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Questioning the utopian image of western knowledge as a uniquely successful achievement in its application to economic and social development, this provocative volume, the latest in the EIDOS series, argues that it is unacceptable to dismiss problems encountered by development projects as the inadequate implementation of knowledge. Rather, it suggests that failures stem from the constitution of knowledge and its object.By focussing on the ways in which agency in development is attributed to experts, thereby turning previously active participants into passive subjects or ignorant objects, the contributors claim that the hidden agenda to the aims of educating and improving the lives of those in the undeveloped world falls little short of perpetuating ignorance.
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An anthropological critique of development The latest volume in the EIDOS series challenges the Utopian view of western knowledge as a uniquely successful achievement in its application to economic and social development. The contributors, all well-known European professional anthropologists with experience of development, provide an ethnographic and theoretical critique of western knowledge in action. They focus on the importance given in development to ‘experts’, who often turn previously active participants into passive subjects or ignorant objects. Making use of detailed ethnographic case studies, from Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America, the contributors examine the ways in which indigenous knowledges often prove more effective than expert western knowledge and explore the relationships between the two kinds of knowledge. They stress the importance of understanding knowledge in the particular contexts of its use and show how western experts, by dismissing local knowledges in favour of an exclusive scientific Knowledge, contribute to the growth of ignorance rather than the growth of knowledge. Arguing strongly against the separation of theory and practice, An anthropological critique of development bridges the gap between the practical concerns of developers and theoretical interest in the power implications of knowledge in the post-colonial world. It will be of great value to anthropologists and development workers in training and practice, and to geographers, economists, sociologists and political scientists. Mark Hobart is Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and is a co-founder of EIDOS. EIDOS (European Inter-University Development Opportunities Study-Group) was founded in 1985 and brought together British, Dutch and German anthropologists actively engaged in the study of development. The broad purpose of EIDOS workshops has been to assess critically the dissemination and specialization of anthropological and sociological knowledge in different European centres and to further the understanding of the ways in which that knowledge has directly influenced development. Editorial Board David Parkin (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) Hans-Dieter Evers (University of Bielefeld) Philip Quarles van Ufford (Free University, Amsterdam) Editorial Committee Franz von Benda-Beckmann (Wageningen Agricultural University) Elisabeth Croll (School of Oriental and African Studies, London) Mark Hobart (School of Oriental and African Studies, London) Rüdiger Korff (University of Bielefeld) Norman Long (Wageningen Agricultural University) Günther Schlee (University of Bielefeld) An anthropological critique of development The growth of ignorance Edited by Mark Hobart London and New York First published 1993 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002. Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 3