Power, Poverty and Positionality in Contemporary China : Space of Mind in Authoritarian Systems

Power, Poverty and Positionality in Contemporary China explores the multiple declinations of poverty and power by introducing two new key concepts: 'space of mind' and 'pensabilities'. Taking authoritarian China as focus, the author provides an insight into how power fills peoples’ space of mind with elements external to individual and collective life and hinders the natural and healthy development of a person’s and collectivity’s pensabilities. Drawing from Amartya Sen’s idea of capabilities, the author conceives a new perspective to look at poverty and power dynamics in the contemporary world, by putting forward a fresh concept which will change our understanding of power both within the academic circles and among the general public. Grounded into empirical research, this work is based on an in-depth analysis of the current conditions of Uyghur people in China, and of how the COVID-19 crisis has been managed by Chinese authorities. The squeezing of the living space for Uyghurs, who are deprived of basic rights as mobility, language rights, an autonomous socio-economic development, freedom of religious practice and spiritual improvements, is one of the most fitting examples in the book’s context. The management of physical and mental space during the current COVID-19 crisis is another fitting example aimed at providing substance to the author’s thesis.