Fourth World Nation: A Critical Geography of Decline

Olon Frederick Dotson, Purdue University

Abstract

The United States of America is a Fourth World Nation. It has earned this distinction as direct a result of the manner in which it was established, how it developed, and the fact that it has demonstrativelyfailedto confrontits ever-increasingdisparityand unevenness. FourthWorldTheory provides a foundation and framework for a critical investigation of society and culture though an analytical lens, and an examination of the inequities that are increasingly prevalent throughout a post-industrial, post-agrarian, post-developing space of inevitable decline. On the surface, and through a descriptive lens, this Fourth World Nation can be observed with itsraciallyand economicallystratified, physically,socially, and institutionallyabandoned urban cores; tomassive, hastilymanufactured and rapidlydeterioratingpost-WWIIold ringsuburbslittered with vacant and undesirable shopping centers and parking lots; to automobile-oriented single-use zoned, poorly constructed residential districts; to a seemingly boundless array of depopulated small towns and rural spaces that vanish on a horizon of stolen land with a physical and social decomposition that was once a thriving agrarian society -- at least for some. Upon further reflection and through critical geography, these troubling descriptive characteristics are merely a physical manifestation of the remnants of a failed capitalist experiment -- a declining imperialist empire, founded on conquest, genocide, and slavery. The United States of America is indeed a crime, and it is on the brink of collapse under the weight of its own individualistic, violent, manipulative, oppressive, and self-righteous history. During the course of this research effort, Fourth World Theory has evolved from a rudimentary and descriptive notion of a particular, often severely distressed condition of place, to a more critical investigation of space. Central to Fourth World Theory is the premise that the scale and magnitude of the institutional abandonment of inner-city communities, towns, suburban and rural spaces and places in the United States is not only costly to disadvantaged populations, butto all Americans. In the face of a trajectorytoward nothingness, the primary challenge isfor this Fourth World Nation to reimagine life as a means to heal humanity - a humanity that has been subjected to the ills of hatred, greed, and powerforits entire existence. Out of desperation and absolute necessity, individuals and groups ofindividuals are emerging through grassroots organizations and movements focused on transformation, and survival. Nevertheless, the structural systems that serve as the foundation for this Fourth World Nation, challenge the possibility for such transformations. Failure to interrogate the structuralsystems thatsupport the fact that the United Statesis a crime, makes one an accessory to said crime. Bywayofsublime madness, in solidarity, and as “crime fighters,” we must take the initiative to promote system change for the sake of transformation and survival.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Mullen, Purdue University.

Subject Area

African American Studies|Black studies|Economics

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