Anthropology Through Development Putting Development Theory Into Practice
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Anthropology Matters Journal 2010, Vol 12 (2) 1 Anthropology Through Development: Putting Development Practice into Theory Edited by Amy Pollard and Alice Street Editorial introduction This special issue of Anthropology Matters frames the canonical question for development anthropo logists in reverse. Instead of asking how anthropological theory might be put into practice in development, it asks how engagements with development policy and practice might transform anthropology. What kinds of theoretical insights have emerged fro m the anthropo logy of d evelopment? What does the overlapping language of anthropology and development mean for ethnographic methodology? How do relationships between anthropologists and development professionals affect the research process? What can anthropologists learn from development wo rk? These are questions that have been important for both of us, as editors, as we traversed the bou ndaries of anthrop ology and development during our careers. Like many of authors in this collection, between us we have worked as academics, consultants, for NGOs and for government agencies –„cross- pollinating‟ between the spheres of anthropology and development as we did so. We have found t hat working across these boundaries can be humbling for both sets of expertise, and suggest that the flow of insights between „research‟ and „practice‟ can be very much a two-way process. The performance-based culture of contemporary academia creates unique challenges for today‟s early career anthropologists. The pressure to p ublish and the conservativeparameters around what counts as a “REFable” publication can inhibit experimental engagements with different audiences and lead to a reduction of the anthropological endeavour to narrow careerism. Meanwhile, gro wing institutional debates about „impact‟ in academia resuscitate the ideals that often drew people to anthropology in the beginning, and raise important questions about what anthropology might achieve beyond the walls of the university. The contributors to this issue of Anthropology Matters have all found the friction-rich interactions of development practice to be productive spaces in which to grapple with these questions about the process, purpose and value of anthropology. As anthropology moves on from an exclusively critical view of development work, and seeks instead to attend to the complex agency of those involved in it (Mosse 2005), a host of new opportunities emerge for the discipline. These not only make for more nuanced accounts of development policy and practice, but may also present a rich set of gifts to anthropologists working throughout the academy.
Anthropology Through Development Putting Development Theory Into Practice
