Spaces of progress and the challenge of ‘mindfulness’ in a postcolonial world

Progress implied both change and improvement in the colonial and postcolonial world. Such a concept of progress came to be enshrined in specific geographical places. The notions of development and underdevelopment in the postcolonial context thereafter supplanted this idea. Over time, while the structures of colonial domination dissolved, those of embedded regional inequalities came to be deeply entrenched, thereby urging for Thich Nhat Hanh’s approach to “mindfulness” in a “postcapitalist,” postcolonial world. The key question is whether postcolonialism has reached an impasse in its delivery and deployment of ideas across the widening gulf between the spaces of progress and stagnancy. The ideas of colonial and postcolonial “progress” have profound material consequences for the future of people, regions, and spaces.

Taking the cue in the call for an “empirical investigation” into postcolonial studies, the first part of this paper focuses on the history of ideas of Progress, its lapse into Providence, and the eventual rearticulation of Progress to include both the material and the moral. The battle between the traditionalist-liberal-secular versus the utilitarian-evangelical and the humanitarian is played out in the Indian subcontinent. The second part of this paper outlines the spaces of progress and thereby elucidates those regions which were used as exemplars in highlighting progress in the empire and of the empire. The material and moral progress reports from India produced masques of plenty in the colonial world of orderliness, and at the same time, the discourses brought to the fore the reality of dissatisfaction that continued to plague colonial authorities.