Development and Patronage
Edited by Deborah Eade and introduced by Melakou Tegegn
Far from being a liberating process for all, much of what has been done in the name of development serves to reinforce the intellectual, material, and financial dependence of those on the receiving end. Some argue that the very concept of development is essentially a vehicle in which cultural values and social norms, as well as resources, are exported from one part of the world to another, along a one-way route from rich to poor. Aid thus becomes a means by which unequal relationships of power are maintained and patronage fostered. Here Paul Tiyambe Zeleza examines the legacy of intellectual and cultural dependence bequeathed to African scholars, while Karunawathie Menike argues that external agencies ignore people’s own existing priorities and concerns in the rush to impose their own (supposedly more enlightened) views. Jenny Pearce, Richard Moseley-Williams, and Firoze Manji take a critical look at how aid agencies may perpetuate dependence – but ensure their own survival in doing so. Alan Fowler identifies the main ingredients of more equal and robust North-South partnerships, while David Craig, Doug Porter, and Sara Hlupekile Longwe argue that the purveyors of aid often reproduce the very dynamics and injustices which they profess to deplore.
© Oxfam (UK and Ireland) 1997.
ISBN 0 85598 376 0
All rights reserved.
‘Indispensable for anyone attempting to move beyond platitudes about development partnerships towards a critical understanding of the power relations that underpin development practice. The annotated bibliography alone is an invaluable resource, providing a rich and astonishingly varied compilation of critical alternatives to mainstream development thinking and practice.’
Carole Miller, Gender Policy Adviser, ActionAid
‘What this collection shows is that, despite the increasing constraints on both NGOs and state-sponsored [community] development, there are still spaces to be created for marginalised people to be heard. I would recommend this Reader to all those working in and with communities which are attempting to create and people these spaces.’
Community Development Journal
‘…the issues raised are important ones and the papers deserve attention from policy makers in NGOs in both the North and the South and from their colleagues in official agencies. ’>
Development and Change
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