Anticipating Future Capital

Regional Caste Contestations, Speculation and Silent Dispossession in Andhra Pradesh

Bibliographic Data

ID3985377
AuthorsSanam Roohi (0000-0002-2483-841X, University of Erfurt, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume50
Issue5
Pages723-742
Publication date2020-10-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Contemporary Asia (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-2336 • E-ISSN: 1752-7554
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/00472336.2020.1725598
OpenAlexW3007533389
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited47

In 2014, the state of Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated by the Indian government, leaving the truncated state without a capital city. A period of political uncertainty before bifurcation and the announcement of the new capital city created possibilities for land speculation and for the acceleration of the commodification of real estate in different parts of the state. Concentrating on Guntur-Vijayawada in the Coastal Andhra region and Donakonda town close to the Rayalaseema region, this article explores how speculative investments based on political calculations by members of regional elite castes translated into the emergence of competing regional investment zones as possible future choices of the capital city. Through an extended and largely ethnographic study, this article shows how caste politics and regional processes of land speculation led to land transfers without violent struggles between different groups. Rather, the cultural politics of regional differentiation and the economy of anticipation allowed a pragmatic convergence of interests to emerge, where acquisition of agricultural land was followed by silent dispossession

Capital (architecture · Caste · Convergence (economics · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Economy · Elite · Geography · Investment (military · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Sovereignty · Speculation · State (computer science · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Finance · Law · Social and Economic Development in India

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