Spatialization and development: A non-hegemonic view

Critical views of development, such as post-development or alternative to development, have emphasized that the idea of development is constructed in accordance to a linear and universalist logic of time based on the Western social experience. This epistemological critique, although powerful, has been unable to present a new approach to the subject that go beyond the critique itself.

In a scenario of emergence of south-south based experiences of development, reinforced by the economic and political crises of the western industrialized nations, a new approach to the subject can find new practices and ideas.

Many efforts have been made towards an epistemic break by the subaltern studies and post-colonial theories and the path to that objective has included, in both cases, spatialization as epistemological alternative to linear and universal time. This paper aims to discuss the possibility of applying this new epistemological approach to the understanding of the process of development. To achieve the objective this work will discuss four concepts that can contribute to a more horizontal and spatialized analysis: a) Coloniality of Power as expressed by Anibal Quijano b) Ethnic Centre as presented by Walter Mignolo c) Space-time Compression in the ideas of David Harvey and Frederic Jameson and d) Ecology of Knowledge of Boaventura de Souza Santos.