Description
Book SynopsisThe focus of this volume is on political discourse about the pattern and desirability of economic development, and how/why historical interpretations of social phenomena connected to this systemic process alter. It is a trajectory pursued here with reference to the materialism of Marxism, via the mid-nineteenth century ideas about race, through the development decade, the ‘cultural turn’, debates about modes of production and their respective labour regimes, culminating in the role played by immigration before and after the Brexit referendum. Also examined is the trajectory followed by travel writing, and how many of its core assumptions overlap with those made in the social sciences and development studies. The object is to account for the way concepts informing these trajectories do or do not alter.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Figures and Tables Introduction (Steps Forward or Backwards?) Reified Notions, Fantasmic Representations? Transition, Critique, Silence Marxist Methodology? A Lesser Status and a Distant Place? A Distant Place as a Greater Status Themes part 1 Travelling On 1 Racisms (Home and Away) Introduction: A Place in the World Blood of the Founders The Good Things of This World Music, Speech, Passion A Faint Uneasy Movement They Are Our Brothers One’s Own Free Will To See with Distorted Vision Avoiding the Question Samuel Smiles Revisited A Dearth of Workers Steady Work, Job Security Conclusion 2 Anti-capitalisms (Lessons Unlearned by Postmodernists) Introduction: The Anti-capitalism of Pro-slavery Discourse For the Mutual Benefit of Both Pro-slavery and/as (Conservative) Anti-capitalism Forging New Chains for Themselves All Capital Is Created by Labour (Pro-slavery) Contradictions, (Postmodern) Similarities Pro-slavery, Postmodernism, and Identity Politics Empowering Populism Conclusion 3 Transitions (Real and Imagined) Introduction: Simple Transitions? The Parting to Come? Trading Places Feudalism, but Not Yet … Free but Tied? Workers, or Tenants? Modes and Beams How Do We Know? Since the Beginning of the World Conclusion 4 Trajectories (to and from Unfreedom) Introduction: Quo Vadis, Domine? 1950 to 1980 1980 to 2000 2000 to the Present Theory, Methods, Problems India: 18th Century Onwards India: 1960s Onwards UK: 2015 Onwards Conclusion part 2 On Travel 5 Travellers, or Tourists? (Journeys Outside Europe) Introduction: An Instinctive Simplicity, a Thoughtless Idealism Hello, I Must Be Going Tourists Who Are Not Tourists The Ruin(s) of Time, the Time of Ruin(s) Is Your Journey Really Necessary? Traveller’s Tales Ragpickers of History Unevolved People Pristine Other, Untouched Land Conclusion 6 Tourists, or Travellers? (European Journeys) Introduction: Songs of Travel City and Countryside Class, Race, Blood Away from Home Always Defeated? Land, Politics, Fascism Peasants, Ancient and Modern Conclusion 7 Arrivals, Not Departures (on Never Leaving Venice) Introduction: Venice, Tourism and the Agrarian Myth The Ox Spoke It Is Not Easy to Do One’s Duty Loaded Pistols, Ominous Chatter Real and Loveable? A Dream Long Lost Conclusion 8 Other Worlds (Neo-populist Journeys) Introduction: Worlds of Difference? Chayanov: The Economic Case Chayanov: The Economic Case Against Chayanov: The Political Case Against Undiscovered Country? Journeys: Space, Time, Politics Valuable Warnings, Wholesome Reprimands Conclusion Conclusion (Better Worlds?) Bibliography Author Index Subject Index
