Journal article
‘Behemoth Pulls the Peasant’s Plough’: Convergence and Resistance to Business Civilization in China
Globalizations, Vol.13(5), pp.622-637
2016
Abstract
It has been widely held that China's development was forged from a unique pathway to that of Western countries. As a result, it has been assumed that China's historical experience of modernization contains important lessons for other developing states. However, as we show, modernization in China can be seen as sharing many of the same assumptions of development as the West. Using insights from Cox's work on civilizations-particularly the notion of 'Business Civilization' (adapted from Susan Strange)-our paper examines how modernization theoretic assumptions underpin both Chinese and World Bank perspectives on agricultural development not only within China but also across their engagements, policies, and practices of development throughout Africa. We argue that development constitutes a political project historically inseparable from La mission civilisatrice of Business Civilization, extending a form of intersubjectivity and materiality, power and rationality, based on a specific civilizational worldview. This process retains a number of contradictions and points of conflict and we focus on the resistances of traditional forms of civilization in contestations around the imposition of commercialized agriculture. © 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Details
- Title
- ‘Behemoth Pulls the Peasant’s Plough’: Convergence and Resistance to Business Civilization in China
- Authors
- G Karavas (Corresponding Author) - University of QueenslandShannon Brincat (Corresponding Author) - Griffith University
- Publication details
- Globalizations, Vol.13(5), pp.622-637
- Publisher
- Routledge
- DOI
- 10.1080/14747731.2016.1204079
- ISSN
- 1474-7731
- Organisation Unit
- Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre; Forest Research Institute; School of Law and Society; School of Social Sciences - Legacy; Sustainability Research Centre; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; Tropical Forests & People Research Centre
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99451367702621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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