How do Hann & Hart discuss development? What are some anthropological studies of international development models/initiatives? What is the anthropological critique of development?
In Julia Elyachar's chapter, how do NGOs in Egypt challenge our ideas about how development initiatives work on the ground? What are some frictions and challenges?
Hann & Hart discuss development from a historical perspective. Walking through each phase of development from the beginning of the practice of modernization, a practice meant to even out the playing field for the poor and rich that was heavily influenced by western ideals, to the middle section where Marxism ruled the theories of why the poor stayed poor, and to the modern issues of consumerism and distribution of wealth. One study done was based in West Africa, on the cocoa industry that grew without colonial influence along the gold coast. Anthropologist Polly Hill studied their work and noticed how they naturally built systems of sharecropping and workforce, which led to a successful capitalist system. Another study looks at Indonesian baazar style microeconomies that for the most part exist outside of state control and show a different way of looking at business as a means to subside, not accumulate. The biggest critique of development in anthropology is that development is just a process by which the poor are made poorer and the rich are made richer, and that it doesn't actually end up aiding them after the newly developed countries are expected to pay richer countries back and survive without aid.
ReplyDelete