This model of wealth generation is described by david harvey 2005 as accumulation through dispossession. Socalled accumulation by dispossession sage journals. Neoliberalist criticism on accumulation by dispossession it is nevertheless important to mention that harveys approach has been criticized from neoliberalist authors. From marxs theory of primitive accumulation to harveys theory of accumulation by dispossession as is widely known, according to karl marx 1977, 875, primitive or original accumulation is the historical process of divorcing the producer from the means of production and subsistence and creates the two basic classes of capitalist. The survival of capitalism for so long in the face of multiple crises and reor. What lends novelty to harveys discussion, though, is that unlike the ongoing use of the concept in development studies harvey and others are now deploying it to. Consequently, he recommends that we recast the term primitive accumulation, which emphasizes the processs temporal position in the early stages of capitalist development, as accumulation by dispossession 144. Accumulation by dispossession and the informal economy struggles over knowledge, being and waste at a soweto garbage dump. David harvey introduces primitive accumulation duration. But, on the other hand, the very nature of these events and the threats they posed economically, politically, and militarily to global security made some sort of in depth analysis imperative.
Grounding accumulation by dispossession in everyday life. David harveys adaptation and redeployment of marxs notion of primitive accumulation under the heading of accumulation by dispossession has reignited interest in the concept among geographers. This urban case study has two major implications for contemporary theories of dispossession. The main focus of this paper, however, is on the effects of accumulation by dispossession on development.
Accumulation by dispossession tayyab mahmud marooned on the outskirts of the law, more than one billion people worldwide live in urban slums and squatter settlements, mostly in the global south. Accumulation by dispossession research papers academia. From primitive accumulation to regimes of dispossession six theses on indias land question michael levien existing theoretical perspectives, whether marxs primitive accumulation or harveys accumulation by dispossession, are not adequate for understanding the political economy of land dispossession under capitalismin india or elsewhere. Youth as critical scholars of public education and mass incarceration, we witness in our daily work the soft coercive migration of. John locke, accumulation by dispossession and the governance. Since the beginning of capitalism in land has been a major asset of production and. The thesis examines how accumulation by dispossession by the global extractive industry is facilitated by the free entry or free mining principle. We agree with harvey about the ongoing importance of primitive accumulation, and therefore we have adopted the term accumulation by dispossession.
As a now sizeable literature on the political ecologies of mineral, oil, and gas. While harvey sees abd as an economic process of overaccumulated capital. I therefore determined to try as best i could to penetrate beneath the surface flux to divine some of the deeper currents in the making of the. Accumulation by dispossession and the informal economy struggles over knowledge, being and waste at a soweto garbage dump melanie samson environment and planning d. Environmental issues capital formation analysis illegal dumping refuse and refuse disposal methods underground economy waste management. Harvey himself argues that accumulation by dispossession can be seen as the necessary cost of making a successful breakthrough to capitalist and socialist development, but he also argues that in some instances particularly post1973 accumulation by dispossession, rather than opening up a new path of expanded reproduction, disrupted and destroyed paths that were already open ibid 154. The aim of this article is to discuss and use marxs theory on primitive accumulation, outlined in the first volume of capital, in relation to media and communication research.
Data colonialism through accumulation by dispossession. Economist fine argues that it seems as if an unduly diverse set of factors is being collected under the umbrella of accumulation by dispossession. Pdf accumulation by dispossession and socioenvironmental. In order to develop marxs argument the discussion is revitalized through harveys concept of accumulation by dispossession. Accumulation by dispossession in africa springerlink. A marxist critique david harvey is well known for his extensive writings on. David harvey also argues that accumulation by dispossession is a temporal or partial solution to over accumulation. One concerns the commodity market and the place where sur plus value is producedthe factory, the mine, the agricultural estate. Nevertheless, harvey himself does not follow through on the opportunity he creates.
States play a crucial role in facilitating the accumulation of land through state appropriation and designation of land as marginal, the use of state or. A history of dispossession those who genuinely seek durable institutions of property and ownership cannot simply invoke the political transition, like a sorcerers trick, to erase the illegitimate origins of what they now seek seamlessly to dignify as property. The racial logic of global capitalisman introduction. Regarded in this light accumulation is a purely economic process, with its most important phase a transaction between. It defines neoliberal capitalist policies that result in a centralization of wealth and power in the hands of a few by dispossessing the public and private entities of their wealth or land. Migration, dispossession and accumulation in west africa and europe. The contentious nature of most largescale acquisition is termed the international land capital accumulation of dispossession for the purpose of investment in agricultural production of high. The growing poles of accumulation by dispossession and accumulation by growth are one of the most important contradictions of capitalist reproduction in contemporary india. It is so troubling that as we seek to write about it, it is highly possible that it gets us into trouble.
Special economic zones and accumulation by dispossession in india michael levien this paper seeks to reconstruct david harveys theory of accumulation by dispossession abd through an ethnography of a special economic zone in rajasthan, india. Accumulation by dispossession sage publications ltd. Accumulation by dispossession and the informal economystruggles over knowledge, being and waste at a soweto garbage dump. Whereas marx labeledtheseprimitiveformsofaccumulation, harvey insists that they are omnipres. State of labour in bangladesh rashed al mahmud titumir 1. Pdf accumulation by dispossession and the informal. John locke, accumulation by dispossession and the governance of colonial india judith whitehead department of anthropology, university of lethbridge, lethbridge, ca, usa abstract this paper proposes a historical framework for examining colonial land policies in india. In a way this is a return to land grabbing and dispossessions as a means of national primitive accumulation. Jan 22, 2016 accumulation by dispossession is a concept presented by the marxist geographer david harvey, which defines the neoliberal capitalist policies in many western nations, from the 1970s and to the. Accumulation by dispossession is a concept presented by the marxist geographer david harvey. Accumulation by dispossession by the global extractive. The header of this article says that accumulation by dispossession is a phenomenon that harvey or someone, but harvey is referenced identified as occurring beginning in the 1970s to the present.
Pdf drawing upon the concept of accumulation by dispossession, this paper analyses the expansion of agrarian capital in argentina. Between 1940 and 1974, the number of african american farmers fell from 681,790 to just 45,594a drop of 93 percent. David harvey on accumulation by dispossession youtube. Accumulation by dispossession abd organic or dialectical link between i accumulation of capital through expanded reproduction and ii accumulation by dispossession abd as principal form of accumulation under contemporary globalization and neoliberal capitalism harvey dispossession of land as critical facet of abd. Pdf accumulation by dispossession and anticapitalist.
In order to put this troubling concept to work that is, in order to engage. While his concept of accumulation by dispossession remains vaguely defined, figure 1. Accumulation by dispossession and anticapitalist struggles. Dispossession definition of dispossession by the free. Consider all the attention africa has received in recent years to make poverty history, to provide relief from crushing debt loads, to double aid, and to establish a development round of trade. But this chapter argues that marxs primitive accumulation or harveys accumulation. Harveys use of accumulation by dispossession is simply a reframing of marxs primitive accumulation. It defines neoliberal capitalist policies that result in a. The gross domestic product gdp has been lifted to a decadal average of six percent in recent time. According to david harvey, accumulation by dispossession abd has become the dominant form of accumulation under the mantra of neoliberalism backed by the state policies, whether in developed or in developing economies. A read is counted each time someone views a publication summary such as the title, abstract, and list of authors, clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the fulltext. Furthermore, accumulation by dispossession has become the principal form of accumulation characterizing neoliberal capitalism in the context of contemporary globalization. Socalled accumulation by dispossession daniel bin university of brasilia, brazil abstract over the last two decades, the notion of primitive accumulation has been reemerging within studies of historical capitalism.
Recent scholarship highlights that accumulation by dispossession creates surplus populations who must sustain themselves outside wage labor, often. Request pdf david harveys theory of accumulation by dispossession. Nonetheless, most research on contemporary dispossessions has. Pdf i could feel the knife in my hand, still slippery with perspiration. The situation occurring in china is so different from that in other countries that we need to discuss it separately. Accumulation through dispossession and accumulation. Accumulation through dispossession and accumulation through. Such ambivalence is critical to understanding how new economic realities are formed in light of retreating neoliberalism as markets become destabilized. Dispossession pete daniel university of north carolina press. Land is the physical place where production and accumulation takes place. Accumulation by dispossession of land of indigenous people. Accumulation by dispossession, edited by swapna banerjeeguha, provides provocative critique of the urban transformation now taking place throughout the world with particular emphasis on south asia and the challenges of globalization the book does an admirable job. Harvey talks about capitalist accumulation by dispossession. Law, extralegality, and illegality commingle in urban slums to produce spaces and subjects at the margins of legal orders and formal economies.
Developed by david harvey and derived from marxs description of the primitive accumulation of capital, the term refers to the fraudulent or forceful appropriation of natural or social commons by capital and their subsequent conversion into commodities. This opposition has, in the aggregate, reached a point where it now poses a significant obstacle to accumulation. Since the mid2000s, proliferating land wars have exposed a contradiction between the land requirements of neoliberal capitalism and the political weight of farmers in indias democracy. Rosa luxemburg argues that capital accumulation has a dual character. Mar 08, 2009 harvey talks about capitalist accumulation by dispossession. That is, dispossession of folklore knowledge, wisdom, practice through intellectual property rights. Aporetic dispossession, or the trouble with dispossession aa. And yet, at best, only piecemeal critiques of imperial power emerged amid the cacophony of allwhite rock concerts and political grandstanding. The analysis provided suggests the commodities involved in the housing crisis are the basis for a countermovement against dispossession. View accumulation by dispossession research papers on academia. It does so by focusing on canada as a leader in the. Harveys work is a materialist analysis of neoliberalism, locating it in the shifts in capitalist social relations and the crisis of accumulation of the 1970s and marked by its.
Resistance to accumulation by dispossession in the context. Accumulation by dispossession and the informal economy. The current period, marked by neoliberal hegemony, is precisely one in which accumulation by dispossession once again has the upper hand over expanded reproduction, thereby outlining the contours of a new imperialism dominated by u. To this end, legal geographical scholarship provides important conceptual tools for. On race, violence, and socalled primitive accumulation. From primitive accumulation to regimes of dispossession.
Accumulation by dispossession, for harvey, indicates a contemporary modified rebirth of an archaic form primitive accumulation that reestablishes its expansion as well as impacting fully capitalist countries. First, it problematises harveys 2003 capitalcentric theory of accumulation by dispossession, which treats enclosure as a fix for capitals inherent tendency to. And rufus was rufuserratic, alternately generous and vicious. In his hardhitting book, historian pete daniel analyzes this decline and chronicles black farmers fierce struggles to remain on the land in the face of discrimination by bureaucrats in the u. Harveys theory of accumulation by dispossession henceforth, abd is a part of his overall theory of neoliberalism.
Whether, how, and for whom this contradiction is resolved constitutes indias new land question. Introduction bangladesh has witnessed a parallel process of economic growth driven by, and associated dispossession of, labour. David harvey is the most significant marxist theorist of the neoliberal era and his conceptual framework is developed, chiefly, in his works the new imperialism 2003 and a brief history of neoliberalism 2005. But, on the other hand, the very nature of these events and the threats they posed economically, politically, and militarily to global security made some sort of indepth analysis imperative. The first social movements countering accumulation by dispossession in india were launched by localized social movements that often referred to themselves as. Primitive accumulation, accumulation by dispossession. Oct 16, 2012 the growing poles of accumulation by dispossession and accumulation by growth are one of the most important contradictions of capitalist reproduction in contemporary india. Perhaps one reason that harvey casts such a wide net around what constitutes accumulation by dispossession is his argument that neoliberal capitalism is no longer able to expand in the same way as it once didthat with the start of neoliberalism, accumulation by dispossession became the dominant form of accumulation. David harveys theory of accumulation by dispossession. Because accumulation by dispossession makes raw materials cheaper, the profit rate can at least temporarily go up. Using a case study from the philippines, this article applies david harveys theory of accumulation by dispossession to show how neoliberal policies enable mining corporations to locate, lay claim to, and develop mineral resources in formerly inaccessible areas, which for centuries have provided safe haven for indigenous peoples and their cultures.
982 997 778 1110 579 125 134 475 69 348 1060 31 631 606 234 46 1264 550 225 327 854 724 1277 1393 867 1244 344 400 1356 901 230 271 768 637 938 366 560 117 1420 654 442 370 1017 898