The Promise of Prosperity: Visions of the Future in Timor-Leste book cover
Society · 2018 · en

The Promise of Prosperity: Visions of the Future in Timor-Leste

by Judith M. Bovensiepen (editor)

About this book

This collection examines how people in Timor-Leste imagine prosperity and assess the projects intended to bring it about. Historical accounts, studies of government programmes and ethnographic research connect large development schemes with local expectations and everyday ideas of a good life.

Chapters discuss petroleum dependence, the Timor Oil Company, infrastructure in Oecusse and along the south coast, property rights and veterans’ benefits. Other essays consider Fataluku understandings of time, solar technology, Christianity and customary practices. The contributors compare different visions of the future and the experiences through which these visions take shape, with figures and references accompanying the studies.