Development anthropology

v218zgby@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu
12 Sep 1995 19:50:55 GMT

I'm beginning work on a project to deal with the social consequences of
'development' efforts in subsaharan Africa. A lot of the recent anthro
stuff on development seems to focus on critiquing the western idea of
development, its history and consequences and so on. (Here I'm thinking
of Arturo Escobar's _Encountering Development_, James Ferguson's _The
Anti-Politics Machine_ and a couple of others)
My interest, I guess, is more on the concepts and reactions of
'developed' peoples: how do they think about whatever development
they've been subjected to, what are its effects on their day-to-day
lives, how do they use it, adapt to it or resist it?
Does anyone know of any good source materials, where I can get
firsthand info on development projects (plans and evaluations), or
have any other ideas to nudge me in the right direction?
If anyone can help, please post something here or respond to
my account: v218zgby@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu
Also, I'm interested in discussing this stuff, including the
more theoretical works. If anyone has any thoughts on development
issues, please post them here. I'm still pretty ignorant (as I said
I'm still in the beginning stages) but will do my best to contribute
to discussion. There have been a lot of complaints on this newsgroup
about its distinctly un-anthropological character: maybe we can
about its distinctly un-anthropological character, with which I largely
agree. Maybe we can get a real anthropological discussion going.
Thanks, all.
-Erik