Degrowth Decolonization and Development

Book excerpt: Degrowth Decolonization and Development reveals common underlying cultural roots to the multiple current crises. It shows that culture is an essential sphere to initiate fundamental changes and solutions as it brings about transformative imaginaries on a theoretical, political and practical level. The book focusses on the interplay between culture and the environment, society and the economy. It provides a critique of concepts associated with the term “Development” and reveals knowledge and theories outside the comfort zone of the mainstream Western theoretical landscape, which will certainly be instrumental in the decolonization of both development theories and practices. The book convincingly reveals the large array of domains, which, when interpreted from a decolonization and Degrowth perspective, can be managed through logics of environmental justice, social equity and equality, and generate societally more desirable outcomes. The book presents a multidisciplinary perspective on the contemporary global crises and features interdisciplinary analyses thereof through the lenses of cultural studies, critical development studies, political economy, eco-feminist political ecology, anthropology and sociology. Degrowth Decolonization and Development unveils the fundamental role of the dichotomies characterizing the Western modern development paradigm in shaping today’s actions, and especially the dichotomies of Global North and Global South, Centre and Periphery, Developed and Developing/Underdeveloped, Man and Nature. Degrowth Decolonization and Development addresses all researchers and activists interested in sustainability transformation and decolonization processes in Development studies. Degrowth Decolonization and Development is structured as a collection of seven original case studies. These are authored by researchers who met when presenting their work in Decolonization and Degrowth panels from the ISEE-ESEE-Degrowth Conference, Manchester, July 5-8, 2021, and the 8th International Degrowth Conference in The Hague, Netherlands, August 24-28, 2021. The concluding chapter proposes a synthesis identifying key concepts and steps in cultural change for the decolonization of the Western worldview towards “pluriverse” alternatives. The book traces future imaginaries for modelling future new systemic solutions and a needed radical change.