The Asian Anthropocene: Electricity and Fossil Developmentalism

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...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of Asian studies Vol. 79; no. 1; pp. 3 - 24
Main Author: Chatterjee, Elizabeth
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Pittsburgh Duke University Press, NC & IL 01.02.2020
Subjects:
20th century
Anthropocene
Asian studies
Capitalism
Climate change
Coal
Colonialism
Commodification
Consumption
Democratization
Developmentalism
Economic growth
Electricity
Energy consumption
Energy development
Entitlement
Fossil fuels
Fossils
Industrial development
Industrial Revolution
Narratives
Planned economy
Postcolonialism
Scholars
Steam power
Structuralism
Technology
Asia
India
ISSN:0021-9118, 1752-0401
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary: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.
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ISSN:0021-9118
1752-0401
DOI:10.1017/S0021911819000573