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Anthropological Critiques of Development

Overview Introduction

Anthropological critics of development are not new. As was discussed in the section on development anthropology, since the 1960's many anthropologists working on development issues were committed to the questioning of development processes, assumptions, and practices. With the rise of dependency theory and world systems theory in the 1970's combined with the neo-Marxist influence within anthropology, much critical literature focused on the development enterprise as creating and perpetuating underdevelopment and dependency within the Third World. Critics argued that development was a neo-colonial project of global capitalist expansion that worked to reinforce structures of inequality and reproduce and maintain the domination of the South by the North. (For example see: Chilcote and Edelstein 1974, Galli 1981, Lappe and Collins 1977, Lappe, Collins, and Kinley 1980, Payer 1982)

In the later 1980's and early 90's a new generation of development critique emerged within anthropology. These critiques were of Marxist orientation and influenced by the poststructuralist/postmodernist movement which concerned itself, in part, with textual and discourse-based critiques of representation and called for self-critical epistemological reflection. Much of this critique was further inspired by the work of the French philosopher Michel Foucault, whose studies focused on governmentality and the relationship between power and knowledge. This generation of critique is often referred to as the "poststructuralist development critique".

These approaches center on the analysis of development as a cultural discourse and the role that it plays in shaping and defining reality. Many anthropologists in this framework (but not all) call for the abandonment/deconstruction of the whole epistemological and political field of postwar development toward a post-development era. They argue that the pervasiveness of development discourse and ideology denaturalizes the historical and political realities of the development enterprise. It is argued that development discourse acts as a regime of representation or hegemonic worldview that systematically shapes and constructs identities of the so-called Third World peoples and does not allow people to think of alternative organizing principles for the attainment of well-being. Those works most associated with this type of "post-development" critique are those of Arturo Escobar (1995), Wolfgang Sachs (1992), Rahnema and Bawtree (1997) and Rist (1997).

To date, anthropological critiques of development are probably most associated with this post-development thinking. This perspective, however, has not gone without criticism, revealing divergent trends in anthropological critiques of development. A series of more Marxist based scholars have pushed for a more material focus on capitalism as the principle problematic. (For examples, see: Kiely 1999, Pieterse 1998, Peet and Hartwick 1999, Babbington 2000, Little and Painter 1995, Berger 1995). Other scholars of the poststructural persuasion have argued that the postdevelopment school of critique was too systematic in presenting development as a homogenous enterprise. Their research attempts to stress more of the ways in which development is contested, resisted, and reshaped throughout the development process. (For example See: Moore 2000, Arce and Long 2000, Crew and Harrison 1998, Everett 1997).

All of these forms of critique continue to provide extremely important perspectives on issues of development theory and practice. The institutional ethnographic approaches that study institutional cultures, the ways in which they are historically produced and maintained, the ways in which they shape and are shaped by discourse and practice, along with the ways in which they are imported or resisted, contested or reconceptualized play a critical role in understanding the fundamental problems of development.

Selected References in Anthropological Critiques of Development

Apffel-Marglin, Frederique, and Stephen A. Marglin. 1990. Dominating knowledge: Development, culture and resistance. Oxford: Clarendon Press

Arce, Alberto and Norman Long. 2000. Anthropology, development, and modernities. London: Routledge.

Babbington, A. 2000. "Re-encountering development: Livelihood transitions and place transformations in the Andes" Annals of the Association of American Geographers 90(3): 495-520.

Chilcote, Ronald and Joel Edelstein. 1974. Latin America: The struggle with dependency and beyond. Cambridge MA: Schenkman Publishing Co

Cowen, Michael P. and Robert W. Shenton. 1996. Doctrines of development. London and New York: Routledge.

Crew, Emma and Elizabeth Harrison. 1998. Whose development? An ethnography of aid. London: Zed Books.

Crush, Jonathan. Ed. 1995. Power of development. New York: Routledge.

Dahl, Gudrun and Annika Rabo. Eds. 1992. Kam?ap or take?off: Local notions of development. Stockholm: Stockholm Studies in Social Anthropology.

Dahl, Gudrun and Anders Hjort. 1984. "Development as message and meaning" Ethnos 49(3?4): 169?185.

Escobar, Arturo. 1984. "Discourse and power in development: Michel Foucault and the relevance of his work to the Third World" Alternatives 10: 377?400.

Escobar, Arturo. 1988. "Power and visibility: The invention and management of development in the Third World" Cultural Anthropology 3(4): 428?443.

Escobar, Arturo. 1991. "Anthropology and the development encounter: The making and marketing of development anthropology" American Ethnologist 18(4): 658-681.

Escobar, Arturo. 1995. Encountering development: The making and unmaking of the Third World. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.

Esteva, Gustaco. 1987. Regenerating people's spaces. Alternatives 12(1): 125?152.

Everett, Margaret. 1997. "The ghost in the machine: Agency in "poststructural" critiques of development" Anthropological Quarterly 70: 137-51.

Fals Borda, Orlando. 1988. Knowledge and people's power. Delhi: Indian Social Institute.

Ferguson, James. 1994. The anti?politics machine: "Development," depoliticization, and bureaucratic power in Lesotho. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Galli, Rosemary. Ed. 1981. The political economy of rural development. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Hobart, Mark. Ed. 1993. An anthropological critique of development: The growth of ignorance. London: Routledge.

Kiely, Ray. 1999. "The last refuge of the noble savage? A critical assessment of postdevelopment theory" The European Journal of Development Research 11(1): 30-55.

Lappe, Frances Moore, Joseph Collins and David Kinley. 1980. Aid as obstacle. San Fransico CA: Institute for Food and Development Policy.

Lappe, Frances Moore and Joseph Collins. 1977. Food first: Beyond the myth of food scarcity. New York: Balantine Books

Little, Peter and Michael Painter. 1995. 'Discourse, politics, and the development process: Reflections on Escobar's 'Anthropology and the development encounter'" American Ethnologist. 22(3): 602-616.

Long, Norman and Anne Long. 1992. Battlefields of knowledge: The interlocking of theory and practice in social research and development. London: Routeledge.

Moore, Donald. 2000. "The crucible of cultural politics: Reworking 'development' in Zimbabwe's Eastern Highlands" American Ethnologist 26(3): 654-689.

Moran, Emilio F. Ed. 1996. Transforming societies, transforming anthropology. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

Mueller, Adele. 1986. "The bureaucratization of development knowledge: The case of women in development" Resources for Feminist Research 15(1): 3-6.

Mueller, Adele. 1987. "Power and naming in the development situation: The "discovery" of women in Peru." Paper presented at the 14th Annual Third World Conference, Chicago.

Nandy, Ashis. 1987. Traditions, tyranny and utopias. Bombay: Oxford University Press

Nandy, Ashis. 1989. "Shamans, savages and the wilderness: On the audibility of dissent and the future of civilizations" Alternatives 14(3): 263?277.

Pathy, Jaganath. 1987. Anthropology of development: Demystifications and relevance. Delhi, India: Gian Pub. House.

Peet, Richard and Elaine Hartwick. 1999. Theories of development. New York: Guilford Press.

Pieterse, Jan N. 1998. "'My paradigm or yours? Alternative development, post-development, and reflexive development" Development and Change 29: 343-373.

Pigg, Stacy Leigh. 1992. "Inventing social category through place: Social representations and development in Nepal" Comparative Studies in Society and History 34(3): 491?513.

Rahnema, Majid. 1988. "A new variety of AIDS and its pathogens: Homo economicus, development and aid" Alternatives 13(1): 117?136

Rahnema, Majid. 1988. "Power and regenerative processes in micro?spaces" International Social Science Journal 117: 361?375.

Rahnema, Majid and Victoria Bawtree. Eds. 1996. The post development reader. London: Zed Books

Robertson, A.F. 1984. People and the state: An anthropology of planned development. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Sachs, Wolfgang. Ed. 1992. The development dictionary: A guide to knowledge as power. London: Zed Books.

Shet, D.L. 1987. "Alternative development as political practice" Alternatives 12(2): 155?171.

Shiva, Vandana. 1989. Staying alive: Women, ecology and development. London: Zed Books.

Warren, D. Michael, L. Jan Slikkerveer, and David Brokensha. Eds. 1995. The cultural dimension of development:Iindigenous knowledge systems. London: Intermediate Technology Publications.

Wood, Geoff. 1985. "The politics of development policy labeling" Development and Change 16: 347?373.