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ANTHROPOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT (Continued):Contentions in Development

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Introduction to Cultural Anthropology ­ SOC401
VU
Lesson 40
ANTHROPOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT (Continued)
Development and Change
From an anthropological point of view, culture is an asset, even though managing it is difficult since
cultures change and do not have sharp borders.
Examples of development planners' and development workers' ignorance of local culture, have had
devastating repercussions on the local level.
What Development Anthropologists do
Development anthropologists in interpret practices which are difficult for others to access who lack detailed
comparative knowledge of social organization: gender, kinship, property resources.
Anthropological input is often restricted to appraisal and analysis of planned outcome failures. Besides
international development, use of applied anthropology has grown in the West as well.
Anthropology in the US and in South America is often associated with cultural brokerage between
indigenous groups and national governments, and between indigenous groups and private companies, often
those associated with natural resource extraction.
Changing Notion of Development
Development necessitates a kind of social analysis of the situations which the proposed intervention will be
designed to address. From an anthropological view, this essentially requires matching two representations of
reality, that of development practioners and that of local environments.
Research on development and culture during the past years has emphasized a culture-sensitive approach in
development. Emphasis on people undertaking their own development, instead of imposing development
on them, it is suggested that research into local culture is one of the most important features for ensuring
participatory development.
Participation means that development should involve all its stakeholders. Even the World Bank has
recognized the complex local environments in which development policy was supposed to operate and had
failed was due to lack of participation. A modified policy discourse spoke the need to include local people,
civil society, and social networks in planning and implementation
Contentions in Development
If anthropology has conventionally been suspicious of unplanned changes, it has been particularly
distrustful of directed change and of the international development project which has had directed change
as its objective.
The ambivalent relationship between anthropology and development has its origins in the colonial systems
of governance. British anthropology strove to be useful to `practical men' of colonial administration in the
1930's to access public funds. In France, anthropological methods were used to improve colonial
government.
This history accounts for the suspicion with which anthropology is still viewed in many countries which
have a fairly recent history of colonial domination.
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Introduction to Cultural Anthropology ­ SOC401
VU
A New Role for Anthropologists
The involvement of anthropology in development did not end with the dawning of the post-colonial era.
The inclusion of the discipline in the institutional structures of international development from the late
1970's on has created a number of anthropological positions within development agencies.
Induction of anthropologists in development agencies in the 1980's and 1990's coincided with a new people
oriented discourse in international development and a renewed focus on social exclusion and marginality.
Useful Terms
Contentions ­ controversies or opposing points of view
Conventionally - standardized way of doing something
Natural resource extraction ­ extraction of resources from the natural environment (from the land or the
sea) for productive purposes
Post -Colonial ­ the time period commencing after the colonization period is over, although the influence
of colonizing countries may still remain after they have physically vacated a colony
Ambivalent ­ ambiguous or lacking a clear cut definition
Suggested Readings using Internet Resources
In addition to reading from the textbook, please visit the following web-site for this lecture, which provide
useful and interesting information:
The cultural process of development: Some impressions of anthropologists working in development
http://www.valt.helsinki.fi/kmi/Julkais/WPt/1998/WP898.HTM
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Table of Contents:
  1. WHAT IS ANTHROPOLOGY?:Cultural Anthropology, Internet Resources
  2. THE CONCEPT OF CULTURE AND THE APPLICATION OF CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
  3. MAJOR THEORIES IN CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY:Diffusionism
  4. GROWTH OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY (continued):Post Modernism
  5. METHODS IN CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY:Comments on Fieldwork
  6. METHODS IN CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY (continued):Census Taking
  7. COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION AND CONSUMPTION IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE WORLD
  8. ECONOMIC ANTHROPOLOGY (continued):THE DISTRIBUTION OF GOODS AND SERVICES
  9. FOCUSING ON LANGUAGE:Languages of the World, Structure of Language
  10. FOCUS ON LANGUAGE (continued):Levels of Complexity, Cultural Emphasis
  11. OBTAINING FOOD IN DIFFERENT CULTURES:Optimal Foraging, Suggested Readings
  12. FOOD AND CULTURE (continued):Food Collectors, Food Production
  13. OBTAINING FOOD IN DIFFERENT CULTURE (continued):Pastoralism, Agriculture
  14. RELEVANCE OF KINSHIP AND DESCENT:Kinship Criteria, Rules of Descent
  15. KINSHIP AND DESCENT (continued):Tracing Descent, Primary Kinship Systems
  16. THE ROLE OF FAMILY AND MARRIAGE IN CULTURE:Economic Aspect of Marriage
  17. ROLE OF FAMILY AND MARRIAGE IN CULTURE (continued):Family Structures
  18. GENDER AND CULTURE:Gender Stratification, Suggested Readings
  19. GENDER ROLES IN CULTURE (continued):Women Employment, Feminization of Poverty
  20. STRATIFICATION AND CULTURE:Social Ranking, Dimensions of Inequality
  21. THEORIES OF STRATIFICATION (continued):The Functionalists, Conflict Theorists
  22. CULTURE AND CHANGE:Inventions, Diffusion, Donor, Conventional
  23. CULTURE AND CHANGE (continued):Cultural Interrelations, Reaction to Change
  24. CULTURE AND CHANGE (continued):Planned Change, Globalization
  25. POLITICAL ORGANIZATION:Bands, Tribal Organizations, Chiefdoms
  26. POLITICAL ORGANIZATION (continued):State Systems, Nation-States
  27. POLITICAL ORGANIZATION (continued):Social Norms, Informal Mechanisms
  28. PSYCHOLOGY AND CULTURE:Emotional Development, Psychological Universals
  29. PSYCHOLOGY AND CULTURE (continued):Origin of Customs, Personality Types
  30. IDEOLOGY AND CULTURE:Ideology in Everyday Life, Hegemony
  31. IDEOLOGY AND CULTURE (Continued):Political ideologies, Economic Ideology
  32. ASSOCIATIONS, CULTURES AND SOCIETIES:Variation in Associations, Age Sets
  33. ASSOCIATIONS, CULTURES AND SOCIETIES (continued):Formation of Associations
  34. RACE, ETHNICITY AND CULTURE:Similarity in Human Adaptations
  35. RACE, ETHNICITY AND CULTURE (continued):Inter-group Relations
  36. CULTURE AND BELIEFS:Social Function of Religion, Politics and Beliefs
  37. LOCAL OR INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE:Changing Definitions of Local Knowledge
  38. LOCAL OR INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE (continued):The Need for Caution
  39. ANTHROPOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT:Influence of Development Notions
  40. ANTHROPOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT (Continued):Contentions in Development
  41. ANTHROPOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT (Continued):Operational
  42. CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY AND ART:Relevance of Art, Art and Politics
  43. CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY AND ART (continued):Art as a Status Symbol
  44. ETHICS IN ANTHROPOLOGY:Ethical Condemnation, Orientalism
  45. RELEVANCE OF CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY:Ensuring Cultural Survival