Abstract
One particular focus of world-systems analysis is to examine the historical trajectory of capitalist transformation in peripheral regions. This paper investigates the capitalist transformation in a specific peripheral area—the country of Bangladesh. In particular, it examines the role of dispossession in transforming an agricultural society into a neoliberal capitalist society by looking at the transformation of Panthapath Street in Dhaka, Bangladesh, since 1947. Building on the existing literature of dispossession, this article proposes an approach that explains the contribution of dispossession in capitalist accumulation. The proposed theory consists of four logics of dispossession: transformative, exploitative, redistributive, and hegemonic. These four logics of dispossession, both individually and dialectically reinforcing one another, work to privatize the commons, proletarianize subsistence laborers, create antagonistic class relations, redistribute wealth upward, and commodify sociopolitical and cultural aspects of urban life. This paper’s central argument is that dispossession not only converted an agricultural society into a capitalist society in Bangladesh, but that dispossession continues to reproduce the country’s existing capitalist system. This research draws on a wide range of empirical and historical evidence collected from Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2017 and 2018.
Highlights
One particular focus of world-systems analysis is to examine the historical trajectory of capitalist transformation in peripheral regions
Due to these capitalist interventions and multiple waves of dispossession from 1947 to 2021, Bangladesh transitioned from an agricultural society with over 96 percent of its population living in rural areas into a neoliberal capitalist society with nearly 36 percent of its population living in urban areas
While this study focuses on Panthapath Street, Dhaka, this case study reveals the larger pattern of transformation through dispossession, which has been repeated in urban areas throughout Bangladesh and in much of the developing world
Summary
One particular focus of world-systems analysis is to examine the historical trajectory of capitalist transformation in peripheral regions. In the mid-1960s, global capitalism, coercive developmental practices, and unplanned urbanization began in Bangladesh (known as East Pakistan from 1947-1971), which dispossessed millions of people in rural and urban centers, including Dhaka (Feldman 2016; Feldman and Geisler 2012; Muhammad 1992; Siddiqui et al 2010; Zaman 2008) Due to these capitalist interventions and multiple waves of dispossession from 1947 to 2021, Bangladesh transitioned from an agricultural society with over 96 percent of its population living in rural areas into a neoliberal capitalist society with nearly 36 percent of its population living in urban areas.
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