The modern/colonial hell of innovation economy: future as a return to colonial mythologies

‘Innovation’ has become a central metaphor of contemporary capitalism, a global symbol of hope and future. In this paper, I examine the continuations and transformations of colonial mythologies within the on-going expansions of innovation economy. Drawing from Walter Benjamin's discussions on modernity as the time of hell, I discuss how the colonial ‘eternally returns’ under the cloak of ‘newness’. The material of the paper consists of popular innovation literature, drawn from two global centres of innovation economy: Silicon Wadi in Israel/Palestine and Silicon Valley in California bay. I conclude the piece by arguing that the return of colonial mythologies to the heart of contemporary capitalism is not only symbolic but rather a violently material phenomenon. Indeed, the examples of Silicon Wadi and Silicon Valley demonstrate how particular bodies and lands are becoming (re)colonized as the innovation economy expands