Flexible Institutionalisation in Auroville: A Prefigurative Alternative to Development

Clarence-Smith, Suryamayi Aswini; Monticelli, Lara (2022) Flexible Institutionalisation in Auroville: A Prefigurative Alternative to Development. Sustainability Science.

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Abstract

Scholars interested in mechanisms of transformative change are increasingly looking at ‘real utopias’, emancipatory enactments within the mainstream that prefigure its transcendence: eco-villages and intentional communities, cooperatives, Time Banks, urban gardens, co-housing associations. Academic and activist views on these initiatives are divergent. While some argue that they are seeding the transcendence of the current dominant socio-economic and political system, others dismiss them as niches unable to socially reproduce themselves, let alone disrupt and present viable alternatives to a hegemonic mainstream. To better equip ourselves to understand their transformative potential and potentially move beyond this stalemate, in this article we examine how one of the most enduring and successful prefigurative experiments is organised and sustained.
Our case study is the international township Auroville, in India, the largest intentional community in the world and one of the longest-standing. It presents a unique opportunity to examine how an alternative to development is maintained and developed within and in relationship with a dominant system, and whether prefigurative experiments can become ‘institutionalised’ while retaining a prefigurative character.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Prefiguration   Alternatives to development   Flexible institutionalisation   Auroville   Intentional community   Cooperative economy
Subjects: Collective Organisation > Collective Organisation (General)
Economy > Economy (General)
Depositing User: Dr. Suryamayi Clarence-Smith
Date Deposited: 13 Mar 2022 12:11
Last Modified: 13 Mar 2022 12:11
URI: http://aurorepo.in/id/eprint/232

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