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7 The Institutional Potential of Prefigurative Experiments: The Evolution of Collective Accounts in Auroville

Abstract

This chapter examines the development of cooperative economic experimentation in Auroville, specifically, the role of common accounts in prefiguring the community’s cooperative economic organizations. Given that this experimentation was initiated in the private sphere by individual community members and later shaped Auroville’s public sphere, the chapter affirms the potential of experimentation, coupled with a prefigurative practice of institutionalization, for modelling new forms of socio-economic organization. As such, it makes a unique empirical contribution to the wide-ranging body of work on cooperative economic practices and institutions. Moreover, it is revelatory of the various levels of political agency that shape Auroville’s economic practices and organization, contributing to an in-depth understanding of the anarchic nature of Auroville’s utopian practice.

Abstract

This chapter examines the development of cooperative economic experimentation in Auroville, specifically, the role of common accounts in prefiguring the community’s cooperative economic organizations. Given that this experimentation was initiated in the private sphere by individual community members and later shaped Auroville’s public sphere, the chapter affirms the potential of experimentation, coupled with a prefigurative practice of institutionalization, for modelling new forms of socio-economic organization. As such, it makes a unique empirical contribution to the wide-ranging body of work on cooperative economic practices and institutions. Moreover, it is revelatory of the various levels of political agency that shape Auroville’s economic practices and organization, contributing to an in-depth understanding of the anarchic nature of Auroville’s utopian practice.

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Contents vii
  3. List of Figures and Tables ix
  4. Glossary xi
  5. About the Author xiii
  6. Acknowledgements xiv
  7. Foreword xv
  8. All Life is Yoga: An Introduction 1
  9. Culture
  10. Auroville Is … 19
  11. A Spiritually Prefigurative Culture: The Uniqueness of Auroville’s Utopian Practice 35
  12. Polis
  13. Divine Anarchy? The Development of the Auroville Polity 57
  14. Spiritually Prefigurative Politics in Practice: An Embodied Account of an Auroville Community Decision-Making Process 80
  15. Economy
  16. ‘No Exchange of Money’? The Development of Auroville’s Communal Economy 101
  17. The Institutional Potential of Prefigurative Experiments: The Evolution of Collective Accounts in Auroville 124
  18. Auroville and Beyond: The Grounded Hopes and Horizons of Spiritually Prefigurative Practice – A Conclusion 146
  19. Afterword 151
  20. A Dream (The Mother, 1954) 153
  21. The Auroville Charter (The Mother, 1968) 155
  22. To Be a True Aurovilian (The Mother, 1971) 156
  23. Notes 157
  24. References 163
  25. Index 177
Prefiguring Utopia
This chapter is in the book Prefiguring Utopia
https://doi.org/10.56687/9781529230802-013

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Contents vii
  3. List of Figures and Tables ix
  4. Glossary xi
  5. About the Author xiii
  6. Acknowledgements xiv
  7. Foreword xv
  8. All Life is Yoga: An Introduction 1
  9. Culture
  10. Auroville Is … 19
  11. A Spiritually Prefigurative Culture: The Uniqueness of Auroville’s Utopian Practice 35
  12. Polis
  13. Divine Anarchy? The Development of the Auroville Polity 57
  14. Spiritually Prefigurative Politics in Practice: An Embodied Account of an Auroville Community Decision-Making Process 80
  15. Economy
  16. ‘No Exchange of Money’? The Development of Auroville’s Communal Economy 101
  17. The Institutional Potential of Prefigurative Experiments: The Evolution of Collective Accounts in Auroville 124
  18. Auroville and Beyond: The Grounded Hopes and Horizons of Spiritually Prefigurative Practice – A Conclusion 146
  19. Afterword 151
  20. A Dream (The Mother, 1954) 153
  21. The Auroville Charter (The Mother, 1968) 155
  22. To Be a True Aurovilian (The Mother, 1971) 156
  23. Notes 157
  24. References 163
  25. Index 177
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