Recap of the previous class:

What did you learn???

Deconstructing Development

Associate Professor Dr. Md. Faruk Shah

Adjunct Faculty Member
Department of Development Studies
Bangladesh University of Professionals
 Why Deconstructing Development…..

 Like ‘civilization’ in the 19th century, ‘development' is the name not only for a value, but also for
a dominant problematic or interpretive grid through which the impoverished regions of the
world are known to us. Within this interpretive grid, a host of everyday observations are
rendered intelligible and meaningful (Ferguson, 1990: xiii)
 Development plans are often far from rational, and relationships within development
institutions are as hierarchical, unequal and culturally embedded… The interface between
developers and those to be developed is not simply a case of binary oppositions... Instead, the
paradigms within which developers work are as contextually contingent, culturally specific and
contested as those of the social groups whom they target... Discourses of development are
produced by those in power and often result (even if unintentionally) in reproducing power
relations between areas of the world and between people (Gardner & Lewis, 1996:154).
 Why Deconstructing Development…..

 Development institutions are part and parcel of how the world is put together so as to ensure
certain processes of ruling. Under these conditions, development anthropology almost
inevitably upholds the main tenets of development . . . for all its claim to relevance to social
problems, to cultural sensitivity . . . [development anthropology] . . . has done no more than
recycle and dress in more localized fabrics, the discourses of modernization and development”
(Escober, 1991: 674).
• ‘Development is the process by which other peoples are “dominated, and their destinies are
shaped, according to an essentially Western way of conceiving and perceiving the world; it is
part of an imperial process whereby other peoples are appropriated and turned into objects”.
Development is a fundamental part of the process ‘whereby the developed countries engage,
control and even create the Third World economically, politically, sociologically and culturally’.
 Nature of Development Deconstruction

• Positioning Development in the Western Imagination

• Constructing the Underdeveloped

• Breaking out of the Discourse
Beyond Development……………………
Anthropologists within Development

Associate Professor Dr. Md. Faruk Shah

Adjunct Faculty Member
Department of Development Studies
Bangladesh University of Professionals
Applying Anthropology in Development Work
• In the twenty-first century, there is a growing imperative to rethink old
ways of doing development. Mainstream frameworks and ways of working
are proving inadequate to tackle the challenges of contemporary
development practice. This is apparent across all kinds of country contexts.
From wealthy countries to poor ones, policy makers are under pressure to
understand and respond to development needs in diverse contexts, and to
build partnership with diverse social actors.
• The anthropology of development sheds light on the social contexts that
are at the heart of all development work, Anthropology reveals that
development is a social and cultural process, and provides a set of insights
that can be used to understand these dynamics and create more effective
development outcomes.
(Eversole, 2018:16)
“Applied anthropology has been largely transformed into an engaged
discipline, assuming three major roles as public anthropology, activist
research and protest anthropology to truly connect with communities at
both practical and conceptual levels.”

The time has come for anthropology to consolidate its place in development
practice, not merely as frustrated post-project critic but as implementing
partner. There are growing demands for its skills and insights to further
understanding of agricultural, health and insights to further understanding
of agricultural, health, community, and other issues (Sillitoe, 2002:1)
 Anthropologists within Development

1. Anthropologists as consultants
2. Working within agencies
3. The compromise between pure and applied
4. Achieving influence
5. The question of ethics
Some of the important positions that anthropologists are
occupying in development agencies are:

• Social Development Advisors (SDA).

• Consultants
• Research officers
• Counsellors
• Advocacy role
• Mediator between the developer and the developed
 Engaged anthropology in the twenty-first century

• The time has come for anthropology to consolidate its place in

development practice, not merely as frustrated post-project critic but as
implementing partner. There are growing demands for its skills and insights
to further understanding of agricultural, health community, and other
issues (Sillitoe, 2002:1).
• “Applied anthropology has been largely transformed into an engaged
discipline, assuming three major roles as public anthropology, activist
research and protest anthropology to truly connect with communities at
both practical and conceptual levels.”
 Engaged anthropology in the twenty-first century

• Public anthropology is not a field of anthropology but a form of anthropological

expression, a mechanism for connecting people like those working at Boeing, at
city hall, or at Wal-Mart to work that, typically, is most often read by other
anthropologists. It moves beyond the proliferation of terms (applied, activist,
feminist, engaged, critical medical, community archaeology) to lift up the best of
each, dealing with social problems and issues of interest to a broader public
(Griffith et al., 2013: 125)
 Engaged anthropology in the twenty-first century

• Activist research is a method through which we affirm a political alignment with

an organized group of people in struggle and allow dialogue with them to shape
each phase of the process, from conception of the research topic to data
collection to verification and dissemination of the results (Hale, 2006: 97).
• Protest Anthropology implies a political and professional engagement by
anthropologists that goes beyond simply being ‘aligned with protest movements,
revolts, and uprisings’ to being ‘full-fledged participants in them’ (Maskovsky,
2013: 127).
 What can development professionals learn from Anthropology?
• Anthropology encourages us to be aware of development actors
• Ill-considered development initiatives may create problems rather than opportunities for disadvantaged
actors.
• People in all kinds of unexpected places are capable of driving change.
• Anthropology highlights the existence of ‘local’ or ‘indigenous’ knowledge, and the frequent tendency
to overlook them
• Anthropologists show how people are often effective experimenters, innovators and managers of
change over time.
• Anthropologists show us how to look beyond the surface of development projects and programs to see
that people are always at the center of the process.
• Anthropologists’ approach reframe how we ‘do’ development: from a technical process to a social and
cultural process that is embedded in relationships.
(Source: Eversole, 2018:94-95)
 Bangladesh University of Professionals (BUP)
Department of Development Studies
3st Class Test (2nd Year, 3th Semester)
Course Title: Anthropology and Development

Time Allowed: 40 minutes Marks:10

Answer any One from the following questions.

1. What do anthropologists mean when they describe development as a series of

events and actions, as well as a particular discourse and ideological construction?
Why these events and actions are inherently problematic?

2. Why the questions of access and control have received urgent attention in
planning and evaluating development work? Discuss with examples.
Thank You and Questions???