Whose Development? : An Ethnography of Aid

by Emma Crewe

This book is an ethnography of development in practice. It builds on recent work in the anthropology of development in its examination of the evolution and persistence of a number of key ideas about gender, technology and race. It explores how these are rooted in both material practices and ideologies, notably the Enlightenment and colonialism, but goes beyond previous studies which have tended to focus mainly on the apparently monolithic power of the developers. The authors argue for a more nuanced account of power through analysis of the relationship between individual agency and structural constraint. Their fascinating study shows how a simple dichotomy between "us," the developers, and "them," the victims of development, misconstrues the nature of the proccesses involved.

Genres: Ethnography, Anthropology

214 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview of some of the problems with international aid programs planned and carried out by "Global North" countries without regard for the on-the-ground realities in the countries these initiatives aim to help.

[Mark Kaech · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great study of the anthropology of development (the roles cultural understanding (and misunderstanding) plays in successful development program designs. Some really amazing case studies, but also depressing that so many problems and failures have occurred.

[Bushra Hassan · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Whose Development?: An Ethnography of Aid” by Emma Crewe and Elizabeth Harrison is a book I read as part of my course in Social Anthropology in University of Oxford. It was part of the reading list by Prof. Laura Rival and I have read it multiple times.

The book is based on real life experiences and highlights the divide between “developers” and “beneficiaries”, the “us” and the “them”. It focuses on the flaws in the traditional development models and its flawed, incomplete understanding of the influences of culture and individual agency in a development context. It highlights the dynamics between those with power and those without, and how the processes of aid can accentuate those realities.

This book doesn’t provide you with answers but it broadens your mind to the dynamics at play in a development setting. It questions our views around gender, technology, participation and deconstructs the design of traditional development programmes while encouraging new ways of thinking about the way we work.

This book is not just relevant for practitioners of development agencies, or government or academics – but it is relevant for all of us – who are, without realizing it, beneficiaries of development planning and are impacted by the power structures that it is hosted within.

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