Post-Development: Rethinking emancipation

The model of emancipation at the heart of most Western modes of liberation is based on overcoming the realm of necessity and of nature, rather than of finding a way to live within limits, argued Mies and Shiva (1995). In our contemporary era of catastrophic over-extension of planetary boundaries, this has profound implications. This paper argues that post-development critiques enable a reimagination of concepts and practices of emancipation. Part of this work of rethinking involves reconsideration of how critical politics has largely been constructed as a developmental overcoming of dimensions of the religious and the spiritual. Reclaiming dimensions of the non-material need not require rejection of reason and rationality when a relational spirituality beyond the death of god is utilized as a resource. The paper thus lays the ground for an emancipatory politics rooted in creative acceptance of limits.