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    Introduction To Cultural Anthropology

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    Muhammad Zeeshan
    This document discusses the role of anthropologists in cultural development. It explains that development projects often ignore local culture, which can have negative impacts. Anthropologists work to understand social structures like gender and kinship in order to better inform development approaches. The view of development has also changed, now emphasizing participatory and culturally-sensitive methods. While anthropology has historically been suspicious of directed cultural change, its role in development continues to evolve with a focus on including local stakeholders and understanding different perspectives.

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    Introduction To Cultural Anthropology

    Uploaded by

    Muhammad Zeeshan
    22 views11 pages
    This document discusses the role of anthropologists in cultural development. It explains that development projects often ignore local culture, which can have negative impacts. Anthropologists work to understand social structures like gender and kinship in order to better inform development approaches. The view of development has also changed, now emphasizing participatory and culturally-sensitive methods. While anthropology has historically been suspicious of directed cultural change, its role in development continues to evolve with a focus on including local stakeholders and understanding different perspectives.

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    PPT 40

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    This document discusses the role of anthropologists in cultural development. It explains that development projects often ignore local culture, which can have negative impacts. Anthropologists work to understand social structures like gender and kinship in order to better inform development approaches. The view of development has also changed, now emphasizing participatory and culturally-sensitive methods. While anthropology has historically been suspicious of directed cultural change, its role in development continues to evolve with a focus on including local stakeholders and understanding different perspectives.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    22 views11 pages

    Introduction To Cultural Anthropology

    Uploaded by

    Muhammad Zeeshan
    This document discusses the role of anthropologists in cultural development. It explains that development projects often ignore local culture, which can have negative impacts. Anthropologists work to understand social structures like gender and kinship in order to better inform development approaches. The view of development has also changed, now emphasizing participatory and culturally-sensitive methods. While anthropology has historically been suspicious of directed cultural change, its role in development continues to evolve with a focus on including local stakeholders and understanding different perspectives.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    of 11

    Introduction to Cultural

    Anthropology

    Lecture 40
    Anthropology and
    Development

    The Issue of Development


    Development and Change

    o From an anthropological point of view, culture is


    an asset, even though managing it is difficult.

    o Cultures change and do not have sharp borders.

    o Examples of development planners' and


    development workers' ignorance of local culture,
    have had devastating repercussions on the local
    level.
    What Development
    Anthropologists do

    o Development anthropologists in interpret practices


    which are difficult for others to access who lack
    detailed comparative knowledge of social
    organisation: gender, kinship, property resources.

    o Anthropological input is often restricted to


    appraisal and analysis of planned outcome
    failures.
    What Development
    Anthropologists do
    o Besides international development, use of applied
    anthropology has grown in the West as well.

    o Anthropology in the US and in South America is


    often associated with cultural brokerage between
    indigenous groups and national governments, and
    between indigenous groups and private companies,
    often those associated with natural resource
    extraction.
    Changing Notion of
    Development

    o Development necessitates a kind of social analysis


    of the situations which the proposed intervention
    will be designed to address.

    o From an anthropological view, this essentially


    requires matching two representations of reality,
    that of development practioners and that of local
    environments.
    Changing Notion of
    Development
    o Research on development and culture during the
    past years has emphasized a culture-sensitive
    approach in development.

    o Emphasis on people undertaking their own


    development, instead of imposing development
    on them, it is suggested that research into local
    culture is one of the most important features for
    ensuring participatory development.
    Changing Notion of
    Development
    o Participation means that development should involve
    all its stakeholders.

    o Even the World Bank recognised the complex


    environments in which development policy was
    supposed to operate and had failed.

    o A modified policy discourse spoke the need to include


    local people, civil society, and social networks in
    planning and implementation.
    Contentions in Development

    o If anthropology has conventionally been


    suspicious of unplanned changes, it has been
    particularly distrustful of directed change and of
    the international development project which has
    had directed change as its objective.

    o The ambivalent relationship between


    anthropology and development has its origins in
    the colonial systems of governance.
    Contentions in Development
    o British anthropology strove to be useful to
    ‘practical men’ of colonial administration in the
    1930’s to access public funds. In France,
    anthropological methods were used to improve
    colonial government.

    o This history accounts for the suspicion with which


    anthropology is still viewed in many countries
    which have a fairly recent history of colonial
    domination.
    A New Role for Anthropologists
    o The involvement of anthropology in development
    did not end with the dawning of the post colonial
    era.

    o The inclusion of the discipline in the institutional


    structures of international development from the
    late 1970’s on, has created a number of
    anthropological positions within development
    agencies.

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