Cultures of Consultancy

Abstract

Short-term development consultants are employed in the development industry ostensibly because of the pragmatic impacts their work on development is thought to have. Yet in practice, their work is judged more by aesthetic than pragmatic criteria. This article argues that these aesthetic criteria are based on a particular vision of modernity and that this also informs the ‘culture of consultancy’, a culture which sees itself as the epitome of rationality. It is also suggested that this is nothing new, today’s development workers being heirs to the missionaries and colonial civil servants of the past.

The success of a policy model: Irrigation management transfer in Mexico

“…Within this instrumental approach underlying much of the policy literature on the Mexican IMT policy, the following set of positivist assumptions is common: there is an objectively knowable world, which is intelligible through the application of rational thought; reality consists of empirically verifiable facts, there to discover through scientific analysis, experimentation and hypothesis testing; these facts are systematically related through cause and effect relations; because the world 'out there' consists of systematically related facts, planned interventions with pre-designated results are possible (Stirrat, 2001). Within this epistemic framework, a problematic term like success is reified into an objective category.…”

“…The policy model is conveyed through policy documents and policy impact studies, but also through other cultural artefacts (Stirrat, 2001), practices and events, such as promotional videos, PowerPoint presentations and policy meetings, as I shall show. Analysing the model in this manner means it is not understood as an objective representation of reality.…”

“…The more these key enabling factors are present in an IMT programme, the more likely IMT is to be successful and WUAs to be sustainable and effective (Vermillion and Sagardoy, 1999). (Stirrat, 2001). This forces national policy makers who also aspire to achieve successful transfer in their country along a route of 'obligatory passage points' or marks that identify with the Mexican success (Latour, 1987).…”

La socialización del consultor antropológico: de la práctica a los marcos normativos de la política pública

“…Lo realmente importante es que, a pesar de presentarse como "externas", tales evaluaciones son en realidad parte del propio proceso de producción de las políticas. A ello me refiero cuando digo que los investigadores evaluadores son socializados y disciplinados en lo que Stirrat (2000) denomina la "cultura de la consultoría", por lo que, aún sin compromisos o afiliaciones previos, estos nunca quedan completamente fuera de dicho proceso de la política 2 . Siguiendo en parte a Stirrat, en otro trabajo me he referido a esta cultura de la consultoría como un conjunto de ciertos principios del positivismo clásico -objetividad, racionalidad, impersonalidad-, a los cuales los evaluadores hemos de adherirnos como parte de una ideología compartida con la que hemos de lidiar de forma más o menos consciente (Agudo Sanchíz, 2012).…”

Customary Land Tenure and Registration in Australia : Anthropological Perspectives

“…According to Stirrat (2000), development consultancy work is commonly based on the mistaken belief that consultants can somehow penetrate to the 'truth' or 'essence' of what is going on in the world. But the consultant anthropologist who counts as an acculturated observer of one particular society is more like a translator who knows enough to anticipate social trajectories and provide constructive solutions to the problems they contain.…”