Development Processes on Geographical Frontiers I

This is a session on development in the wilderness. David Harvey argues that the contradictions of capitalism requires the incorporation of more and more space into market production. This expansion occurs in frontier areas of the periphery: areas that are forested, mountainous, polar or simply very far from world-systemic cores. Frontier development has its own dynamics. Conflict with indigenous people over land and resources is endemic. Violence is common. State control is tenuous. Labor forces are migratory. Development often involves substantial ecological degradation and habitat destruction. This session is open to papers of any theoretical perspective, using any methodology and from any historical period including the present day. The subject should involve development issues in frontiers. Paper could include discussion of environmental issues and habitat preservation, discussions of dispossession or conflicts with local populations, discussions of extractive, resource-based economies, discussions of gender dynamics, or considerations of the distinctive properties of migration and labor supply in frontier settings, discussions of narcotraffic, smuggling or criminality in remote settings, discussions of internal or external warfare, or the assessment of government or NGO programs designed to protect indigenous people or frontier environments. Other topics germane to development in wilderness areas are welcome.