Anthropology, Development and Modernities

This book provides a critical review of the varied interpretations of modernity and development supported by original case studies from the Netherlands, the former USSR, Tanzania, Sri Lanka and Guatemala.

Informationen zum Autor Alberto Arce and Norman Long are both based in the Department of Sociology at Wageningen University in the the Netherlands. Alberto Arce's research focuses on agricultural and environmental issues. Norman Long has developed an actor-oriented and interface approach to studying development and social change. Both have published widely. Klappentext This collection uses anthropological perspectives to explore the diverse interpretations of modernity and development in today's world. For some, modernity and development has brought prosperity, optimism and opportunity, but for others it has brought poverty and a falling quality of life. This book provides a crucial review of the varied interpretations of development and modernity, supported by rigorous case studies from Guatemala, Sri Lanka, West Africa and contemporary Europe. Together, the chapters in this volume demonstrate the crucial importance of looking to ethnography for guidance in shaping development politics. Zusammenfassung This book provides a critical review of the varied interpretations of modernity and development supported by original case studies from the Netherlands, the former USSR, Tanzania, Sri Lanka and Guatemala. Inhaltsverzeichnis Preface Acknowledgements 1 Reconfiguring modernity and development from an anthropological perspective 2 Creating or regulating development: representing modernities through language and discourse 3 Modernisation without the market? The case of the 'Soviet East' 4 Islamisms and the decivilising processes of globalisation 5 The spectacle of modernity: blood, microscopes and mirrors in colonial Tanganyika 6 Development discourse and its subversion: decivilisation, depoliticisation and dispossession in West Africa 7 On the anticipation of violence: modernity and identity in Southern Sri Lanka 8 At the frontiers of the modern state in post-war Guatemala 9 Vital force, avenging spirits and zombies: discourses on drug addiction among Surinamese Creole migrants in Amsterdam 10 Consuming modernity: mutational processes of change 11 Exploring local/global transformations: a view from anthropology...

Autorentext
Alberto Arce and Norman Long are both based in the Department of Sociology at Wageningen University in the the Netherlands. Alberto Arce's research focuses on agricultural and environmental issues. Norman Long has developed an actor-oriented and interface approach to studying development and social change. Both have published widely.

Klappentext

This collection uses anthropological perspectives to explore the diverse interpretations of modernity and development in today's world. For some, modernity and development has brought prosperity, optimism and opportunity, but for others it has brought poverty and a falling quality of life. This book provides a crucial review of the varied interpretations of development and modernity, supported by rigorous case studies from Guatemala, Sri Lanka, West Africa and contemporary Europe. Together, the chapters in this volume demonstrate the crucial importance of looking to ethnography for guidance in shaping development politics.

Inhalt
Preface Acknowledgements 1 Reconfiguring modernity and development from an anthropological perspective 2 Creating or regulating development: representing modernities through language and discourse 3 Modernisation without the market? The case of the 'Soviet East' 4 Islamisms and the decivilising processes of globalisation 5 The spectacle of modernity: blood, microscopes and mirrors in colonial Tanganyika 6 Development discourse and its subversion: decivilisation, depoliticisation and dispossession in West Africa 7 On the anticipation of violence: modernity and identity in Southern Sri Lanka 8 At the frontiers of the modern state in post-war Guatemala 9 Vital force, avenging spirits and zombies: discourses on drug addiction among Surinamese Creole migrants in Amsterdam 10 Consuming modernity: mutational processes of change 11 Exploring local/global transformations: a view from anthropology