Abstract:
Understanding new actors in development requires a reconsideration of how subjects come to be and how collectivities are formed. This paper works with post-structuralist notions of subjectivities and collectivities as ‘series’ in three distinct cultural historical geographies to show the subtle ambiguities in contemporary practices of development. Working with Iris Marion Young’s conceptualisation of seriality, it provides an Antipodean perspective on the entanglements of contemporary critical geography with new development actors through case studies of indigenous scholars in Te Rarawa in Aotearoa/New Zealand, of contract scholars and a philanthropist in West Bengal and of feminist activist scholars in the Pacific. In doing so, it points to the need to radically rethink participation in development by closely analysing the ways in which the subjects are constituted, and the critical role of visions within development narratives, actions and practice.