Longing for an economic past? Post-growth nostalgia in contemporary East Asian societies

Abstract
In this research seminar, Juliette Schwak will present her ERC project PENEA, which explores whether frustration with capitalist modernity leads East Asians to express discontent with economic development and to seek alternative futures. East Asian societies have experienced accelerated modernisation, but citizens in late-industrialised economies today reject hypercompetitive and unequal societies. In parallel, nostalgia has emerged as a major trend in consumer practices and cultural productions in the region. It is mostly contemplated as a cultural phenomenon. But when nostalgia expresses longing towards a pre-developmental past, it also belongs to the field of discontent with economic development and can shape citizens’ political economic mobilisation. The PENEA project therefore explores if East Asians long for their pre-developmental past, and if they mobilise for political economic change on this nostalgic basis? Combining sociology and political economy, it documents and conceptualises the expressions of nostalgia among East Asian citizens and it analyses if and how nostalgia is a source of mobilisation for post-growth change in six East Asian countries (Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Cambodia). It contributes empirically to the study of post-growth transitions, beyond the euro-centric character of the degrowth/post-growth literature.

Bio
Juliette Schwak is Associate Professor of International Relations at the ULB and a member of REPI and ICAS. She is an International Political Economy scholar, with specific expertise in South Korea. Her research bridges political economy and sociology. She has published extensively on Korea’s nation branding and development cooperation policies. Her first monograph on the global political economic roots of Korea’s hypercompetitive society is forthcoming with University of California Press. She is currently PI of the ERC Starting Grant PENEA project (2026-2031), which focuses on post-growth nostalgia in contemporary East Asian societies.

Registration required: https://forms.office.com/e/51VW2B34TL?origin=lprLink

Tuesday, October 13th, 2026, from 12:00 to 2:00 pm
ULB RT39, Geremek Room