Spatialization of Calculability, Financialization of Space: A Study of the Kolkata Port
01 Jan 2018-pp 47-67
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors study the Kolkata Port Trust and show that the particularities of correspondence between institutional apparatuses and specific regimes of calculability and speculation are crucial to the success of the port.
Abstract: This chapter seeks to understand logistical governance from two specific yet interconnected perspectives, that is, the spatialization of calculability and the financialization of space. The Kolkata (erstwhile Calcutta) Port is a site where these two perspectives collide and communicate with each other and give birth to a particular form of logistical governance. This form of governance requires negotiations with, and navigations through, a network of institutional apparatuses which produce the material basis of calculations and speculations that envisage the connections between infrastructure and logistics. I show that logistical governance in the Kolkata Port rests on the particularities of correspondence between institutional apparatuses like the Kolkata Port Trust (the semi-autonomous management authority which runs the port) and specific regimes of calculability and speculation.
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that economic action is provoked by technologies of the imagination that generate speculation and that the fortunes of business, trade and the livelihoods of informalised workers rest on these practices, which generate shortterm unstable forms of capital accumulation.
Abstract: Economic theory and technocratic policy have long understood economic action to be a communicative activity. From Laplace and Adam Smith to current liberalisation fiscal policy in India designed to produce price signals and entrepreneurial behaviour this conceptualisation has been dominant. Instead this article draws on the anthropology of divination to argue that capitalist action is provoked by technologies of the imagination that generate speculation. These issues are explored in the context of changing forms of governance of the Hooghly riverine economy by bureaucrats in the Kolkata Port Trust. Through ethnography we track how public-private partnerships are forged by exemplary men or 'seers' deploying divinatory action. The fortunes of business, trade and the livelihoods of informalised workers rest on these practices, which generate short-term unstable forms of capital accumulation. Drawing on this case, we can potentially develop comparative critical approaches to the recent emergence of popularist-speculators in India and elsewhere.
20 citations
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Book•
01 Jan 2009
TL;DR: Harvey's "Social Justice and the City" as mentioned in this paper is perhaps the most widely cited work in the field of urban geography and is a foundational text in urban geography, now updated to include the essay "The Right to the City". Throughout his distinguished and influential career, David Harvey has defined and redefined the relationship among politics, capitalism and the social aspects of geographical theory.
Abstract: This is a foundational text in urban geography, now updated to include the essay 'The Right to the City'. Throughout his distinguished and influential career, David Harvey has defined and redefined the relationship among politics, capitalism, and the social aspects of geographical theory. Laying out Harvey's position that geography could not remain objective in the face of urban poverty and associated ills, "Social Justice and the City" is perhaps the most widely cited work in the field. Harvey analyzes core issues in city planning and policy - employment and housing location, zoning, transport costs, concentrations of poverty - asking in each case about the relationship between social justice and space. How, for example, do built-in assumptions about planning reinforce existing distributions of income? Rather than leading him to liberal, technocratic solutions, Harvey's line of inquiry pushes him in the direction of a 'revolutionary geography', one that transcends the structural limitations of existing approaches to space. Harvey's emphasis on rigorous thought and theoretical innovation gives the volume an enduring appeal. This is a book that raises big questions, and for that reason geographers and other social scientists regularly return to it.
1,947 citations
01 Oct 1999
TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the relationship between models and theories and the importance of models in scientific practice; however, they feel there is much more to be said concerning the dynamics involved in model construction, function and use.
Abstract: Models are one of the critical instruments of modern science. We know that models function in a variety of different ways within the sciences to help us to learn not only about theories but also about the world. So far, however, there seems to be no systematic account of how they operate in both of these domains. The semantic view as discussed in the previous chapter does provide some analysis of the relationship between models and theories and the importance of models in scientific practice; but, we feel there is much more to be said concerning the dynamics involved in model construction, function and use. One of the points we want to stress is that when one looks at examples of the different ways that models function, we see that they occupy an autonomous role in scientific work. In this chapter we want to outline, using examples from both the chapters in this volume and elsewhere, an account of models as autonomous agents , and to show how they function as instruments of investigation. We believe there is a significant connection between the autonomy of models and their ability to function as instruments. It is precisely because models are partially independent of both theories and the world that they have this autonomous component and so can be used as instruments of exploration in both domains.
472 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the fortunes of business, trade, and the livelihoods of informalized workers rest on these practices, which generate short-term unstable forms of capital accumulation.
Abstract: Economic theory and technocratic policy have long understood economic action to be a communicative activity. From Pierre-Simon Laplace and Adam Smith to current liberalization fiscal policy in India designed to produce price signals and entrepreneurial behavior this conceptualization has been dominant. Instead this article draws on the anthropology of divination to argue that capitalist action is provoked by technologies of the imagination that generate speculation. These issues are explored in the context of changing forms of governance of the Hooghly riverine economy by bureaucrats in the Kolkata Port Trust. Through ethnography we track how public-private partnerships are forged by exemplary men, or seers, deploying divinatory action. The fortunes of business, trade, and the livelihoods of informalized workers rest on these practices, which generate short-term unstable forms of capital accumulation. Drawing on this case, we can potentially develop comparative critical approaches to the recent emergence of popularist speculators in India and elsewhere.
24 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that economic action is provoked by technologies of the imagination that generate speculation and that the fortunes of business, trade and the livelihoods of informalised workers rest on these practices, which generate shortterm unstable forms of capital accumulation.
Abstract: Economic theory and technocratic policy have long understood economic action to be a communicative activity. From Laplace and Adam Smith to current liberalisation fiscal policy in India designed to produce price signals and entrepreneurial behaviour this conceptualisation has been dominant. Instead this article draws on the anthropology of divination to argue that capitalist action is provoked by technologies of the imagination that generate speculation. These issues are explored in the context of changing forms of governance of the Hooghly riverine economy by bureaucrats in the Kolkata Port Trust. Through ethnography we track how public-private partnerships are forged by exemplary men or 'seers' deploying divinatory action. The fortunes of business, trade and the livelihoods of informalised workers rest on these practices, which generate short-term unstable forms of capital accumulation. Drawing on this case, we can potentially develop comparative critical approaches to the recent emergence of popularist-speculators in India and elsewhere.
20 citations