Arid Comparisons?

Abstract

Abstract In dialogue with the approach outlined in the previous chapter, this chapter explores the methodological potential of substantivist economic geography by way of an engagement with the distinctive regional economy of the Pilbara in Western Australia. It reflects on the experience of taking Polanyi to the Pilbara, framed first and foremost as a methodological experiment. The chapter traces the often-destructive interaction between different modes, meanings, and manifestations of socioeconomic development in the Pilbara, beginning with the moment of Aboriginal dispossession through to the globalization of this resource-rich region. It also reflects on the contested and zigzagging course of labor relations in the region, the meaning and consequences of economic “modernization,” and some of the many open questions around the issue of Indigenous economic development. The chapter is concluded with a discussion of the potential of substantivist economic geographies, in this and other (regional) contexts.