Handbook of Translocal Development and Global Mobilities

Edited by Annelies Zoomers, Professor of International Development Studies, Utrecht University, Maggi Leung, Department of Geography, Planning and International Development Studies, University of Amsterdam, Kei Otsuki and Guus Van Westen, Associate Professors, Department of Human Geography and Planning, Utrecht University, the Netherlands

This timely Handbook demonstrates that global linkages, flows and circulations merit a more central place in theorization about development. Calling for a mobilities turn, it challenges the sedentarist assumptions which still underlie much policy making and planning for the future.

‘This exceptionally rich and innovative text engages issues of translocal development and mobility through detailed, often empirically-based case studies. Its chapters expand on how meta-trend such as digitalization and environmental degradation affect development, and advocate for a mobilities perspective in analysing and addressing resulting issues. “Local” perspectives are highlighted to give guidance to policymakers on how to avoid the pitfalls and unintended consequences of previous approaches. It offers us a new way to think through the major issues of our time.’
– Pádraig Carmody, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

‘Globalizing capitalism, originally imagined by global policymakers as diffusing development from North to South and enabling the latter to catch-up, has a much more complex, networked spatiality triggering persistently uneven outcomes. This important collection interrogates this complexity and its implications. Trans-local development interrogates how global networks of capital, commodities, logistics and migrants, unevenly connecting the world, come to earth: differentially shaping local landscapes and conditions of possibility for progress towards the good life, while also being shaped by local agency and initiative. Unraveling the implications for specific communities across the post-colony, these essays illuminate how contemporary globalization leapfrogs across space in ways that advantage certain localities and positionalities at the expense of many others. Readers will see the development implications of globalizing capitalism in new and transformative ways.’
– Eric Sheppard, University of California, Los Angeles, US

结合新的实证研究with novel conceptualizations, the Handbook of Translocal Development and Global Mobilities explores the complex and changing ways in which global flows are restructuring livelihood possibilities. While recognizing the potential for peoples’ agency, the authors draw attention to the increasing constraints on local development, and thus the challenges that new capital and human flows present for securing inclusion and sustainability. This book is a sympathetic but serious challenge to livelihoods research, as well as to arguments that global value chains offer pathways to human development.’
– Anthony Bebbington, Clark University, US