Chapter 3: OATS: A New Conceptual Framework

In this chapter I reconnect with Appadurai's notion of the capacity to aspire more intensely, with the aim towards developing a conceptual framework of the concept.

I begin by tracing the origins of the capacity to aspire and what had informed its initial conceptualization. I then provide a critique of the concept and its tenets as initially proposed, appreciating its strengths and identifying the gaps. Whilst I believe that the concept carries a lot of meaning and possibilities for changing lives for the better, I am also of the view that its power has not yet been fully explored – and its richness thus remains somewhat vague.