Reification and Alternatives to Development

Abstract

This thesis evaluates the post-development concept of "alternatives to development" from the perspectives of critical political economy and Western Marxism. Post-development theorists have long critiqued how development depoliticizes social life and suppresses alternative political imaginations. In formulating alternatives to this mode of social change, they emphasize place-based politics of cultural difference, premised on notions of coloniality, economic difference and autonomy. As I demonstrate, these theoretical positions are limiting, for they unnecessarily close off post-development theory from potential strategies and allies. Alternatively, I argue that the Marxist concept of reification provides an alternative analytical framework which transcends these limitations. By highlighting the role of capitalist class relations in shaping subjectivity and limiting political imagination, the concept of reification thereby illuminates the conditions which make thinking and acting "otherwise" materially possible, while expanding the scope for social action beyond the margins of the capitalist world system.ii

Predicting locally grown food purchase intention of domestic and international undergraduate hospitality management students at a Canadian University

“…Furthermore, there is little empirical research on the relationship between undergraduate students in Canadian context and the definition of locally grown food. Most importantly, undergraduate university students from Ontario, Canada, want high-quality and locally sourced food when they dine at campus (Bueckert, 2018). Thus, discovering the perception of Canadian undergraduate university students on locally grown food, such as their definition of locally grown food, is necessary as it can benefit university cafeterias to observe their awareness of locally grown food.…”