Field of Dreams: Imagining Development and Un-Development at a Gas Field in Sylhet
In this article we analyse the discourses which surrounded a Chevron operated gas field and programme of ‘Community Engagement’ in Sylhet over 2008-11. All draw upon ideas of development or its absence, and reference dreams, as well as nightmares of the future. On the one hand are Chevron’s narrativ...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud
2014-07-01
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| Series: | South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/3741 |
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| author | Katy Gardner Zahir Ahmed Mohammad Masud Rana Fatema Bashar |
| author_facet | Katy Gardner Zahir Ahmed Mohammad Masud Rana Fatema Bashar |
| author_sort | Katy Gardner |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this article we analyse the discourses which surrounded a Chevron operated gas field and programme of ‘Community Engagement’ in Sylhet over 2008-11. All draw upon ideas of development or its absence, and reference dreams, as well as nightmares of the future. On the one hand are Chevron’s narratives, which conjure up an appealing picture of community development, entrepreneurship and ‘empowerment’, relying upon idioms of sustainability and ‘helping people to help themselves’. On the other are the narratives of people living in the villages surrounding the installation. Whilst for them, dreams of unnoyon (development) involve the provision of local services, access to gas and the creation of jobs, their accounts evolve around the tropes of environmental destruction and disastrous rupture: a dystopian anti-development. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0b87e1c5d0d3406a9b9c252e53d3bddd |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 1960-6060 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2014-07-01 |
| publisher | Centre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud |
| record_format | Article |
| series | South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal |
| spelling | doaj-art-0b87e1c5d0d3406a9b9c252e53d3bddd2025-08-20T02:21:12ZengCentre d’Etudes de l’Inde et de l’Asie du SudSouth Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal1960-60602014-07-01910.4000/samaj.3741Field of Dreams: Imagining Development and Un-Development at a Gas Field in SylhetKaty GardnerZahir AhmedMohammad Masud RanaFatema BasharIn this article we analyse the discourses which surrounded a Chevron operated gas field and programme of ‘Community Engagement’ in Sylhet over 2008-11. All draw upon ideas of development or its absence, and reference dreams, as well as nightmares of the future. On the one hand are Chevron’s narratives, which conjure up an appealing picture of community development, entrepreneurship and ‘empowerment’, relying upon idioms of sustainability and ‘helping people to help themselves’. On the other are the narratives of people living in the villages surrounding the installation. Whilst for them, dreams of unnoyon (development) involve the provision of local services, access to gas and the creation of jobs, their accounts evolve around the tropes of environmental destruction and disastrous rupture: a dystopian anti-development.https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/3741developmentGas fieldCorporate-Social-Responsibilityenvironment |
| spellingShingle | Katy Gardner Zahir Ahmed Mohammad Masud Rana Fatema Bashar Field of Dreams: Imagining Development and Un-Development at a Gas Field in Sylhet South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal development Gas field Corporate-Social-Responsibility environment |
| title | Field of Dreams: Imagining Development and Un-Development at a Gas Field in Sylhet |
| title_full | Field of Dreams: Imagining Development and Un-Development at a Gas Field in Sylhet |
| title_fullStr | Field of Dreams: Imagining Development and Un-Development at a Gas Field in Sylhet |
| title_full_unstemmed | Field of Dreams: Imagining Development and Un-Development at a Gas Field in Sylhet |
| title_short | Field of Dreams: Imagining Development and Un-Development at a Gas Field in Sylhet |
| title_sort | field of dreams imagining development and un development at a gas field in sylhet |
| topic | development Gas field Corporate-Social-Responsibility environment |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/3741 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT katygardner fieldofdreamsimaginingdevelopmentandundevelopmentatagasfieldinsylhet AT zahirahmed fieldofdreamsimaginingdevelopmentandundevelopmentatagasfieldinsylhet AT mohammadmasudrana fieldofdreamsimaginingdevelopmentandundevelopmentatagasfieldinsylhet AT fatemabashar fieldofdreamsimaginingdevelopmentandundevelopmentatagasfieldinsylhet |