Antropology

In a changing world, the necessity for anthropologists to have their say in the reshaping of Third World Communities has become more and more important. Contrived between the desire to not intervene and necessity to do so, many anthropologists have, in recent times decided to give their contribute to the field of Development .

Aware of the problems regarding the planning and implementation of such projects, and their effects on local populations, they have developed their own area of specialisation (Development Anthropology), being at the same time often critical of pure Economic Approaches in the field.

The word Development has different meanings and applications in different fields. Since the word Development has been used in Western Culture in conjunction with so-called Social Evolutionism. Social Evolutionism, theorised Human History as an unilinear evolution from Savage to Civilised, where Civilisation was represented by the Western Civilisation (Ferguson, Development in Encyclopaedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Barnard & Spencer.

Another meaning of Development came into place in the last 50 years, this time referring Ð'ÐŽÐ'oto a more specifically economic process , generally understood to involve the expansion of production and consumption and/or rising standards of living especially in the poor countries of the Ð'ÐŽÐ'®Third WorldÐ'ÐŽÐ'ЇÐ'ÐŽÐ'±. The History of Development is linked to European Colonialism and the end of it. As many colonies became independent in the 20th century, especially after the II World War, when the United Nations Organisation began to give an impetus to the ending of colonial rule and to assist the poorer countries of the worldIn this post war period the world was eventually divided in three groups: The First World, being the western democracies(Western Europe, US A and Canada but also Japan, Australia, New Zealand); The Second World, comprising eastern socialist countries(USSR and countries part of the Warsaw pact); The Third World,consisting of the neutral countries in a political sense like Yugoslavia, Egypt and India, Indonesia etc. (Ibid.: 5). The definition Ð'ÐŽÐ'oThird WorldÐ'ÐŽÐ'± has changed in the last 50 years to now mean the underdeveloped countries (These countries are often ex -colonies which had maintained strong ties with their old masters in terms of economic development(Keesing, 1981).

The way in which this Economic Development had to be achieved was through various Development Projects implemented by Development Agencies and a new discipline, Development Studies(Ferguson, Development in Encyclopaedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Barnard & Spencer. This new discipline being influenced on two main theories of Development: The Modernisation theory and Dependence theory.

The first theory, Modernisation, sees the Third World as being composed by two sectors, the traditional sector conservative and opposed to any social change which is exemplified but pre-capitalist societies and the modernising sector based on capitalist economic organisation . The second sector is the source of economic growth and it is based on the export of raw materials and the industrial development driven on by foreign capital (Ibid.). The first sector has to be removed as it is an obstacle to the second sector and therefore to the economic growth. At the same time the power has to be administered by a middle-class elite with western values and beliefs(Ibid.). This theory is the product of western capitalismÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їs view of the world.

The second theory, Dependence, on the other hand, opposes the Modernisation theory in the way it rejects the idea that development is a consequence of traditionalism. Moreover, it sees in the european expansion the reason for the underdevelopment of the Third World (Keesing, 1981:444). Andre Gunder Frank, the architect of Dependency theory, showed how the Ð'ÐŽÐ'oconstant drain of wealthÐ'ÐŽÐ'±(Ibid.) from poor countries(colonies or ex-colonies) to rich countries(ex-colonial powers) produced poverty and at the same time destroyed the local economy(Ibid.). Doing so, outlines A.G.Frank, the colonial powers first, the capitalist powers afterwards created a constellations of economic interest with a centre(Metropolis) and its satellite economic regions. Some small centres being the satellites of a bigger centre(Ibid.: 445).

Modernisation theory, in particular, shaped the policies of Development Agencies, which comprised of International Organisations as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, National Planning Agencies and other non Governmental, Independent Agencies, from the 1950s onwards (Escobar, E Anthropology and the Development Encounter: The Making and Marketing of Development Anthropology in American Ethnologist, Vol. 18, 4 , Nov. 1991: 663-664). A criticism of Modernisation Theory by the Neo-Marxist Critique in the 1970s brought a rise of the Dependency Theory which constituted a influential model for the involvement of Anthropology in the Discipline (Ferguson, Development in Encyclopaedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology 1996, Barnard & Spencer (eds), Routledge- London: 157-158).

Another aspect of Development not often considered is the one regarding the so- called Ð'ÐŽÐ'oCultureÐ'ÐŽÐ'±. According to Tim Allen, Culture has being deliberately left out from Development (Allen T., Taking Culture Seriously in Allen & Thomas (eds.), 2000 Poverty and Development into the 21st Century : 447). Allen concentrate briefly on the fact that Culture, often linked to the idea of Ð'ÐŽÐ'®CivilisationÐ'ÐŽÐ'Ї and /or Ð'ÐŽÐ'®total human orderÐ'ÐŽÐ'Ї, is a controversial word and it is often used in a simplistic manner but is undeniably difficult to separate from Politics and Economics (Ibid; 443-447). Nevertheless, Development Studies, putting Economics and Politics at the centre of its analysis, tends to ignore the importance of Cultural Aspects, in an attitude that Allen defines Economism (Ibid: 452).

This inability in dealing with Cultural Aspects of Societies object of Development Projects, is at the very centre of conflicts between a Development Agency and locals. Johan Pottier gives a good example of a Development Project amongst the Maasai (the Maasai Project in the 1960s and Ð'ÐŽÐ'®70s) flawed because of the scarce or none consideration for the Customs and Practises of the people at the centre of the project. The aim of the Project was to improve the livestock production and range preservation amongst the Maasai. The ProjectÐ'ÐŽÐ'Їs failure was caused by the presumption of the Ð'ÐŽÐ'®Technical StaffÐ'ÐŽÐ'Ї that a