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The Asian Anthropocene: Electricity and Fossil Developmentalism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 September 2019

Elizabeth Chatterjee Open the ORCID record for Elizabeth Chatterjee [Opens in a new window]
Elizabeth Chatterjee*
Affiliation:
Elizabeth Chatterjee (l.chatterjee@qmul.ac.uk) is Lecturer in the School of Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary University of London.
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Abstract

Much scholarship extrapolates global narratives of the Anthropocene from the “fossil capitalism” of European imperial powers. This analysis deploys the alternative lens of grid electricity—the great macro-technology of the twentieth century—to reevaluate the dynamics of the Anthropocene outside the Anglozone. Histories of Asian electrification refute the notion of any simple relationship between colonialism and fossil capitalism. Instead, they point towards a postcolonial trend of fossil developmentalism. Especially in the context of late development, energy expansion became a state-led moral project. Cutting against fossil capitalism's logic of commodification, electricity provision was increasingly conceptualized as a national good and an entitlement, even if one honored in the breach. This trend transcended the distinction between market and planned economies, and extended beyond formal democracies. The (partial) democratization of consumption brought by fossil developmentalism is the hallmark of the “Great Acceleration” in human impacts on the environment since 1950.

Keywords

CapitaloceneChinaclimate changecoalcolonialismconsumptionelectrificationenergyIndiastate-led development
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 79 , Issue 1 , February 2020 , pp. 3 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 2019

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