Anthropology for Development

Robyn Eversole is Professor with the Centre for Social Impact, based at Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia.

"Using the tools and concepts of anthropology, Robyn Eversole provides a map of the development process as it really is. Practitioners and students learn how to recognize and respond to the needs of diverse communities while also juggling the complex dilemma of how to obtain and use scarce resources. This is a clear, concise and critical book which reinforces the fact that all development must be a collaboration within a specific context. It’s the book I needed while teaching and doing development!" - Jeanne Simonelli, Professor Emerita, Wake Forest University and SUNY-Oneonta, US."A welcome book that gives a straightforward account of what anthropology has to offer in development contexts. Those of us from the discipline, largely ignored until relatively recently, have long argued that it has much to offer with respect to the cross-cultural challenges faced by development programmes. This book puts the argument clearly, and is particularly useful in giving an update on current issues, with development being a field that features rapid change." - Paul Sillitoe, Professor of Anthropology, Durham University, UK.

• List of Figures List of BoxesINTRODUCTION Doing development Many developments Success and failure Change and continuity Development in social context Development actors Economics and beyond Policy in context? An anthropological approach About anthropology Anthropology of development Applying anthropology in development work Aims of this book CHAPTER ONE: ANTHROPOLOGY OF DEVELOPMENT IN THEORY Development in context Anthropologists and development Development up close Anthropologists in development work Development actors: the people in the process Actors on the margins Anthropologists as development actors Developers as social actors Development knowledges: what people know The idea of development Indigenous knowledges Development logics Development institutions: what people do Culture and institutions Institutions and development Institutions across cultures Summary: Understanding developmentCHAPTER TWO: ANTHROPOLOGY OF DEVELOPMENT IN PRACTICE Stories of change on the ground Grassroots actorsInvisible knowledgesInstitutions and powerLearning from change on the groundStories of development practiceActors in development practiceKnowledge for developmentOld institutions and newLearning from development practiceSummary: Lessons for practiceCHAPTER THREE: AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPMENT PRACTICEFraming and reframing developmentThe dominant framework: Problems, targets, solutionsAn anthropological framework: contexts, actors, and resourcesThe development landscapeDevelopment in contextUnpacking actorsKnowledges and logicsInstitutions and change Summary: Doing development anthropologicallyCHAPTER FOUR: APPLYING THE FRAMEWORK: TOOLS AND APPROACHESAssessment tools: Understanding contextsTools for desktop assessmentTools for assessment workshopsCommunity-based assessment toolsDesign tools: Crafting actions for changeVisioning and planning toolsResourcing toolsImplementation tools: Life on the development landscapeParticipatory governance toolsParticipatory management toolsEvaluation tools: Learning and accountabilityPractice learning toolsAccountability toolsTools for reflexive practiceWorking with anthropologistsSummary: Tools and their usesCHAPTER FIVE: ANTHROPOLOGICAL RESPONSES TO DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGESA recipe for effectiveness? Poverty as a verb From participation to recognition The challenge of sustainability Summary: From challenges to opportunities? CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSIONS: USING ANTHROPOLOGY IN DEVELOPMENT WORK Lesson One: Development abhors a vacuum Lesson Two: Development is always about people Lesson Three: Reframing is the key to changeAnthropology for development, toward the future FURTHER READING Development case studies – useful collections Ethnographies of local economic development Unpacking the idea of development Anthropology of / for practice REFERENCES INDEX