Better city, better life? The ‘fate’ of the displacees from the Shanghai World Expo 2010
View/ Open
Date
30/06/2015Item status
Restricted AccessAuthor
Zhang, Yunpeng
Metadata
Abstract
With the ascendency of neoliberal ideology, mega-events have been increasingly
used by ruling elites as part of a narrative of competitive progress in order to attract
investment capital. Unfortunately, the dark side of mega-events has not received
enough attention in existing literature, especially the critically important question of
displacement and forced eviction because of such events.
This thesis contributes to the literature by debunking the myths of mega-events and
examining the domicide effects through an in-depth case study of the Shanghai
World Expo. Theoretically, the thesis develops the notion of domicide by
incorporating the literature on domination and subordination. It attempts to negotiate
the tension between the subjective experience of victimhood and the objective
process of victimisation in domcide. In analysing the domicide experiences, this
thesis proposes to look into both the temporalities and spatialities of domicide, and to
examine the variegated ways the displaced appropriate them. It questions how the
morally, legally and politically problematic act of domicide is committed without
effective forms of resistance. Empirically, this thesis offers a post hoc impact
assessment of the ‘best ever’ World Expo and voices the suppressed outcries from
those on the receiving end. It supplies a detailed account of the social production of
domicide with a case from the Global South, and in doing so; it explores ‘actually
existing neoliberalism’ in the Chinese context, expanding the geographical horizon in
existing literature and enhancing our understanding of the articulation of
neoliberalism in different localities. Although contextualised through the lens of
mega-events, the conditions, mechanisms, process and tactics that provide the fertile
soil for domicide as identified in this thesis can teach us a great deal about urban
spatial practices elsewhere.
The thesis draws upon the data collected through site-intensive ethnographic
fieldwork, mixing the use of interviews, (non-)participatory observation, survey,
unorthodox focus groups and media content. It argues that the exceptionality of the
World Expo revokes political, moral and legal boundaries in causing pain to affected
citizens in order to facilitate the accumulation of capital. Such exceptionality is
constructed through various normative discourses. Those discourses and values
naturalise and legitimatise the process of domicide, produce symbolic violence, and
undermine the solidarity of the powerlessness. The submission of the displaced to the
dominant power enables the production and reproduction of a repressive social and
spatial structure. These are vitally important questions given the international focus
on China’s economic growth and urbanisation.