Layered proximity: Distant time and deferred temporality in circular bioeconomy

This commentary engages Datta's concept of distant time, which explains how colonial statecraft governs subaltern populations through temporal deferral, keeping them suspended in conditions of waiting while framing displacement and demolition as development. Building on Datta's work, I argue that her framework under-theorizes the complementary process of temporal compression. Using Harvey's concept of time-space compression as a conceptual lens and drawing on scholarship on the circular bioeconomy, I show how contemporary colonial-capitalist governance not only defers justice but also compresses marginalized communities into global circuits of value in real time. In the circular bioeconomy, forests, farmers, and waste pickers are rendered immediately governable and economically productive, even as the benefits they help generate are projected into an indefinitely deferred future. Rather than replacing Datta's framework, I propose a reorientation toward a theory of layered proximity, where immediate material incorporation coexists with the continuous postponement of justice.