The return of ‘high modernism’? Exploring the changing development paradigm through a Rwandan case study of dam construction

Dams and Damages. Conflicting Epistemological Frameworks and Interests Concerning “Compensation” for the Misicuni Project’s Socio-Environmental Impacts in Cochabamba, Bolivia

“…Similar to cases described by Dye [16] and Hidalgo, Boelens and Isch [58], the Misicuni compensation process was an example of top-down thinking, valuing supposed experts' knowledge over engagement with the local community within the logic of contracting experts for rapid assessments. While the Misicuni Company technicians and university consultants focused on physical size and monetary value, indigenous families were concerned with their ability to continue their livelihoods (see also [24,74]).…”

“…From a social and political perspective, the Misicuni project suffered a history of ups and downs that are extensively documented in [15]. She characterizes the project as "vernacular modernism" since it was promoted and defended by coalitions of city dwellers and Cochabamba Valley peasant irrigators as opposed to "high modernism" projects that used to be activated by a modernizing state elite [16,17]. However, from our examination, we concluded that the popular interest in and defense of the project did not result in a more protective stand towards affected host communities.…”

“…It is overly common that affected communities are not rightly compensated, leading to what is shamefully referred to as "resettlement poverty", as, for example, at Sudan's Merowe dam, where 50,000 people were violently displaced by the government and then experienced a 10-65% increase in poverty over two years because of poorer soil fertility and water access [16]. Such statements give credit to the general conclusion that large dam projects induce development and marginalization and give benefits and burdens in differential ways for different groups of people [7,[44][45][46][47][48].…”

Theorising the Political Economy of Dams: Towards a Research Agenda

“…Moreover, there is an abundant literature emphasising the importance of the ideological and discursive processes that shape dam construction (Swyngedouw, 2009;Menga, 2017). Indeed, rather than a rational planning exercise, there is a tendency for dam construction to become an article of faith for political elites, inherently intertwined with discourses of modernity, nation (re)building and the conquest of nature (Adams, 1992;Reisner, 1993;Hoag, 2005;Scott, 2006;Verhoeven, 2011;Everard, 2013;Menga, 2015;Swyngedouw, 2015;Dye, 2016). This often takes the form of high modernism, the ideology coined by Scott (1998) that is premised on a binary of backward, irrational and traditional peoples against those who are modern, civilised and rational, and with a unbending belief in the possibility of science and expertise to engineer better.…”

On patience: perseverance and imposed waiting during dam-induced displacement in Northern Sudan

“…Waiting has received considerable attention in studies on transnational migratory mobility and in studies of war, flight and exile in the context of conflict-induced displacement (Brun 2015;Elliot 2016;Hyndman and Giles 2011;Khosravi 2014;Turnbull 2016;Turner 2015). By focusing on those who try to stay rather than on those who are on the move, this article offers insights into how people actively seek to challenge the politics of displacement as related to the current wave of large dam projects in Africa that indicate the return or continuation of 'high modernism' on the continent (Abbink 2012;Dye 2016;Hänsch 2019;Verhoeven 2015). The planning state, coupled with authoritarian rule and a lack of civil society, embraces rationality and tends to concentrate on technical processes while ignoring its subjects (Scott 1998).…”