People First: The Anthropology of International Development

Much of international development is approached in terms of what organizations can do to help people living in precarious and impoverished circumstances. From development theories and policies to organizational forms and product innovations, the complexity of approaches makes it easy to lose sight of the human element. How are development projects understood and experienced by their participants designers, leaders, implementers, and recipients alike? What are the ethnographic realities in which these interventions play out? In what ways do people seek to improve their own lives and livelihoods? In People First, our primary objective is to understand the structural contexts and contingent elements that surround the making (and unmaking) of development projects around the world. To do so, we will bring key anthropological concepts from patronage, expertise, and power to money, gifts, and debt to bear on practices of state-led development, market-driven approaches, and third-sector endeavors. The ethnographic readings in the course offer a pathway for students to understand development from an emic perspective through the eyes of people who experience poverty, inequality, and exclusion. These materials will force us to confront the question of: How do our views of development change once we view the industry from the perspective of people who are its objects and targets? Credit Level: 11 Year taken: Postgraduate