Epistemicide, postcolonial resistance and the state

Abstract

It is by no means a coincidence that James Scott’s book The Art of Not Being Governed was well-received among scholars and activists alike. Critics have embraced the US anthropologist and political scientist’s description of communities that not only live without state structures but also actively flee from state intervention or control. More interesting than the debate in itself is the intensity of the general positioning vis-á-vis the state. Whereas some scholars believe that the state is needed to guarantee a just distribution of goods, the establishment of justice and the enforcement of rights, anarchist scholars celebrate the idea of state-fleeing collectives and tend to romanticise them as domination-free spaces. Through the concrete example of the Inga, an Andean community that did not flee the state but rather holds the nation-state accountable, we point to problems in the romanticising of the idea of state-free-zones. Instead, we show how principles and practices like those of Buen Vivir can be read as resistance against intrusive imperial capitalism.