DOCSLIB.ORG

The Primacy of Resistance: Anarchism, Foucault, and the Art of Not Being Governed

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Primacy of Resistance: Anarchism, Foucault, and the Art of Not Being Governed Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 11-4-2016 12:00 AM The Primacy of Resistance: Anarchism, Foucault, and the Art of Not Being Governed Derek C. Barnett The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Mark Franke The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Theory and Criticism A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Derek C. Barnett 2016 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Continental Philosophy Commons, and the Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Barnett, Derek C., "The Primacy of Resistance: Anarchism, Foucault, and the Art of Not Being Governed" (2016). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 4265. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/4265 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. i Abstract Beginning with a critical inquiry into the reasons why the field of the political is traditionally elaborated in the archic nexus between government and state sovereignty, this study examines the possibilities of elaborating an alternative theory of the political in the intersections between Michel Foucault’s theory of resistance and anarchist political theory. Taking Foucault’s fifth thesis on power from The History of Sexuality as an alternative paradigm from which to reread the history of the political, the aim of this study is to demonstrate that the hallmark of Foucault’s work emerges in the ways in which his analytic of power strategically shifts the site of politics away from its traditional locus in the exercise of government to the question of resistance. Under what I will elaborate in terms of the primacy of resistance, I argue that Foucault’s studies of power and governmentality reveal an anarchist hypothesis of the political in the critical caesura between the political as archē and the political as agōn. Affirming a mutual alliance between anarchist theory and Foucault against the orthodox foundations of political philosophy not only exposes the conceptual principles that continue to sustain Western political practices, but also opens up the space to pursue the implications of a form of politics inseparable from the elaboration of permanent ethics of revolt, a distinct way of being in the world through resistance—that is, a specific art of not being governed. When the concepts of power and government are understood to emerge on condition of resistance, the political conceived as archē reveals its own contingency, and the question of politics is redirected from a constituent theory of an oikonomia to a destituent theory of resistance, a critical ethos of becoming ungovernable, not as a revolutionary overthrow of power, but as an art of not being governed. Rather than reducing Foucault to anarchism, however, it is my contention that the intersection between them emerges in the critical attempts to locate a form of politics which, in refusing to reconstitute itself as power, could never assume the form of an archē. ii Keywords Foucault, Michel; Anarchism; Anarchist Studies; Post-Anarchism; Resistance Studies; Post-Structuralism; Political Philosophy iii Acknowledgements This project would not have been possible without the guidance, support, and time provided by my supervisor Dr. Mark Franke. Dr. Franke’s patience and careful reading of the early drafts of this work have had an immense impact on my own thought, and his invaluable role in the completion of this project exemplifies an ethos of mutual aid. A special gratitude is also to be extended to my colleagues and professors of the Centre for Theory and Criticism at the University of Western Ontario for cultivating a richly intellectual environment from which a project like this could flourish. I am eternally indebted to my mother, father, and two brothers whose love and kindness have continuously supported me throughout my endeavors. Far too many people have given me invaluable support and encouragement while I worked on this project. Although I cannot list them all, I am forever grateful to all of my friends, many of whom were the very inspiration behind the arguments developed throughout this project. Among them, I need to especially recognize Alex Hunter and Leah Ortiz whose genuine kindness is without end, Kayla Cerone and Heather Abraham for their continuous encouragement, Abby Paulos and Jeremy Arnott for offering their care in a time of need, and the Milwaukee punk community for refusing to be governed. iv Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................ i Keywords ............................................................................................................................ ii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... iv Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1 ............................................................................................................................48 1 On The Crisis of the Political: Government, Sovereignty, and the Paradigm of the Archē……………………………………………………………………………………..45 1.2 The Aristotelian Paradigm of the Archē: Politics as an Exercise of Government. .55 1.3 The Schmittian Paradigm: Sovereignty as a Political Paradigm of Government ...73 1.4 Critical Turns Toward Anarchism ..........................................................................85 1.5 Postanarchism .........................................................................................................91 1.5 Meta-politics ...........................................................................................................99 1.6 Toward a Critical Theory of Anarchism ...............................................................108 Chapter 2 ..........................................................................................................................112 2 Anarchy and Anarchism: Rethinking the Political at the Horizon of the State and the Exercise of Government ..................................................................................................112 2.1 Drawing the Line Once Again: Anarchism and Marxism on the Concept of Struggle ............................................................................................................................117 2.2 Defining Anarchism ..............................................................................................127 2.3 Anarchy as a Philosophical Principle ...................................................................135 2.4 Anarchy as a Historical Principle of Intelligibility of the Political ......................143 2.6 Anarchy as a Historical Paradigm of Resistance ..................................................156 2.7 Towards an Anarchist Hypothesis of the Political ................................................170 Chapter 3 ..........................................................................................................................174 3 An Anarchist Hypothesis of the Political: Foucault, Critique and the Art of Not Being Governed ...............................................................................................................174 3.1 Anarchaeology: Foucault’s Critical Anarchist Methodology ...............................183 3.2 Essays in Refusal: Critique and the Struggle Against Authority ..........................193 3.3 Critique and the Art of Not Being Governed ........................................................211 3.4 Towards a Theory of the Primacy of Resistance ..................................................233 v Chapter 4 ..........................................................................................................................238 4 The Primacy of Resistance .......................................................................................238 4.1 Critical Reception of Foucauldian Resistance ......................................................242 4.2 The Analytic of Power and the Turn toward the Study of Resistance ..................250 4.3 On the Primacy of Resistance ...............................................................................268 4.4 From Power to Politics..........................................................................................297 Chapter 5 ..........................................................................................................................304 5 From Archē to Agōn .................................................................................................304 5.1 Critical Reception of Society Must Be Defended and the War Model of the Political ............................................................................................................................311 5.2 Genealogy as an Analytic of Historical Struggle and Discourses of Resistance ..317 5.3 Politics as the Continuation of War ......................................................................323 5.4 Against
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Historical Critique Or Transcendental Critique in Foucault: Two Kantian Lineages Colin Koopman, University of Oregon
    Colin Koopman 2010 ISSN: 1832-5203 Foucault Studies, No. 8, pp. 100-121, February 2010 ARTICLE Historical Critique or Transcendental Critique in Foucault: Two Kantian Lineages Colin Koopman, University of Oregon ABSTRACT: A growing body of interpretive literature concerning the work of Michel Foucault asserts that Foucault’s critical project is best interpreted in light of various strands of philosophical phenomenology. In this article I dispute this interpretation on both textual and philosophical grounds. It is shown that a core theme of ‘the phenomenological Foucault’ having to do with transcendental inquiry cannot be sustained by a careful reading of Foucault’s texts nor by a careful interpretation of Foucault’s philosophical commitments. It is then shown that this debate in Foucault scholarship has wider ramifications for understanding ‘the critical Foucault’ and the relationship of Foucault’s projects to Kantian critical philosophy. It is argued that Foucault’s work is Kantian at its core insofar as it institutes a critical inquiry into conditions of possibility. But whereas critique for Kant was transcendental in orientation, in Foucault critique becomes historical, and is much the better for it. Keywords: Michel Foucault, Critique, Immanuel Kant, Phenomenology, Transcen- dental Critique. 100 Koopman: Historical Critique or Transcendental Crititique in Foucault ‚You seem to me Kantian or Husserlian. In all of my work I strive instead to avoid any reference to this transcendental as a condition of the possibility for any knowledge. When I say that I strive to avoid it, I don’t mean that I am sure of succeeding< I try to historicize to the utmost to leave as little space as possible to the transcendental.
    [Show full text]
  • Download the List of History Films and Videos (PDF)
    Video List in Alphabetical Order Department of History # Title of Video Description Producer/Dir Year 532 1984 Who controls the past controls the future Istanb ul Int. 1984 Film 540 12 Years a Slave In 1841, Northup an accomplished, free citizen of New Dolby 2013 York, is kidnapped and sold into slavery. Stripped of his identity and deprived of dignity, Northup is ultimately purchased by ruthless plantation owner Edwin Epps and must find the strength to survive. Approx. 134 mins., color. 460 4 Months, 3 Weeks and Two college roommates have 24 hours to make the IFC Films 2 Days 235 500 Nations Story of America’s original inhabitants; filmed at actual TIG 2004 locations from jungles of Central American to the Productions Canadian Artic. Color; 372 mins. 166 Abraham Lincoln (2 This intimate portrait of Lincoln, using authentic stills of Simitar 1994 tapes) the time, will help in understanding the complexities of our Entertainment 16th President of the United States. (94 min.) 402 Abe Lincoln in Illinois “Handsome, dignified, human and moving. WB 2009 (DVD) 430 Afghan Star This timely and moving film follows the dramatic stories Zeitgest video 2009 of your young finalists—two men and two very brave women—as they hazard everything to become the nation’s favorite performer. By observing the Afghani people’s relationship to their pop culture. Afghan Star is the perfect window into a country’s tenuous, ongoing struggle for modernity. What Americans consider frivolous entertainment is downright revolutionary in this embattled part of the world. Approx. 88 min. Color with English subtitles 369 Africa 4 DVDs This epic series presents Africa through the eyes of its National 2001 Episode 1 Episode people, conveying the diversity and beauty of the land and Geographic 5 the compelling personal stories of the people who shape Episode 2 Episode its future.
    [Show full text]
  • National Conference of Christians and Jews, Washington, D.C., January
    REMARKS VICE PRES I DENT HUBERT HUMPHREY NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF CHRISTIANS AND JEWS WASHINGTON, D. C. JANUARY 31, 1967 ~ 1 am privileged to accept this National Brotherhood Citation on behalf of President Johnson, and to express to you his profound appreciation of this honor and his regret that he was unable to be with you tonight ( ~~~~.J J. President Johnson said in his State of the Union Message that this was a time of testing for Americans. 6 f many people applied this just to Vietnam, or to our international responsibilities. L-.._ But this i ~ of testing here at home too. ~ Again} in the President's words, "the questi!l12Js whether we will continue working for better opportunities for ~ Americans, when most Americans are already living better than any people in history." -2- There is no question that \Aetnam, and our other international obligations, do require resources which might otherwise be devoted to building wider and better opportunity here in America. - ~ ~ ~ ~· ~nd may I say, parenthetically, that our efforts to resist agg ~!!OJ~ ciple of national independenc:~ i~tnam also have a great deal to do with A the building of human opportunity~tlA-/._~ 1 ~ ut I wonder: Should we cut back here at hom~ What are the facts of ou r Amen. can economy.? I L_ The fact is that we have ~one 70 strcll,g ht months without inte rr uption of ou r economic expansion --the .,longest . and strongest expansion in our history-- and that 1967 will be anothe r year- of balanced growth. -3- L!,he fact is that our nation's output, last year, grew more than 5 per cent for the third straight year -- and that's another record fo r length and strength.
    [Show full text]
  • Ethical Invention in Sartre and Foucault: Courage, Freedom, Transformation
    © Dr. Kimberly S. Engels ISSN: 1832-5203 DOI: https://doi.org/10.22439/fs.v27i27.5893 Foucault Studies, No. 27, 96-116, December 2019 ARTICLE Ethical Invention in Sartre and Foucault: Courage, Freedom, Transformation DR. KIMBERLY S. ENGELS Molloy College, USA ABSTRACT. This article explores the concept of ethical invention in both Jean-Paul Sartre’s and Michel Foucault’s later lectures and interviews, showing that a courageous disposition to invent or transform plays a key role in both thinkers’ visions of ethics. Three of Sartre’s post-Critique of Dialectical Reason lectures on ethics are examined: Morality and History, The Rome Lecture, and A Plea for Intellectuals. It is shown that ethical invention for Sartre requires the use of our freedom to transcend our current circumstances, a willingness to break away from harmful ideologies, and directing our free praxis towards the goal of universal humanism. Examining several of Foucault’s interviews alongside his lecture series The Government of Self and Others and The Courage of Truth, it is shown that ethical invention for Foucault requires a rejection of necessities or inevitabilities in our current landscape, a willingness to reshape our current beliefs, and a philosophical way of life that results in an alteration of the relationship to self and others. For both thinkers, ethical inven- tion should be preceded by a critical reflection on ourselves in our historical moment. Both argue that ethical invention requires a rejection of the inherent value of our world and realization that the conditions of possibility for being subjects are malleable. Last, it is shown that both philoso- phers specifically call philosophers or intellectuals to invent.
    [Show full text]
  • Hippolyte Havel E Os Artistas Do Revolt Hippolyte Havel and the Artists of Revolt
    Hippolyte Havel e os artistas do Revolt Hippolyte Havel and the artists of Revolt Allan Antliff Professor titular de História da Arte na Universidade de Victoria (Canada). RESUMO: Este artigo consiste em um estudo de caso acerca das relações entre o anarquismo e os movimentos artísticos que romperam as convenções e as formas estéticas estabelecidas no início do século XX até a I Guerra Mundial, como o futurismo e o cubismo. Apresenta as atividades de Hippolyte Havel, anarquista tcheco, que morou em Nova Iorque, nesse período, e demonstra também o empenho deste e especialmente de seu círculo de artistas e militantes em divulgar, fortalecer e experimentar tais correntes estéticas e libertárias. Destaca dentre os periódicos que ele fundou: O Almanaque Revolucionário e o jornal A Revolta, assim como as contribuições que estes receberam de diversos artistas envolvidos com a contestação de forças conservadoras e capitalistas. Palavras-chave: anarquismo, futurismo, cubismo, inicio do século XX. ABSTRACT: This article consists of a case study about the relationship between anarchism and artistic movements that broke conventions and established aesthetic forms in the early twentieth century until World War I, as Futurism and Cubism. It presents the activities of Hippolyte Havel, Czech anarchist who lived in New York during this period, and also demonstrates the commitment of him and specially of of artists and activists around him to publicize, strengthen and experience such aesthetic and libertarian currents. It highlighted two periodicals he founded: The Revolutionary Almanac and the jornal Revolt, as well as the contributions they received from various artists involved in contesting the conservative and capitalist forces.
    [Show full text]
  • In the Later Philosophy of Paul Feyerabend
    Durham E-Theses Pluralism and the 'Problem of Reality' in the Later Philosophy of Paul Feyerabend KIDD, IAN,JAMES How to cite: KIDD, IAN,JAMES (2010) Pluralism and the 'Problem of Reality' in the Later Philosophy of Paul Feyerabend, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/864/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Kidd Pluralism and the ‘Problem of Reality’ in the Later Philosophy of Paul Feyerabend Abstract Feyerabend’s later philosophy was a sustained defence of cultural and epistemic diversity. After Against Method (1975) Feyerabend argued that his rejection of methodological monism challenged the presumed unity and superiority of scientific knowledge and practices. His later philosophy was therefore dedicated to a reassessment of the merits of a wide range of ‘non-scientific’ traditions present throughout non-Western indigenous cultures.
    [Show full text]
  • Was Foucault a Philosopher of Technology? Jim Gerrie Wilfrid Laurier University
    Techné 7:2 Winter 2003 Gerrie, Foucault and the Philosophy of Technology / 14 Was Foucault a Philosopher of Technology? Jim Gerrie Wilfrid Laurier University It is hard to specify the exact philosophical focus of Michel Foucault. He has been described as a post-structuralist, post-modernist, sociologist, phenomenologist, social theoretician, transcendental historicist, and even a nihilist. Another way that his work has been categorized is as a contribution to the field of epistemology. Ian Hacking, for instance, describes Foucault’s book The Order of Things as being about “some immature sciences—chiefly those whose foci are ‘life, labor, and language’” (Hacking 2002, 88). Hacking concludes that Foucault’s work “is philosophical because life, labor, language and ‘Man’ are among the topics of philosophy. It is also philosophical because it exemplifies a theory of knowledge, in both theoretical and practical terms. His archaeology, as he calls it, is a way of investigating the groundwork of bodies of knowledge” (88). In the index of Hacking’s book Historical Ontology, in which he examines The Order of Things very closely, the term “technology” is listed only once. I find this to be a curious fact, because in the first dozen pages of the Order of Things one finds numerous instances of technological terminology and metaphor, such as the following: “system”, “schema”, “framework”, “procedure”, “structure”, “technique”, “institution”, “formulas”; “division of labor”, “system of institutions”, “systems of exclusion”, “complex grid”, “ritualized forms”, “forms deployed”, “instrumental investments”, “strata of practices”, “system of books”, “prodigious machinery”, “construction of new statements” and “a play of rules and definitions, of techniques and instruments” (Foucault 1998, 1-12).
    [Show full text]
  • Paul Feyerabend
    Against Method Fourth Edition Paul Feyerabend VERSO London • New York Analytical Index Being a Sketch of the Main Argument Introdnction 1 Science is an essentially anarchic enterprise: theoretical anarchism is more humanitarian and more likely to encourage progress than its law-and-order alternatives. 1 7 This is shown both by an examination of historical episodes and by an abstract analysis of the relation between idea and action. The only principle that does not inhibit progress is: anything goes. 2 13 For example, we may use hypotheses that contradict well-confirmed theories and/or well-established experimental results. We may advance science by proceeding counterinductively. 3 17 The consistency condition which demands that new hypotheses agree with accepted theories is unreasonable because it preserves the older theory, and not the better theory. Hypotheses contradicting well-confirmed theories give us evidence that cannot be obtained in any other way. Proliferation of theories is beneficial for science, while uniformity impairs its critical power. Uniformity also endangers the free development of the individual. 4 ~ There is no idea, however ancient and absurd, that is not capable of improving our knowledge. The whole history of thought is absorbed into science and is used for improving every single theory. Nor is political interference rejected. It may be needed to overcome the chauvinism of science that resists alternatives to the status quo. xxx ANAL YTICAL INDEX 5 33 No theory ever agrees with all the facts in its domain, yet it is not always the theory that is to blame. Facts are constituted by older ideologies, and a clash between facts and theories may be proof ofprogress.
    [Show full text]
  • Anarchy in the PA? Anti-Essentialism, Anti-Statism, and the Future of Public Administration
    CONFERENCE DRAFT This paper is not intended for general circulation and may not be cited without the permission of the author. Anarchy in the PA? Anti-Essentialism, Anti-Statism, and the Future of Public Administration Thomas J. Catlaw Assistant Professor School of Public Affairs Arizona State University 411 North Central Avenue Mail Code 3720, Suite 450 Phoenix, AZ 85004 Email: [email protected] Phone (602) 496-0459 Paper prepared for presentation at the “Public Administration and Anti-Essentialism” Conference, Florida Atlantic University, Fort Lauderdale, FL—March 2-3, 2007 Introduction Authority has been an ongoing focus of scholarly and intellectual investigation for nearly entirety of modern social science. In sociology, this concern can be tracked from Weber’s famous typologies and Durkheim’s exposition of anomie, a state induced by the decline of regulative authority relations, through the 1960’s “twilight of authority” (Nisbet, 1975) and the contemporary declaration of a “post-traditional” order (Giddens, 1994). Authority has also received enormous consideration in political science and political philosophy (Agamben, 2005; Arendt, 1958; Benne, 1943; DeGeorge, 1985; Engles, 1978; Flathman, 1980; Friedrich, 1972; Laski, 2000/1919; Lowi, 1970; McKercher, 1989), anthropology (W. B. Miller, 1955; Turner, 1969), organizational sociology (Blau, 1968; Dalton, Barnes, & Zaleznik, 1973/1968; Meyer, 1972), psychology (Kelman & Hamilton, 1989), and a wide range of provocative interdisciplinary legal, political, and psychological perspectives (Diggins & Kann, 1981; Friedrich, 1958; Horkheimer, 1972; Lincoln, 1994; Pennock & Chapman, 1987; Sennett, 1980). The literature on the topic is internally contradictory and voluminous—not withstanding the fact that consideration of authority readily expands into equally nebulous and complex concepts such as power, legitimacy, the state, and the nature of social order itself with no obvious analytic or historical limit.
    [Show full text]
  • Structures of Desire: Postanarchist Kink in the Speculative Fiction Of
    Chapter 7 Structures of desire Postanarchist kink in the speculative fiction of Octavia Butler and Samuel Delany Lewis Call It's a beautiful universe ... wondrous and the more exciting because no one has written plays and poems and built sculptures to indicate the structure of desire I negotiate every day as I move about in it. -Samuel Delany, Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand The problem of power is one of the major philosophical and political preoccupations of the modern West. It is a problem which has drawn the attention of some of the greatest minds of the nineteenth and twentieth cen­ turies, including Fried~ich Nietzsche and Michel Foucault. I have argued else­ where that the philosophies of power articulated by Nietzsche and Foucault stand as prototypes of an innovative form of anarchist theory, one which finds liberatory potential in the disintegration of the modern self and its liberal humanist politics (Call 2002: chs 1 and 2). Lately this kind of theory has become known as postanarchism. For me, postanarchism refers to a form of contemporary anarchist theory which draws extensively upon postmodern and poststructuralist philosophy in order to push anarchism beyond its traditional boundaries. Postanarchism tries to do this by adding important new ideas to anarchism's traditional critiques of statism and capitalism. Two of these ideas are especially significant for the present essay: the Foucauldian philosophy of power, which sees power as omnipresent but allows us to distinguish between power's various forms, and the Lacanian concept of subjectivity, which understands the self to be constituted by and through its desire.
    [Show full text]
  • Bgsu1245712232.Pdf (295.66
    BODILY BORDERS/NATIONAL BORDERS: TOWARD A POST-NATIONALIST VALUATION OF LIFE IN THE CASE OF KIMBERLY MEDINA-TEJADA Jason Zeh A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS August 2009 Committee: Jolie Sheffer, Advisor Kimberly Coates © 2009 Jason Zeh All Rights Reserved ii ABSTRACT Dr Jolie Sheffer, Advisor Drawing upon the theories of Judith Butler, William Godwin, Gloria Anzaldúa, and Michel Foucault, I perform a close reading and textual analysis of a February 24, 2006 court case from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California entitled “Richardo Medina-Tejada, Plaintiff, v. Sacramento County; Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department; Sheriff Lou Blanas; and Does 1 through XXX, inclusive, Defendants.” In this case, Kimberly (Richardo) Medina-Tejada, a transgender illegal immigrant from Mexico, challenges the constitutionality of her classification by the Sheriff’s Department as a “T-Sep,” or “total separation” inmate, while detained in the Sacramento County Main Jail awaiting deportation. The project explores a particular convergence of nationally specific discourses on race, gender, and citizenship that render Medina-Tejada’s body unintelligible and incapable of being afforded moral worth. I argue that the Nation-State, as a unit of social, political, economic, and cultural organization, is a fragile concept that must be vigorously guarded against threats to its epistemological foundations. This case reveals the State’s profound fear of transgressive modes of embodiment that challenge the categories upon which it is built. As such, Medina-Tejada’s body becomes a site in which the State’s oppression and repression of individual bodies becomes evident.
    [Show full text]
  • A Study of Permaculture and Anarchism in Global Justice Movements in New Zealand
    AN ALTERNATIVE TO DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK: A STUDY OF PERMACULTURE AND ANARCHISM IN GLOBAL JUSTICE MOVEMENTS IN NEW ZEALAND By Tazia Gaisford A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Development Studies Victoria University of Wellington 2011 2 Abstract This study is a response to calls for alternatives to development by post- development authors and critics of post-development alike. It asks “can the praxis of permaculture and anarchism provide an alternative to development?” Although alternatives to development arguably do not exist untouched by the dominant development paradigm, it is possible to imagine and to create the different possible organisations based on principles of mutual aid, direct action and self-management. Anarchism as a politically focused social philosophy and permaculture as an ecologically focused design philosophy are mutually beneficial in strengthening each other. The combined analysis of alternatives to development uses case studies in the Wellington Region, primarily Climate Camp Aotearoa, with permaculture and anarchist principles, and contributes another perspective to the post-development debate. The two approaches share converging central ethics, principles and struggles of praxis. They recognise that transformative change is necessary. Whether it is called a cultural revolution, transition or paradigm shift, the underlying recognition is that we need to live more harmoniously with each other and the natural environment by creating diverse post-industrial societies. Many tools, principles and processes advocated by alternative development and post-development are the same. However, the combination of those tools, principles and processes, and how they are designed and applied in relation to each other systemically, are significant in determining whether or not the intent is that of an alternative to development.
    [Show full text]