Taking post‐development theory to the field: Issues in development research, Northern Thailand

An orthodoxy of ‘the local’: post‐colonialism, participation and professionalism in northern Thailand

“…As with Ferguson's (1994) study of Lesotho, it is not at all apparent that this development effort has led to ‘improvements’ in the lives and livelihoods of highlanders, as was the intention. Elsewhere, I have argued that these development efforts in fact satisfied multiple geo‐political agendas around Cold War concerns with the spread of communism and the desire of the Thai state to actualize a vision of total governance within its borders (McKinnon 2004). The introduction of community development interventions in northern Thailand can be understood as a mechanism through which the Thai state sought closer governance of the borderlands.…”

“…In anthropology this ethic of doing good can be seen in discussions of the duty of the researcher towards the researched that has remained at the core of the discipline from Radcliffe‐Brown to the present day (and remains a central part of other social science disciplines in which ethnographic field studies are central, such as human geography). Despite their differences, central figures in the discipline, like Radcliffe‐Brown, Boas and Levi‐Strauss, shared a sense that the anthropologist has a ‘mission’ of providing help, facilitating understanding, and instituting respect for and preservation of ‘primitive’ cultures (McKinnon 2004). This sense of mission provides an ideological foundation for the formation of the ethnographer subject, it is a ‘myth’ around which the ethnographer is constructed in a meaningful social role.…”

“…3 3 Laclau's discussion of the mythical subject is strongly informed by Zizek's (1991) critique of the use of ‘subject positions’ in Laclau and Mouffe (1985), and by Lacanian theories of subject formation and the role of fantasy in processes of subject formation (for further discussion, see McKinnon 2004). …”

Resistance or Damp Squibs? Challenges to Colonial Power in Contemporary German Development Interventions in the Area of Reproductive Health in Tanzania

“…Studies of power in development (Crush 1995a;Escobar 1994;Ferguson 1994;Ziai 2004) have been accused of neglecting the role of development professionals in questioning and transforming dominant discourses (Lie 2007;McKinnon 2008). Recently, an increasing number of contributions to the debate on power and development have focused on the role of development professionals' agency (Eriksson Baaz 2005;Brigg 2009;Heron 2007;Kothari 2005;Lie 2007;McKinnon 2008).…”

“…Recently, an increasing number of contributions to the debate on power and development have focused on the role of development professionals' agency (Eriksson Baaz 2005;Brigg 2009;Heron 2007;Kothari 2005;Lie 2007;McKinnon 2008). Such a focus on agents allows for "complement[ing] and critiqu[ing]" official versions of development intervention and pointing out challenges to dominant ideas (Kothari 2006: 133).…”