An Anthropological Critique of Development: The Growth of Ignorance (EIDOS)

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. Introduction : The Growth Of Ignorance? / Mark Hobart -- Segmentary Knowledge : A Whalsay Sketch / Anthony P. Cohen -- Processes And Limitations Of Dogon Agricultural Knowledge / Walter E. A. Van Beek -- Cultivation : Knowledge Or Performance / Paul Richards -- His Lordship At The Cobblers' Well / Richard Burghart -- Is Death The Same Everywhere? : Contexts Of Knowing And Doubting / Piers Vitebsky -- Scapegoat And Magic Charm : Law In Development Theory And Practice / Franz Von Benda-beckmann -- Knowledge And Ignorance In The Practices Of Development Policy / Philip Quarles Van Ufford -- The Negotiation Of Knowledge And Ignorance In China's Development Strategy / Elisabeth Croll -- Bridging Two Worlds : An Ethnography Of Bureaucrat-peasant Relations In Western Mexico / Alberto Arce And Norman Long -- Potatoes And Knowledge / Jan Douwe Van Der Ploeg. Edited By Mark Hobart. Includes Bibliographical References And Indexes. Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 List of figures......Page 8 Notes on contributors......Page 9 Preface......Page 11 Introduction: the growth of ignorance?......Page 14 Segmentary knowledge: a Whalsay sketch......Page 44 Processes and limitations of Dogon agricultural knowledge......Page 56 Cultivation: knowledge or performance?......Page 74 His lordship at the Cobblers' well......Page 92 Is death the same everywhere? contexts of knowing and doubting......Page 113 Scapegoat and magic charm: law in development theory and practice......Page 129 Knowledge and ignorance in the practices of development policy......Page 148 The negotiation of knowledge and ignorance in China's development strategy......Page 174 Bridging two worlds: an ethnography of bureaucrat-peasant relations in western Mexico......Page 192 Potatoes and knowledge......Page 222 Name index......Page 241 Subject index......Page 245 This provocative volume, the latest in the EIDOS series, debunks the assumption that the application of Western knowledge in the implementation of economic and social development is an unqualified success. The author argues that it is unacceptable to dismiss problems encountered by development projects as the result of an inadequate implementation of knowledge. Rather, it suggests that failures stem from the constitution of knowledge and its object. By focusing 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 ultimately perpetuates ignorance Challenges the utopian view of Western knowledge as uniquely successful in its application to economic and social development. The contributors offer an enthographic critique using case studies from Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. The relationship of Africa, Asia and Latin America to Europe and North America in the post-war period is often couched in the language of development.