In his seminal work, Encountering Development, Arturo Escobar traces a history of development that begins with the Truman Doctrine and unfolds as a western plot to control and contain the so-called “Third World.” Here, development is something undertaken by western financial institutions and imposed on the economies of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. It is counter-revolutionary, intended to curtail the radical economic visions that emerged with decolonization and the formal end of empire.

But there may be other ways of telling this story, just as there are other ways of imagining development beyond the capitalist model promoted by the World Bank and the IMF. In search of these alternatives, this panel invites papers on the diverse connections between literature and development. How does literature help us to critique or rethink developmental imaginaries? How do literary works, especially those from the Global South, help us understand the work that development does—and doesn’t—do in the world? What possible futures exist for the relationship between critical development studies and the humanities? How can we use the tools and methods of literary criticism to better understand, critique, and imagine beyond western practices of development? Is it possible to think beyond development? And if so, what lies beyond?

This panel welcomes interdisciplinary work and encourages participants to think expansively about the meaning of development and its various manifestations, including underdevelopment (Walter Rodney), maldevelopment (Samir Amin), de-development (Sara Roy), development as freedom (Amartya Sen), development as anti-politics machine (James Ferguson), etc.

Possible paper topics include but are not limited to: 

• Development and decolonization 

• Development and the Cold War 

• Development and climate change

• Development and human rights 

• Development as reparative economic justice

• Decolonial engagements with development 

• Development institutions and their role in shaping literary production 

• Critical readings of development projects across the Global South 

• Close readings of institutional documents, e.g. from the World Bank, IMF, UNDP, etc.

• Ecocritical, feminist, and/or Marxist approaches to development 

• Alternative paradigms of social and economic wellbeing (e.g. sustainable development, buen vivir, etc.) 

The 56th NeMLA Annual Convention will take place in-person in Philadelphia, PA on March 6-9, 2025. 

Please submit a 200-300 word abstract and a short bio. Abstracts accepted now through October 15, 2024. Please submit directly to NeMLA site: https://cfplist.com/nemla/Home/S/21328

For inquiries, you may contact Lauren Horst at lauren.horst@columbia.edu.