Critically explores the cultural and social dynamics of development and international aid. Focusing on power and difference, the paper investigates issues of gender, empowerment, community-driven approaches, policy and indigenous worldviews.
Globally, billions of dollars in international development aid are spent every month, targeted at managed change, often in cross-cultural contexts. The Anthropology of Development – a major subfield of anthropology – investigates development concepts and aspirations, power relations and the costs and benefits of interventions. This paper provides an overview of the subdiscipline.
Topics include:
- The origins and evolution of the concept of "development"
- Indigenous and local notions of "development", and how transversal meta-narratives of development shape local aspirations
- The relationship between development policy, implementation and outcomes, with attention to unintended consequences
- Philosophies and techniques of community-based development, and the institutional and community micro-politics that can complicate it in practice
- Common roles that applied anthropologists undertake in the development industry, and the practical and ethical dilemmas these can raise
| Paper title | People, Culture and Development |
|---|---|
| Paper code | ANTH431 |
| Subject | Anthropology |
| EFTS | 0.1667 |
| Points | 20 points |
| Teaching period | Semester 2 (On campus) |
| Domestic Tuition Fees (NZD) | $1,206.91 |
| International Tuition Fees | Tuition Fees for international students are elsewhere on this website. |
- Prerequisite
- 72 300-level points
- Notes
- May not be credited with ANTH411 completed in 2021
- Eligibility
Students would benefit from a background in the Social Sciences.
This paper may be taken as an elective for the Master of International Development and Planning (https://www.otago.ac.nz/courses/qualifications/midp.html)- Contact
- Teaching staff
- Teaching Arrangements
This paper is taught in weekly 2-3 hour seminars.
It is 100% internally assessed.- Textbooks
Crewe, Emma, and Richard Axelby. 2013. Anthropology and Development: Culture, Morality and Politics in a Globalised World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
The textbook and other course readings are available through eReserve on Blackboard- Graduate Attributes Emphasised
Global perspective, Cultural understanding, Scholarship, Critical thinking, Interdisciplinary perspective, Communication, Self-motivation, Research, Ethics
View more information about Otago's graduate attributes.- Learning Outcomes
Students who successfully complete the paper will:
- Identify and critique the cultural assumptions underlying a range a key development theories, concepts and approaches
- Compare how notions of "development", and cognate concepts, vary across cultures and groups
- Critically engage with key anthropological and sociological debates on aid effectiveness
- Understand a range of practical ways that anthropologists apply their skills in the development sector and assess some key ethical issues with which applied anthropologists grapple
