Volume 26, number 2 (2005)
Development from Within? Southern Voices, Northern Reflections
Introduction
“I suggested this thematic issue based on my view that Southern voices were inadequately represented in our development field. Casual empiricism — reviewing the authorship of various academic journals including recent CJDS issues — appeared to confirm my view. Whether true or not, given that the conventional view is that our development field ‘focuses on developing countries’ and that we should view development through a ‘Southern lens’, it appears incumbent on us to create as many opportunities as possible for people from the South to be heard … ”
Southern Voices
Agroforestry and Development: Displacement of Buddhist Values in Bangladesh
This paper explores Buddhist perspectives on, and knowledge of, agroforestry development in rural Buddhist communities in the context of present development models. The data are contextualized in applications of Buddhist knowledge and belief in Asian Buddhist societies generally and in Bangladesh in particular. We review the Buddhist literature on agroforestry and development, examining its place within existing models of agricultural development and the discourse on indigenous knowledge systems. Subsequent discussion focuses on agricultural and forest development, as they are informed by Buddhist values and perspectives on nature and the environment. The final outcome delineates the relevance of Buddhist knowledge to ecocentric development and poverty alleviation for the welfare of all living beings in the world.
Indigenous Knowledge, Resources Use, and the Dene of Northern Saskatchewan
Aboriginal people all over the world have managed their resources within their own homelands since time immemorial. By applying traditional knowledge and resource management, Aboriginal people have ensured their cultural and environmental sustainability and survival as distinct peoples into the modern age. Today the traditional systems of Aboriginal people are under extreme pressure, and great effort is required to promote those traditions and their value for sustaining Aboriginal people within their homelands. This paper identifies impacts on the traditional resources and lands of the Dene people of Northern Saskatchewan. Issues arising are addressed through the use of a field research-based case study of the impacts of uranium mining on the Dene of the Athabasca basin. The paper will attempt to address the concept of traditional indigenous knowledge and its role in Dene society in the modern world.
Sensitizing Students to Cultural-Linguistic Diversity through English-Language Classes in a Multicultural Taiwan
Taiwan, once called Formosa (meaning “beautiful island” in Portuguese), is a country with a diverse ethno-linguistic heritage, and therefore it is a multiracial, multicultural, and multilingual country. The society consists of more than 10 different aboriginal communities in addition to the 3H: three different groups of Han peoples (Hoklo or Minnan group speakers, Hakka speakers, and Holam in Amis language — the latest immigrants). This paper explores how the different cultural backgrounds of senior high-school students in Taiwan in a multilingual classroom that promoted multilingualism allow them to come to value other languages spoken in their classes or in their communities. Evidence supporting students’ attitudes and motivation in learning community languages and English came from close analysis of interactional patterns with peers and teachers in classes and informal settings, from students’ explanations of their school experiences in group work, and from interviews with students, parents, community figures, and educational leaders over a four-month period during the process of the course. Sensitizing students to cultural-linguistic diversity through English language classes in a multicultural Taiwan has the potential to promote multilingualism and pluralism in minority and majority group students who study several languages at a time in a multilingual classroom.
The Islamic Revivalist Perspective of Development
This paper examines the Islamic revivalist discourse on development. It argues that while Islam stands for monotheism, this does not necessarily lead to monism; it leads to plurality and diversity. There exist several discourses. The revivalist discourse is constructed exclusively on the basis of the Islamic worldview. The revivalist approach to development is basically spiritual and elaborates a few fundamental axioms of development as well as highlights certain aspects of the strategy of development. The paper demonstrates that the revivalist perspective on development is neither isolationist nor parochial. Indeed, it could serve as a basis for further investigation and dialogue.
Northern Reflections
Whose Vision, Whose Rules? A Culture and Development Typology
This article explores the issue of cultural difference between outside developers and target groups. In its focus on culture, the article draws attention to the limitations of many current attempts to include “insider” perspectives in development initiatives.Merely including members of target groups or implementing certain kinds of ethnic- or gender-friendly projects is not enough to ensure that development initiatives reflect target group perspectives. The cultural values and institutions of developers often subtly shape the goals and processes of development initiatives, even while outwardly encouraging participation. A basic culture-and-development typology helps developers reflect constructively on their own practice and on the possibility of working with target groups to support development from within.
Développement durable et intervention externe : le cas de deux zones caféicoles au Mexique
Following the failure of numerous projects that had as a basis an induced modernization foundation, today’s development projects (hopefully sustainable ones) are conceived as the bearers of interaction between local groups and external agents. This article compares two long-term development interventions aimed at the Nahuas and Populacas peoples of Eastern Mexico. The author proposes a distinction between three kinds of intervention with an emphasis on positions of power of external agents on one hand, and local actors on the other. This position of power can change during the development process. Analysis of these two projects shows the need to understand local cultures with enough precision so as to select actions that will align themselves with a culture’s basic values and establish a dynamic relationship with a culturalized nature and facilitate a group’s transformation within a globalized economic context.
Completing the Freiren Cycle: Linking Huichol Education with Global Education and International Development Studies
Countries of the South, and specifically indigenous peoples, have been the recipients of development paradigms through generations of colonialism, nation-building, and contemporary globalization. This paper revisits the influential work of Paulo Freire and relates it to the burgeoning contribution of locally-based youth education initiatives of the Huichol, an indigenous group in central Mexico. Furthermore, the processes that nourish the ensuing cycles of solidarity and advocacy in knowledge dissemination into the dominant culture are analysed. Evidence of this awareness, as such, comes from the growing popularity of global education initiatives and international development studies in wealthy countries, continuing the Freiren Cycle.
Development and Calypso Culture: Caribbean Roots and Canadian Transformations
The first part of this paper argues that the definition of “development” as used by the philosophers Martha Nussbaum and Amartya Sen can frame an understanding of the national culture of the musical art form, the calypso, in Trinidad. The second half of the paper discusses the migration of the calypso musical form to Toronto, where it becomes limited to being part of a minority, immigrant ethnic culture. Yet, many of the problems that it faces in Trinidad, such as insufficient radio play and lack of state support, are the same in Toronto, suggesting that a wider shared problem with commodification and the incursion of market values is challenging development. I argue that the structure of choices for calypsonians is different in Canada and that this will determine, to some degree, the nature of the culture and the human development it makes possible.
Voices from the Field
Indigenous Culture, Development, and Language: A View from the Field
“As in so many indigenous areas of the world, the Talieng children attended a school where the country’s governing language, Lao, was taught. The school was located far away from the homes of many of the children, so often young girls and boys, if they attended, boarded with other families. The curriculum, aught by teachers from outside the region, wasdeveloped in the country’s capital city far from this collection of villages, and the images and stories reflected another world, where white rice was farmed using irrigation, the concept of traffic existed, and different spiritual beliefs were practised …
“It was here that cultural identity as a development concept was very apparent … ”
Reviews
The School of the Americas: Military Training and Political Violence in the Americas, Lesley Gill
Africa at the Crossroads: Between Regionalism and Globalization, J.M. Mbaku and S.C. Saxena (eds.)
Undermining Development: The Absence of Power among Local NGOs in Africa, Sarah Michael
Ritual and Symbol in Peacebuilding, Lisa Schirch