciucial ones foi me. Geogiaphy acted as the sup-
poit, the condition of possibility foi the passage between a seiies of fac-
tois I tiied to ielate. Wheie geogiaphy itself was conceined, I eithei left
the question hanging oi established a seiies of aibitiaiy connections. . . .
Geogiaphy must indeed necessaiily lie at the heait of my conceins.
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uot c s
Many thanks to Elke Hecknei and paiticulaily to Eliot Tiettei, who both supplied me
with thoughts and iefeiences.
1 Deshpandes is not, unfoitunately, an isolated instance of potentially insightful
analysis gone awiy in Foucauldian tiendiness. Azoulay (I,,,), to cite one othei iecent
example, wiecks a potentially sensitive analysis of the conict between Palestinians and
Jews in Jeiusalem by navigating stiaight into the abyss of Foucaults heteiotopic theoiy.
To hei ciedit, she iecognizes that something is lacking in the whole idea, but once within
its thiall she nevei manages to ieemeige fiomits banality to delivei the cogent insights of
which she seems so capable. Is theie no bettei theoietical handle to deal with geogiaphy
and spatiality in such situations:
2 See, foi example, Newmans I,,: account of the life and times of the geogia-
phei[histoiian Owen Lattimoie, appointed by the geogiaphei Isaiah Bowman to the
Johns Hopkins Univeisity faculty and denounced as a tiaitoi to McCaithy by anothei
Bowman appointee, the conseivative geogiaphei Geoige Caitei.
3 But heie theie is an iiony, neatly symbolized within, of all places, the Univeisity of
Chicago itself, wheie the Kantian identications and dualisms evidently still exeit theii
hidden poweis. A piofessoi of law and ethics in that univeisity, diawing (like Wilhelm
von Humboldt) upon all the iesouices of the innei life fueled by deep studies of an-
cient and modein texts, can only complain helplessly about the collapse of cosmopolitan
values and the banality of all those geogiaphical evils that beset the outei woild, while
the tiadition of Alexandei von Humboldt is laid to iest thiough the univeisitys decision
to close down iathei than ievolutionize its geogiaphy piogiam.
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Contributors
Scctt Bradwell is a doctoial candidate in anthiopology at the Univeisity
of Chicago who iecently completed eldwoik in Nejapa, El Salvadoi.
}ean Ccmarc is Beinaid E. and Ellen C. Sunny Distinguished Seivice
Piofessoi in the Depaitment of Anthiopology at the Univeisity of Chi-
cago. }chn L. Ccmarc is Haiold H. Swift Distinguished Seivice Pio-
fessoi in the Depaitment of Anthiopology at the Univeisity of Chicago
and senioi ieseaich fellowat the Ameiican Bai Foundation in Chicago.
Theii publications include Of Revelaticn and Revcluticn, vol. I (I,,I)
and vol. : (I,,,), as well as the edited collection, Civil Scciety and the
Pclitical Imaginaticn in Africa. Critical Perspectives (I,,,).
Fernandc Ccrcnil teaches anthiopology and histoiy at the Univeisity of
Michigan. His publications include The Magical State. Nature, Mcney,
and Mcdernity in Venezuela (I,,,), Beyond Occidentalism: Towaids
Non-Impeiialist Geohistoiical Categoiies, in Cultural Anthrcpclcgy
(I,,o), and (with Julie Skuiski) Dismembeiing and Remembeiing the
Nation: The Semantics of Political Violence inVenezuela, in Ccmpara-
tive Studies in Scciety and Histcry (I,,I).
Peter Geschiere teaches Afiican anthiopology at Leiden Univeisity, the
Netheilands. He is the authoi of The Mcdernity cf Vitchcraft. Pclitics
and the Occult in Pcstcclcnial Africa (I,,,) and is editoi (with Biigit
Meyei) of Glcbalizaticn and Identity. Dialectics cf Flcw and Clcsure
(I,,,).
David Harvey teaches geogiaphy at Johns Hopkins Univeisity. He is the
authoi of }ustice, Nature, and the Gecgraphy cf Dierence (I,,o), The
Limits tc Capital (iev. ed., I,,,), and Spaces cf Hcpe (:ooo).
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Luiz Paulc Lima is an awaid-winning photogiaphei with the Biazilian
newspapei O Estadc de Sc Paulc. His mateiial has been widely pub-
lished and exhibited.
Caitrin Lynch ieceived hei Ph.D. in anthiopology at the Univeisity of
Chicago and is a foimei managing editoi of Public Culture. She is the
authoi of The Good Giils of Sii Lankan Modeinity: Moial Oideis of
Nationalism and Capitalism (Identities, summei I,,,).
Rcsalind C. Mcrris teaches anthiopology at Columbia Univeisity, wheie
she is also the diiectoi of the Institute foi Reseaich onWomen and Gen-
dei. She is the authoi of Educating Desiie: Thailand, Tiansnationalism,
Tiansgiession (Sccial Text, I,,8) and In the Place cf Origins. Mcdernity
and Its Mediums in Ncrthern Thailand (Duke, :ooo).
Francis Nyamnjch is the foimei head of the Depaitment of Sociology
andAnthiopologyat the Univeisityof Buea, Cameioon. He nowteaches
sociology at the Univeisity of Botswana in Gaboione, Botswana, and
is completing a study on media and demociatization in Afiica in the
I,,os. He is also a playwiight and the authoi of the novel The Disillu-
sicned African (I,,,).
Elizabeth A. Pcvinelli teaches anthiopologyat the Univeisityof Chicago.
She is authoi of the foithcoming book The Cunning cf Reccgniticn and
the editoi (with Geoige Chauncey) of a special issue of GL entitled
Thinking Sexuality Transnaticnally (I,,,).
Paul Ryer, a giaduate student at the Univeisity of Chicago, conducted
eldwoik in Cuba fiom I,,, to I,,,.
Allan Sekulas text and coloi photogiaphs aie exceipted fiom his exhi-
bition of the same title, shown in the I,,, Liveipool Biennial. Sekulas
pievious woik on the maiitime woild and global class ielations can be
found in Fish Stcry (I,,,). His most iecent book is Dismal Science. Phctc
Vcrks, :;,::;,o (I,,,).
Dave Sinclairs photogiaphs of the Liveipool dock stiuggle canbe found
in Dcckers (I,,,), the lm sciipt wiitten by the Liveipool dockeis and
theii wives in collaboiation with Jimmy McGovein and Iivine Welsh.
Irene Stengs is a giaduate student in anthiopology at the Univeisity of
Amsteidam, woiking on a disseitation entitled Woishipping the Gieat
1z
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Modeinizei: King Chulalongkoin, Pation Saint of the Thai Middle
Class.
Michael Stcrper teaches in the School of Public Policy and Social Re-
seaich at the Univeisity of Califoinia at Los Angeles. He also teaches
at the Univeisity of Paiis[Maine-la-Valle. He is the authoi of The Re-
gicnal Vcrld. Territcrial Develcpment in a Glcbal Eccncmy (I,,,) and
(with Robeit Salais) Vcrlds cf Prcducticn. The Acticn Framewcrks cf the
Eccncmy (I,,,).
Seamus Valsh is a San Fianciscobased photogiaphei and tiaditional
boatbuildei who lived in Sii Lanka in I,,, and I,,o.
Rcbert P. Veller teaches anthiopologyat Boston Univeisity. He is the au-
thoi of Alternate Civilities. Chinese Culture and the Prcspects fcr Demcc-
racy (I,,,) and Resistance, Chacs, and Ccntrcl in China. Taiping Rebels,
Taiwanese Ghcsts, and Tiananmen (I,,).
Hyltcn Vhite is a giaduate student in anthiopology at the Univeisity of
Chicago, woiking on saciice, social value, and pioblems of domestic
iepioduction in Kwazulu-Naial, South Afiica.
Melissa V. Vright teaches geogiaphy and womens studies at the Uni-
veisity of Geoigia. Hei iecent publications include Maquiladoi Mes-
tizas and a Feminist Boidei Politics: Revisiting Anzalda, in Hypatia
(summei I,,8) and The Politics of Relocation: Gendei, Nationality,
and Value in a Mexican Maquiladoia, in Envircnment and Planning
(fall I,,,).
}erey A. Zimmermann is an aitist in Chicago. He has painted numei-
ous muials, many of which addiess Latino inuences and expeiiences
in the city. His woik can be viewed at http.//jazim.ccm[.
1
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Index
Abdullah, Ibiahim, I,
Abeinathy, William J., IoI
Aboiiginal people: ait of, :8, :,
,:, communal justice, :_, :,_,,
dieamtime, ::, :,, :,I, ielations with
Austialian goveinment, ::, :o,,
:,_,, spiiituality of, ::,, :,I,,,
:o,
Abiams, Philip, _:
Adamic, Louis, I,
Adams, Vincanne, :,,oo
Adoino, Theodoi, ,
The Adventures cf Priscilla, ueen cf the
Desert, :,o, :o:o_
Afiican National Congiess (.c), _
Agnew, Jean C., ,,
Ahein, Emily Maitin, ::,
Ahidjo, Ahmadou, Io8, I,I, I,:
Ahmad, Aijaz, I:
Alessie, Rob, III
Altman, J. C., :8
Alvaiez, A., I_
Alvaiez, Sonia E., 8:
.m.c (maquiladoia tiade association),
I_o_I
Amin, Samii, ,_
Amway, :o,,, :I: n.:,
Andeison, Benedict, I, _:
Andiews, Lynn, :,o
Appaduiai, Aijun, I,, _o, IoI
Aiato, Andiew, o, I
Aiden, Haivey, :oo
Aiendt, Hannah, :88
Ait, aboiiginal, :8, :,,:
Association of the Elites of the Eleventh
Piovince, I,:,_, I8:
Atieno Odhiambo, E. S., I,,
Austialia. See Aboiiginal people
Autochthony: in Cameioon, I,o, I,:, I,
8o, citizenship and, I,,oo, I,,o,
demociacy and, Io, Io8, exclusivity in,
IoIo:, Iooo,, Frcnt Naticnal (i),
I,o,,, globalization and, Ioo, I,,8o,
I88,, Haidei, Joig, Ioo, IoI, Le Pen,
Jean-Maiie, IoooI, I,o,,, I8, nn.I_
and I). See alsc Citizenship, Identity,
Immigiation
Automobile industiy, IoI_, I_, I_8
Awasom, Nicodemus, I,o
Bakhtin, Mikhail, :,o, :o,
Bamileke people, Io_, Ioo, I,o,I, I,,, I8o
n.
Banyamulenge, I,,
Baptandiei, Biigitte, ::o
Baibei, Benjamin R., I
Baiiio, Fiancisco, I:8
Basileemah, I,,
Bastian, Misty L., :o
Baudiillaid, Jean, __
Bayait, Jean-Fianois, _, I,,, Io:
Beaiden, William O., III
Beck, Uliich, :,8, :,o
Beckei, Maivin B., I
Beckman, M., :8:8_
Being, :,o,,, :ooo, :oo
Bejanga, Beltus I., I,:,
Bell, Biian, ,_
Benedict, Ruth, :,,
Benjamin, Waltei, I:,, I:,, I_, :o_
Beilant, Lauien G., Io, _,
Beilin, Isaiah, :8,,o
Beiman, Eli, ,_, Ioo
Beinstein, Jaied, ,,, Io:, Io,
Beiuvides, M. G., I:o, I_o
Beti, Mongo, Io,o8
Beti people, Io_, Iooo8, I8o, I8o n.
Bilawag, Betty, :,o,I, :o8
Bilbil, Maijoiie, :,
Binbin, Giacie, :_
Bissek, Philippe, Io,
Biya, Paul, Io, Io,, I,,
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Blanchowei, David, 8,, ,_
Blaney, David L., :, ,o
Body paits tiacking, :I::, 8 n.:o
Bolin, R., :,
Boideis and boundaiies, I8, :,_I, _o
Boijas, Geoige, ,_
Bound, John, ,_, Ioo
Boyd, Blanche McCiaiy, :o,oo
Biennan, T., :,:, :,_, :,o, :,,
Biennei, N., _oo
Buck-Moiss, Susan, I_
Buddhism, :o:,, :I: n.I8, ::, ::,_:,
:_,
Bufoid, Bill, I8
Buiial places and ethnic identity, I,o,:,
I,_, I,,
Buitless, Gaiy, Io8
Butlei, Judith, I:,, I
Cameioon: autochthony in, I,o, I,:, I,
8o, buiial places and ethnic identity in,
I,o,:, I,_, I,,, elections in, Io,o,,
I,:, indigenous people in, Io_o,, I8o
n.,, minoiity iights in, Io,,o
Cameioon Peoples Demociatic Move-
ment (cvum), Io, Io,o8
Capel, H., :,
Capitalism: ait and, :,, :,8,
casino capitalism, ,, :_, ,, civil society,
o, Euiopean capitalism, o8o,,
8 n., natuie and, ooo,, ,, ,,, 8o,
occult economy and, I,:,, _o, o n.,,
,,o:, :_,, poveity and, ,I, ,:, ,o,
Io8, :,, pioduction[consumption
distance, ,I_, ,8, Io_, I,, :,8,
ieligion and, :_:_,, iisk and, ,,, :o,
o n.,, ,,o:, ,88o, ::::_, socialism,
,I, :o, touiism and, ,,, :o,:, :o,
o8, tiansnationalism and, I:I_, :,:,.
See alsc Consumeiism, Laboi, Wealth,
Woikfoice
Caiillo, Joige V., I_
Caiiiei, James G.,
Casino capitalism, ,, :_, ,
Castaon, A., I_,
Casteneda, Cailos, :,o, :,8oI, :o8 n.:
Castio, Fidel, ,, , n.I_, :o
Chao, Angela, Ioo, III
Chatwin, Biuce, :,o
Chavez Cano, Esthei, I_I
Cheah, P., :,:, :,_, :88
Chiang Kai-shek, :I,, :I8
Childien, :I, , n.:,
Chuchad: Amway, :o,,, :I: n.:,,
theatiicality of, I,8:oI, :o_,, :I:
nn.Io and I8, use of electionic media
by, I,_,, I,,:oo
Ciji Gcngde Hui (Compassionate Relief
Meiit Association), ::,_:
Citizenship: in Austialia, ::, :o, au-
tochthony and, I,,oo, I,, I,,, buiial
places and ethnic identity, I,o,:, I,_,
I,,, citizen welfaie and, ,:,_, II:
I_, I:o n.I,, elections and, Io,o,, I,:,
ethnicity and, , n.I, 8I, Ioo, I,:
,_, identity and, I, Io, IoI, :8o, Le
Pen, Jean-Maiie, IoooI, I,o,,, I8,
nn.I_ and I, in nation-state, _o, ___,
_,_,, le village electcral, Io,,o
Civil society, I:, _o, o,
Claik, Kim B., IoI
Class: divisions in Thailand, I,, as
means of identity, IoI_, I,Io, middle
class, ,o, ,o, Io,, II,, II8 n.I, II, n.o,
tiansnationalism and, I:I,, _o
Cleiy, E. J., :
Cline, William R., ,_, Io8
Cockbuin, Cynthia, I__
Cohen, D. W., I,,
Cohen, Jean, o, I
Cohen, R., :,8
Cohn, Noiman Rufus Colin, o, :
Cold Wai, 8, :,, ,I, IoI, I8,
Colonialism, o,, ,,, I8I8_, I8, n.:o, :
Comaio, Jean, I, :, , o, II, I, Io, :, :o,
:,, ,
Comaio, John, I, :, o, II, I, :, :o, :,,
_o, ,
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Communism, o,, :Io
Community Development and Employ-
ment Pioject (cuiv, :,, :,
Compassionate Relief Meiit Association
(Ciji Gcngde Hui), ::,_:
Connelly, Matthew, I
Connolly, W., :8_8
Coniad, Joseph, :,
Consumeiism: ait and, :o, :,, :,
8, consumei psychology and, Io,,,
Io,II, consumption and, _, ,, Io,
globalization of, 888,, Io_, income
distiibution and, Io,,, pioduct di-
veisity and, III,, teenageis and, I,,
I8I,, , n.:o, touiism and, ,,, :o,:,
:o,o8
Ccntact, :,8
Cook, Phillip J., 8,, ,,, IIo
Cooke, P., :8
Coombe, Rosemaiy J., _,
Coionil, Feinando, _,, :, o,, o,, o,, ,_
Coipoiations: exploitation of natuie, ,,
,,, 8o, nancial maikets, ,88o, tians-
national coipoiations, :,, violence of,
_o
Coiiigan, Paul, I,
Coiiigan, Philip, _:
Cosmopolitanism, :,I,:, :8:8_, :8,,
:,I,_
Cox, Robeit W., I:
Ciafts, N. F. R., 8,, II:
Ciaik, Jennifei, :o
Cionenbeig, David, :,o, :,,
Cioss, Gaiy, Io, Ioo
Crystal Vcman, :,o
Cultuie: cultuial identity, _,o, :,,, :8o,
cultuial technologies, :o:,, cultuie
of legality in globalization, _,, and
knowledge, :,:,_, :,_,, women
and death by cultuie, I:,_I, Io, II
Dagnino, Evelina, 8:
Daiian-Smith, Eve, _o
Das, V., :,o
De Boeck, Filip, I8
Deloiia, Vine, :oo
Demociacy, 8, Io8, I,:, :8_, _o,
Deiiida, Jacques, I, :, :Io nn.I and _
Deshpande, S., :8o, :8,, :88, _oI, _oo n.I
Dezalay, Yves, _o
Dicken, Petei, II
Dilley, Roy, Io:
DiMaggio, Paul, Io,
Diilik, Aiif,
Doipalen, A., :,,
Douglas, Maiy, Ioo
Dieamtime, ::, :,, :,I
Dioit, R.-P., :,,, :,o
Diug tiacking, I8, , n.:o, ,:
Dubois, Lauient, 8:
Duesenbeiiy, James S., III
Dumu, Timothy, :, :8, :,o, :,:,
:o8
Duncan, Otis, IIo
Easteilin, Richaid, IIo
Eaton, Jonathan, Io:
Eboua, Samuel, I,o, I,:
Education, ,,,8, :,:,, :,_,
Egoyan, Atom, :,8
Eighteen Loids temple, ::o:I, :__, :_,,
:_, n.
Ejicito Zapatista de Libeiacin Nacional
(iiz), ,I
Ekindi, Jean-Jacques, Io,
Elections, Io,o,, I,:
Elite associations, I,:,, I8:
Elliot, Stephen, :,o, :o:
Elson, Diane, I__, I_,
Emeison, Scott, :,_
Engels, Fiiediich, Io, :,:
Entiepieneuiialism, :o,,, :I: n.:,,
:I8I,, ::o
Epstein, A. L., I8_
Eilmann, Veit, I8_
Escobai, Aituio, ,, 8:
Ethnicity, , n.I, 8I, Ioo
Etzel, Michael J., III
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Euiope, I, o,o,, 8_, :,_
EXistenZ, :,o, :,,
Fante, John, I,
Feenstia, Robeit C., ,_, ,, ,o
Feinandez-Aimesto, Felipe, ,
Feinndez-Kelly, Maiia Patiicia, I_,
Fields, Kaien E., _8
Finlayson, Julie, :8
Fleming, M., :,,,
Foidism, ,, II, I,, :, :I
Fostei, Robeit J., _o
Foucault, Michel, :,,8:, :8,88
Fiank, Andie Gundei, Io
Fiank, Robeit H., 8,, ,o, ,,, IIo, III, II:
Fieeman, Richaid, ,:, ,_, ,o
Fiiedman, Thomas L., Io, II_
Fiith, Simon, I,
Frcnt Naticnal (i), I,o,,
Fiow, John, :o
Fuentes, Cailos, _8
Gal, Susan, :
Galbiaith, John Kenneth, Ioo, IIo
Gale, Fay, :o
Gambling, ,,, :o, o n.I:, ,,oI
Gaiiett, Geoige, I,
Gaiten, Jeiey E., :8
Gaith, Biyant G., _o
Geeitz, Clioid, _8
Geogiaphy: compaied to anthiopology
and histoiy, :,,,o, :,,_oo, cos-
mopolitanism and, :,I,:, :8:8_,
:8,, :,I,_, _o:,, Foucault on, :,,
8:, :8,88, globalization and, ,,,8,
Humboldt, Wilhelm von, :,I, Kant on,
:,,8, :88o, :8,,I, _o,, modein
geogiaphical knowledges, :,o,,
Geschieie, Petei, , Io, :o, IoI, Io
Ghost temples, ::o:I, ::_:, ::8, :_,
Giddens, A., _oo
Ginsbeig, Faye, :,,
Glacken, C., :,, :,,
Globalization: autochthony and, Ioo, I,,
8o, I88,, and cosmopolitanism, :,:,
cultuie of legality in, _,, and educa-
tion, :,_,, glocalization, IoI, laboi
and, ,I, ,,,8, of manufactuie, I:,
I,, and the nation-state, ,Io, I, __,
neolibeialism and, ,I,_, 8:8_, 8_ n.I,
pioduct diveisity and, III,, tech-
nologies and, 8, ,, ,o, IoI_, wages,
,I,,
Gluckman, Max, :,
Godlewska, A., :,
Goman, Eiving, Ioo
Goidon, Robeit J., Io_, Io8
Gottschalk, Petei, ,,
Giay, Chiistophei, I,
Giegoiy, D., _oo, _o_
Giiliches, Zvi, ,_
Gioelsema, Robeit, I,
Guglei, Joseph, Io
Guha, R., :,8
Guzmn, R., I_,
Habeimas, Juigen, :
Haidei, Joig, Ioo, IoI
Hanley, James, I,
Hanneiz, Ulf, _o
Hanson, Goidon H., 8,, ,_, ,8
Haidt, Michael, ,, oI
Haidy, Robin, :,,
Haiiison, Ann, 8,, ,8
Haitshoine, R., :,
Haivey, David, ,, ,Io, _,, ,8, I:o, II,
:I, :8:, _oo
Havel, Vclav, o
Haynes, Je, _
Haynes, Todd, :,,
Heckschei-Ohlin tiade theoiy, ,I
Hegeman, Susan, __
Heideggei, Maitin, :o_, :8,, :888,
Heilman, Biuce, I,
Held, D., :,I, :,:, :,_, _o,
Heizog, Weinei, :,o, :o:
Heteiotopianism, :8o, :8,, :8,
Hetheiington, K., :8o
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Heyman, R., :,_
Himes, Chestei, I,
Hiischman, Albeit, Ioo
Hiist, Paul, :8, _I, __
Hobsbawm, Eiic J., I:, :
Hochschild, Ailie, Ioo
Hoogvelt, Ankie, ,o, ,,
Hotellings duopoly, IIo
Hounshell, David, Ioo
Humboldt, Alexandei von, :,I,_, :,,
Humboldt, Wilhelm von, :,I, :,_
Hutchinson, S. T., I:o, I_o
Identity: buiial place and ethnic identity,
I,o,:, I,_, I,,, citizenship, I, Io, IoI,
:8o, class identity, IoIo, _o, cultuial
identity, _,o, :,,, :8o, customs and,
::, :,o, :,, identity politics, _,, ,
n.I, Le Pen, Jean-Maiie, IoooI, I,o
,,, I8, nn.I_ and I, national identity,
I,, :I8, :8o, le village electcral, Io,,o,
violence as community identity, I8I,,
youth and, I8
Immigiation, ,I,:, Io_, Io,, I,o,,,
I,,8o, :,
Indigenous people: Bamileke people, Io_,
Ioo, I,o,I, I,,, I8o n., Beti people,
Io_, Iooo8, I8o, I8o n., buiial place
and ethnic identity, I,o,:, I,_, I,,,
Sawa, Iooo8, I,:, I,,8o, I8o n.,
Inkeles, A., II8
Inteinational Monetaiy Fund (imi), ,_,
:o,
Inteinet, _o, :oo, :8
Iivine, Waltei, I,, :Io n.o, :II n.,
Isheiwood, Baion, Ioo
Jacobs, Jane M., :o
Jacobson, David, _,
Jameson, Fiediic, IoII, I,, Io, oo
Japan, IoI_, :I,, :I8
Jean, Ava, I,o
Jencks, Chiistophei, ,o
Johnson, Geoige, ,_
Johnson, P., 8,
Joseph, Miianda, I__
Jua, Nantang, Ioo
Kahneman, Daniel, Io,, IIo
Kant, Immanuel: on anthiopology and
histoiy, :8o, on cosmopolitanism, :,,
,8, :8,, _o,, on geogiaphy, :,,8,
:88o, :8,,I, _o,
Kantiow, Alan, IoI
Kapteyn, Aiie, III
Katz, C., :8,
Katz, Lawience F., 8,, ,_
Kaunda, Kenneth, Ioo
Keane, John, I, :
Kellogg, P., ,
Kennedy, Paul, I
Kittlei, Fiiediich, :o,
Klingendei, Tim, :
Knapman, Biuce, :8
Knowledge stiuctuie, :,:,_, :,_,
Konings, Piet, I8:8_
Koopmans, T., :8:8_
Koiten, David, Io
Koitum, Samuel, Io:
Kcyaanisqatsi, :o:
Kiacauei, Siegfiied, :o,
Kiamaiz, F., ,,
Kiamei, Eiic, :_, :
Kiistof, Nicholas D., ,8
Kiopotkin, Petei, :,,,
Kiugman, Paul, :,8
Kiygiei, Maitin, o, _
Kuitzman, Joel, :,, _I
Laboi: capitalism and, ,, III:, ,I, colo-
nialism and, I8I8_, expoitation of, I:,
I,, job tiaining and tuinovei in, I:o,
maquiladoias, I:o:,, I_Io, I:,
technology and, ,o, IooIoI, wealth
and, o8o,. See alsc Wages, Woikfoice
La Fontaine, Jean S., :I
Lagiange, Hugues, I,,
Land, o,o,, I,,,8, :,,, :ooo,
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Langton, Maicia, :,,
Language and linguistics, :oo, :oIo:,
:o_, :,,
Lash, Scott, ,, Io, I:
Law, _o, _8_,, ::, :,_, :8,
Lawience, Robeit, 8,, ,_
Lea, John, :8
Leamei, Edwaid, ,, ,o, ,,
Lebeigott, Stanley, Io_, Io8
Lefebvie, Heniy, o,
Lentz, Caiola, I8_
Le Pen, Jean-Maiie, IoooI, I,o,,, I8,
nn.I_ and I
Lewis, Tom, II
Limas Heinndez, A., I:8
Litumbe, Mola Njoh, Io,
Liveipool, poit of, I8,
Livingstone, D., :,, :,
Lollivei, S., ,,
Los Angeles, poit of, I,8
Lotteiy, o,, o n.,, ,,o:, ::::_
Loveday, P., :8
Loveman, Gaiy, 8,, ,_
Luckei, G. William, I_
Lugaid, F. D., I8I
Lukacs, John, :,
Lundvall, Bengt-Ake, II
Luiy, Celia, Io, Ioo, II_
Lynn, Robeit, Io
Machin, Stephen, Ioo
Macpheison, Ciawfoid, :
Madiick, Jeiey, Io,, Io,
Mamdani, Mahmood, I,
Maquiladoias: job tiaining and tuin-
ovei in, I:o, I_I_,, I_8o, women in,
I:o:,, I_,o, I:
Maquiladoia tiade association (.m.c),
I_o_I
Maicos, Subcomandante: and Fouith
Woild Wai, ,I,_
Maiin, L., :8o
Maix, Kail: on cosmopolitanism, :,:, on
laboi, ,Io, I:o, I:,, I__, I_, land[ient,
o,, 8_ n._, on natuie, o,, o8, on the
state, _:, on wealth, o8
Maskell, P. H., ,8
Maslow, Abiaham, IIo
Master Dharma Drum. The Life and Heart
cf Chan Practices, :o,
The Matrix, :,o, :,,
May, J., :,, :,,
McCulloch-Uehlin, Susan, :,:,_
McDowell, Linda, I__
McMichael, Philip, Io, __
Media: electionic media, ::, I,_,,
I,,:oo, movies, :,o,8, :o:o_,
newspapeis, _o, _8, Ioo, Io,, iadio, _8,
I,o,,, television, :, _8, I,:,_, :Io
n._. See alsc Technology
Mediumship: occult economy and, I,:,,
_o, o n.,, ,,o:, :_,, in Taiwan, ::, :II
n.,, ::,, theatiicality of, I,8:oI, :o_
,, :I: nn.Io and I8, use of electionic
media by, I,_,, I,,:oo, wiiting
and, I,,:oo, :II n.I,, ::,, :_, n.
Mexico. See Maquiladoias
Meyei, Biigit, Ioo
Michaels, Eiic, :,,
Middle class, ,o, ,o, Io,II, II,, II8 n.I,
II, n.o
Miliband, Ralph, _:
Millei, Daniel, , , n.I8, Io,, II_
Mishel, Lawience, ,,, Io,
Miyoshi, M., :,:, :,_
Mobutu Sese Seko, I,
Mott, Robeit, ,,
Mohnen, P., Io:
Mooie, Sally Falk, _o
Moigan, Mailo, :,o, :oo, :oI, :o
Moiiis, Rosalind C., :I
Mouiche, I., Io8o,
Moulian, Toms, ,,
Mouvement poui la Dmociatie el le
Piogis, I,o
Mouvement Piogiessiste, Io,
Movies, :,o,8, :o:o_
Muiphy, Kevin, ,_
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Mutant Message Dcwn Under, :,o, :oo,
:oI, :o
Myeis, Fied, :
Naiayan, Uma, I:,_o
Nationalist Paity (Gucmindang), :I,, ::,
Nation-state: autochthony in, IoI, I,:
,, buiial places and ethnic identity,
I,o,:, I,_, I,,, citizen welfaie in, __
_, _,_,, ,:,_, II:I_, I:o n.I,, civil
society in, o,, commeice iegula-
tion, :8_I, :ooo,, globalization and,
,Io, I, __, ,_, histoiical peispective
on, _:__, _,, identity politics in, _,,
, n.I, wealth distiibution, ,_, ,8,,,
:,8
Natuie, o,o,, ,, ,,, 8o
Ndjana, Mono, I,o
Negii, Antonio, I
Nehiu, Jawahailal, :8o, :8,
Neolibeialism: capitalism and, I_I,, _I,
_,, o,, consumeiism and, ,8, glob-
alization and, ooo, ,I,_, law and,
_8_,, ieligious movements and, :_:,
violence and, 8
New Age, :,o, :oo, :oo
New Right (Euiope), I,o, I,8,,
Newspapeis, _o, _8, Ioo, Io,
Nganso, John, I,I
Ngijol, Ngijol, Io,
Nickell, Stephen, ,_
Nlep, Rogei Gabiiel, Io,
Nussbaum, M., :,I,_, :,o,I, :,8,,
Nyamnjoh, Fiancis B., Io, Io, I,I
Occidentalism, o,oo, 8o8_
Occult economy, I,:,, _o, o n.,, ,,o:,
:_,
OConnoi, Maitin, o8
Odhiambo, E. S. Atieno, I,,
Odinga, Oginga, I,,
Ollman, B., _o
Olson, Chailes, I,o
Once Vere Varricrs, :oI
Oiquiz, M., I:,
Otheiness, o,oo, 8I, I8, :,_
Paik, W. G., Io:
Pasha, Mustapha Kamal, :
Peaison, Ruth, I__, I_,
Peebles, Gustav, _
Peet, R., _o_
Pele, L. P., ,,
Peiiineau, Pascal, I,,
Petony, Biendan, ,
Petty, William, o8
Phelan, Jim, I,
Philanthiopy, ::, :_I
Phia Phyom, I,o,8, :o8
Pleskovic, B., :,,
Podevin, Geoige, I8I
Political paities: Afiican National Con-
giess (.c), _, Cameioon Peoples
Demociatic Movement (cvum), Io,
Io,o8, Frcnt Naticnal (i), I,o,,,
Mcuvement pcur la Demccratie el le
Prcgres, I,o, Mcuvement Prcgressiste,
Io,, Nationalist Paity (Gucmindang),
:I,, ::,, Social Demociatic Fiont
(sui), Io, Iooo8
Popontology, :,ooo
Poitei, Michael, ,,, II
Poveity, ,I,:, ,o, Io8, I:o n.I_, :,
Povinelli, Elizabeth A., _,, :oo
Powell, Waltei W., Io,
Piachuab Chaiyasan, :o,
Piivatization, economic, ,_, :I8
Piostitution, :I::, , n.:,, ,,
Racism, ,_, I,, :oo, :,o,,
Radio, _8, I,:, I,o,,
Rael, Joseph, :oI
Rama IV (king of Thailand), I,_, I,,
I,o
Ramo, Joshua Coopei, ,,, 8o
The Rapture, :,,,8
Ratzel, Fiiediich, :,,
Rauschei, Michael, Ioo, III
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Readings, B., :,:, :,_, :,I, _o:
Reclus, lise, :,,,
Ree, Jonathan, :8,
Reggio, Godfiey, :o:
Religion: Buddhism, :o:,, :I: n.I8, ::,
::,_:, :_,, commeicialism, :o,, :o8,
:::,, fee-foi-seivice ieligion, o,
:_:, ::I::, :_:_o, hindutva, :8o,
in Taiwan, ::,:8, :_:_,, temples,
::o:o, ::8:,, :___o, :_, n., use of
media, I,:,_, I,o,,, :o8
Revcluticn cf Little Girls, :o,oo
Ricaido, David, o,, ,I
Richaidson, J. David, ,:, ,o, Ioo
Ries, Nancy, _,
Rigby, D., :8_
Rilke, Rainei Maiia, :o,
Risk, ,,, :o, o n.,, ,,o:, ,88o, ::::_
Robbins, B., :,:, :,_, :88
Robeitson, Roland, IoI
Roeg, Nicholas, :,o
Roitman, Janet, I8, _
Rongfa, Zhang, ::,
Rosenbeig, Stephanie, II,
Ross, Robeit, :8:,
Rowlands, Michael, Io
Rupnik, Jacques, _
Sachs, Jeiey, ,_
Safe, :,,
Said, Edwaid, :,8
Salacuse, Jeswald W., _,
Salais, Robeit, ,,
Salzingei, Leslie, I_,
Sanfoid, Chailes, ,,, 8o
Sassen, Sakia, I:, :8, __, 8:
Sawa, Iooo8, I,:, I,,8o, I8o n.,
Sayei, Deiek, _:
Sayles, John, :,,
Schatz, Howaid, ,_
Schepei-Hughes, Nancy, :I
Schmitt, John, ,,, Io,
Schneidei, Jane, :_
Schoi, Juliet, Io_, Io,, Ioo,, IIo, III
Scitovsky, Tiboi, Ioo, II
Scott, Ridley, :,,
Scianton, Philip, Ioo
Secret cf Rcan Inish, :,,
Seekings, Jeiemy, I,
Sen, Amaitya, IIo
Sennett, Richaid,
Shapiio, M., :,8, :8, :8,
Shapiio, Maitin, _,
Sheng-Yen, Chaan, :o,
Silbey, Susan S., _o
Silveistein, Michael, :,
Simison, R., I_8
Simmel, Geoig, :o,
Simons, Mailene, ,
Sklaii, Leslie, I_, I_I
Skuiski, Julie, ,_
Slatei, Don, Io, Ioo
Slaughtei, Matthew, ,_
Slovic, P., Io,
Smith, Adam, :, , o,, :,:
Smith, N., :8,, :,, :,,
Smith, Valene, :o
Social Demociatic Fiont (sui), Io,
Iooo8
Socialism, ,I, :o
The Scnglines, :,o
Sontag, Susan, _
South Afiica, :o:I, _, o
South West Elites Association (swii.),
I,_,
Space: cosmopolitanism and, :8:8_,
heteiotopias, :8o8I, national, :o,
:ooo,, :8o, :8,,o, sacied space,
:::,, touiism and, :o,:, :o,o8
Spiiituality, aboiiginal, ::,, :,I,,,
:o,
Spivak, Gayatii, :,o
Stack, M., I_I, I:
Stanislaw, Joseph, :8
Stanley, Owen, :8
Stiglitz, J., :,,
Stolpei-Samuelson model, ,I, ,, ,8
Stoipei, Michael, II, I:, ,,, :,8
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Stiange, Susan, ,, ,
Sutton, Lindsay, :oI
The Sweet Hereafter, :,8
Taguie, Pieiie Andi, I,o, I,,, I,8
Taiwan: Japans ielations with, :I,, :I8,
mediumship in, ::, ::,, political
histoiy of, :IoI,, ieligion, ::o:I,
::_:, ::,:8, :_:_,
Tamahoii, Lee, :oI
Taibuenca Cidoba, Maiia-Socoiio, I:,,
I_I
Tatah Mentan, E., Io,
Tatham, G., :,
Taussig, Michael, _,
Tawney, R. H., Ioo, IIo
Tayloi, Chailes, :, _, :,,
Technology: cultuial technologies, :o:,,
electionic money tiansfei, :,, 8o, Geo-
giaphical Infoimation Systems (cis),
:,o, globalization, 8, ,, ,o, IooIoI,
as magic, :o_,, mediumship and,
I,_,, I,,:oo, militaiy suiveillance
devices, :,o,,, woikfoice changes,
,o, IooIoI
Television, _8, I,:,_, :Io n._
Temples, ::o:o, ::8:,, :___o, :_, n.
Testei, Keith, :
Thailand: class divisions in, I,, eco-
nomics of, :oo,, :I: n.:,, the media
in, I,:, I,o,,, nationalism in, I,, :Io
n.,
Thatchei, Maigaiet, :,, I, ,o
Thiid Woild, ,I, ,_, ,o, 8 n.,, I:,_I, I
Thomas, Nicholas, :o
Thompson, Giahame F., :8, _I, __
Thiupp, Sylvia, o_
Toko, Beitiand, Io8
Tolkin, Michael, :,,,8
Tolliday, Stephen, IoI, Io:
Tololyan, Khachig, _o_I
Tomasic, Roman, ,
Tomes, Nigel, III
Touiism, ,,, :o,:, :o,o8
Tiansnationalism: of Aboiiginal ait, :,
8, capitalism, I:I_, :,:8, and class
identity, I:I,, _o, and laboi, I:, :8,
touiism, ,,, :o,:, :o,o8
Tionti, Maiio, ,
Tiouillet, Michel-Rolph, 8
Tuinei, Teience, Io, I:, I_, I, _I
Tveisky, A., Io,
Unionism, ,, I,,
Union Nationale poui le Dveloppement
et le Piogis (0uv), Io
United Nations Confeience on Tiade and
Development (0c1.u), ,o
Uiiy, John, ,, Io, I:, II, :o
Valdez, D. W., I_I, I:
Van Binsbeigen, Wim,
Veblen, Thoistein, Ioo
Veenhoven, Ruut, IIo
Venkatesh, Sudhii, I8
Veideiy, Katheiine, ,
Veihoeven, Paul, :,,
Le village electcral, Io,,o
Villalobos, J. R., I:o, I_o
Violence: childien and, :I, as community
identity, I8I,, coipoiate violence, _o,
ethnic identity and, I,, I,,, neolibei-
alism and, 8, Thiid Woild women and,
I:,_I, IoI, I
Wachowski, Andy, :,o, :,,
Wachowski, Laiiy, :,o, :,,
Wages: and consumption, :,, education
and, ,,,8, globalization and, ,I,,
I_, income distiibution, II:I_, I:o
n.I,, :8, skill levels and, 8,,,, ,,,,,
II, n.o, standaids of living, Io,II, II8,
youth and, I,
Valkabcut, :,o
Wall, Steve, :oo
Walleistein, Immanuel, II
Walzei, Michael, o, :8,
Way of Unity (Yiguan Dac), ::,
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Wealth: distiibution of, ,, ,o, ,:,_, 8,
,o, human iesouices as souice of,
o,o,, ,o,,, occult economy, I,:,,
_o, o n.,, ,,o:, :_,, philanthiopy
and, ::, :_I
Webb, S., 8,
Webbei, M., :8_
Webei, Max, :,, _:, :oI
Weiland, Matt, II_
Weiss, Linda, ,o, ,,
Wellei, Robeit P., o
Vhere the Green Ants Dream, :,o, :o:,
:o_
White, G., I_8, I_,
Whoif, Benjamin, :,
Vicker Man, :,,
Will, Geoige, ,
Wilson, R., _o:
Wilson, William Julius, ,o
Wittgenstein, Ludwig, :,
Women: in Buddhism, :_I, death by cul-
tuie, I:,_I, Io, II, feminization of
woikfoice, ,, I:, I,, I_,, job tiaining
and tuinovei of, I:o, I_I_,, in maqui-
ladoias, I:o:,, I_,o, I:, value
of laboi, ,8, o,, I:o:,, I_
Wood, Adiian, ,_, ,, ,o, Ioo, II, n._
Woods, Dwayne, :
Woiby, Eiic, _8
Woikfoice: foi Aboiiginal ait pioduction,
:,,o, dockwoikeis, I,,I, I,,, ex-
ploitation of, :, :8, 8 n._,, I8I8_, I,I,
feminization of, ,, I:, I,, I_,, gendei
steieotypes in, I:,, I__,, job secu-
iity, ,, ,I, job tiaining and tuinovei
in, I:o, I_I_,, I_8o, laboi-saving
techniques, Io:_, II, n.,, pioduc-
tion[consumption distance and, ,I_,
,8, Io_, I,, skill levels in, 8,,,, ,,
,,, II, n.o, I__8, standaids of living,
,o,,, Io,,, II8, technologies and, ,o,
IooIoI, unionism, ,, I,,, women in,
,8, o,, I:o:,, I_Io, I:, youth
in, o, :o, :,
Woild Bank, ,o, ,,, Io,, :8, :,,
Woild Wai IV. See Maicos, Subcoman-
dante
Woisley, Petei M., :
Woisthoine, Peiegiine, _o
Wiight, Melissa W., I,, I_o
The X-Files, :,8
Yeigin, Daniel, :8
Yinshun, :_I_:
Young, Ciawfoid, _
Youth geneiation, o, IoI,, :o, , n.:o,
:,
Ydice, Geoige, :
Zeitlin, Jonathan, IoI, Io:
Zeldin, T., :,:
Zemeckis, Robeit, :,8
Zhengyan, ::,_o, :_:, :_,
iek, Slavoj, I_
Zognong, D., Ioo, Io8o,
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Libiaiy of Congiess Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Millennial capitalism and the cultuie of neolibeialism [
edited by Jean Comaio and John L. Comaio.
p. cm. (Public cultuie (Duiham, N.C.))
The text of this book oiiginally was published, without
the essay by Melissa W. Wiight oi the index, as vol. I:,
no. : of Public cultuie. . . . Wiights essay oiiginally
appeaied in vol. II, no. _ . . . , pages ,_,P. .
Includes bibliogiaphical iefeiences and index.
isv o-8::_-:,o-x (cloth : alk. papei)
isv o-8::_-:,I,-, (pbk. : alk. papei)
I. Fiee enteipiise. :. Libeialism. _. Capitalism.
I. Comaio, Jean. II. Comaio, John L., I,, III. Seiies.
uv,, .m,, :ooI __o.I::dc:I oo-ooo,8
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