Spaces of postdevelopment

Sidaway, James D.

doi:10.1177/0309132507077405

Cited by 136 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 85 publications

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“…This arrogant hegemony has resulted in a backlash referred to as the 'post development' movement (Rahnema and Bawtree, 1997) or sometimes as anti-development (Simon, 2006). Proponents of 'post-development' argue that what has been promoted as Intentional development since the 2 nd World War is driven by the richer nations to create a world in their image (Estreva, 1992;Escobar, 1992Escobar, , 1995Mathews, 2004;Siemiatycki, 2005;Simon, 2006Simon, , 2007, almost a reconfiguration of colonialism (Sidaway, 2007). There may have been a discourse of sorts but, they argue, it has been highly uneven.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Post‐sustainable development

Morse

2008

Sustainable Development

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The past 15 years have witnessed the rise of post-development theory as a means of understanding the development discourse since the 1940s. Post-development argues that Intentional development (as distinct from Immanent development -what people are doing anyway), is a construct of Western hegemony. Sustainable development, they argue, is no different and indeed is perhaps worse given that most of the global environmental degradation has been driven by consumerism and industrialisation in the West. Critics of post-development counter by stating that it only provides destruction by tearing apart what is currently practiced in 'development' without providing an alternative. When post-developmentalists do offer an alternative it typically amouints to little more than a call for more grassroots involvement in development and disengagement from a Western agenda. Post-sustainable development analysis and counter-analysis has received remarkably little attention within the sustainable development literature, yet this paper argues that it can make a positive contributrion by calling for an analysis of discourse rather than a hiding of power differentials and an assumption that consensus must exist within a community.A case is made for a post-sustainable development which acknolwedges that diversity will exist and consensus may not be achievable, but at the same time participation can help with learning. The role of the expert within sustainable development is also discussed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Post‐sustainable development

Morse

2008

Sustainable Development

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“…The mega-irrigation projects are an example of a "development apparatus" (Ferguson, 1990;Sidaway, 2007) set into place through the systematic application of scientific expertise and by the organization and technical competence coming from the Global North, all of which are established in order to accelerate the modernization process in contexts considered backward. It seems useful to examine in more depth the concept of "apparatus" as defined by Agamben (2009).…”

Section: Irrigation Projects Apparatuses Of Development Territorialmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interpreting mega-development projects as territorial traps: the case of irrigation schemes on the shores of Lake Chad (Borno State, Nigeria)

Bertoncin

Pase

2017

Geogr. Helv.

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Abstract. From the colonial era up to the present, mega-irrigation projects for agriculture have played a key role in the production of state space in Sahelian Africa. Transferring a concept proposed by Agnew (1994) onto a different scale, it is possible to interpret these mega-projects as "territorial traps". In fact, they set up boundaries (physical, relational, cognitive and operative) that force evolutive trajectories of the areas involved along rigid pathways. In the aftermath of the systematic failure of the mega-projects, farmers are faced with constraints determined by the trap imposed, without having any of the promised benefits in terms of productive growth, i.e. income. In many situations, the farmers have identified "a means of escape" from these catastrophes by transgressing the boundaries imposed by the territorial traps and reintroducing parts of the infrastructure to a common use. The case study traces the crisis, and ultimately the failure, of the mega-irrigation projects constructed in the 1970s along the shores of Lake Chad in Nigeria.

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“…A fundamental assumption for this claim is that social development is a historical process deeply rooted in the culture, values and psychological systems of individual nations and communities (Sidaway 2007). People do not live only by economics standards, public order or science and technology.…”

Section: Development Livelihoods Options and Human Rightsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contemporary concerns in development studies: Perspectives from Tanzania and Zambia

Kilonzo¹,

Kontinen²

2015

Publications of the Department of Political and Economic Studies. Development Studies

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As part of the institutionalization of "development" after the Second World War, academia has witnessed emergence of the discipline of development studies. The five decades of the discipline have testified a number of theoretical shifts in considering how to conceptualize the very notion of development, and how to make sense out of the global processes and inequalities. Additionally, the place of development studies within the disciplinary landscape of academia has been continuously debated. Moreover, as a discipline, development studies have had more or less close connections with development policy and practice. Many strands of development studies have contributed to defining the pertinent development problems, and generating suggestions on the ways in which to address these problems.In this edited volume we would like to take some distance from on one hand, the development problems, and on the other, the abstract theoretical discourses of development. That is why we have selected to address the "concerns" of development studies. We are inspired by development studies being both embedded in theory and having concern on the societal and natural phenomena that contribute to inequalities and human well-being. Concerns, in this volume, refer to development-related puzzles that call for theoretically-informed investigation, and empirically-grounded ideas on how to address these concerns.Without doubt, the concept of development is a point of departure for the discipline. The central concern in development studies has been to research development processes as affected by array of factors in order to understand the underlying forces. Regardless of time and resources spent so far in development aspects, development studies is still experiencing unsolved challenges, which we refer as "concerns" including: rapid urbanization, political instability, gender inequality, food insecurity, poor governance, global technological gaps, spiraling levels of poverty and unequal distribution of financial and other resources.These concerns still exist partly because they are addressed in isolation with individual disciplines. For example, the economists deal with poverty in economic point of view i.e. following economic growth standards as their main concern. On the other hand, sociologists address development concerns using sociological lenses without considering other areas like political science, geography and rural development, while all these are areas in development studies. Anthropology has had an ambiguous relationship with development and its interventionists pursues. The agricultural sciences, 8 forestry, geology, biology and the like add to the complexity of approaches, not to mention the computer sciences and its possibilities in dealing with so-called big data now increasingly available also in developing world.The contemporary concerns in development studies in this volume are identified and discussed mainly by development scholars with first-hand experience of development. Too often, development studies publications pr...

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Spaces of postdevelopment

Cited by 136 publications

References 85 publications

Post‐sustainable development

Post‐sustainable development

Interpreting mega-development projects as territorial traps: the case of irrigation schemes on the shores of Lake Chad (Borno State, Nigeria)

Contemporary concerns in development studies: Perspectives from Tanzania and Zambia

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