Postdevelopment theory: Difference between revisions

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[[Majid Rahnema]] cites [[Helena Norberg-Hodge]]{{sfn|Bunyard|1984|p=3|postscript=, cited in {{harvnb|Sachs|1992|p=161}}}} "To take an example, Helena Norberg-Hodge mentions how the notion of poverty hardly existed in [[Ladakh]] when she visited that country for the first time in 1975. Today she says, it has become part of the language. When visiting an outlying village some eight years ago, Helena asked a young Ladakhi where were the poorest houses. 'We have no poor houses in our village,' was the proud reply. Recently Helena saw the same Ladakhi talking to an American tourist and overheard him say, 'if only you could do something for us, we are so poor.'"{{sfn|Sachs|1992|loc="Poverty" by Majid Rahnema|p=161}}

Development is seen as a set of knowledges, interventions and worldviews (in short, discourses) which are also powers: to intervene, to transform and to rule. Postdevelopment critiques challenge the notion of a single path to development and demandsdemand acknowledgment of diversity of cultural perspectives and priorities.

For example, postdevelopment theorists argue that the politics of defining and satisfying [[needs]] is a crucial dimension of development thought, deeply entwined in the concept of [[agency (sociology)|agency]]. ButYet, questions of who voices development concerns, what power relations are played out among agents, and how do the interests of socially-constructed development "experts" (e.g., the [[World Bank]], IMF officials, professionals, and so on) rule the development priorities, andare whichnot voicesoften areaddressed excludedin asclassical adevelopment result?thought. The postdevelopment approach attempts to overcome the inequality of this discourse by opening up academic, practice, and other spaces for non-Western peoples and their concerns.

Postdevelopment theory is, above all, a critique of the standard assumptions about progress: who possesses the key to itprogress and how it may be implemented.

===Alternatives to development===