Download or read book Development as Modernity Modernity as Development written by Siyabonga Lushaba and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2009-12-01 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book analyses the impact of the Western idea of 'modernity' on development and underdevelopment in Africa. It traces the genealogy of the Western idea of modernity from European Enlightenment concepts of the universal nature of human history and development, and shows how this idea was used to justify the Western exploitation and oppression of Africa. It argues that contemporary development, theory and practice is a continuation of the Enlightenment project and that Africa can only achieve real development by rejecting Western modernity and inventing its own forms of modernity. The book is divided into four sections. The first section provides an outline of the theory of modernity in the Enlightenment project. In the second section, an attempt is made to trace the genealogy of the idea of development as modernity and how the African development process gets entangled with it. Here, its evolution is mapped through three periods: early modernity, capitalist modernity and late modernity. Zeroing in on the current era of late or hypermodernity, the book contests the idea that there is something new in globalisation and its neo-liberal development paradigm. The third section turns to the complex but pertinent question of how, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, Africa can transcend the impasse of modernity. The fourth and final section sums up the argument and points the way forward.
Download or read book Development Modernism and Modernity in Africa written by Augustine Agwuele and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-03-01 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This anthology examines the "unfinished project of modernity" with respect to the unrealized potential for economic, social, and political development in Africa. It also shows how, facing the consequences of modernism, Africans in and out of the continent are responding to these unfinished projects drawing on (a) the customary, (b) the novelty of modernity, and (c) positive aspects of modernism, for the organization of their societies and the enrichment of their lives even as they contend with the negative aspects of modernity and modernism.
Download or read book The God of Modernity written by Josep R. Llobera and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-08-09 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an integrated framework for explaining how nationalism has become one of the most powerful ideologies of modern times. Starting with a consideration of the medieval roots of the nation, the author goes on to examine the various approaches and structural theories which have been used to explain the development of nationalism. In so doing, he highlights the key role of cultural and political influences, as well as the impact of the French Revolution and its aftermath. Clearly written with concise, self-contained chapters, this book will be of interest to undergraduates taking a range of social science and history courses as well as specialist readers.
Download or read book Countering Development written by David D. Gow and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2008-05-21 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cauca, located in southwestern Colombia and home to the largest indigenous population in the country, is renowned as a site of indigenous mobilization. In 1994, following a destructive earthquake, many families in Cauca were forced to leave their communities of origin and relocate to other areas within the province where the state provided them with land and housing. Noting that disasters offer communities the opportunity to remake themselves and their priorities, David D. Gow examines how three different communities established after the earthquake wrestled with conflicting visions of development. He shows how they each countered traditional notions of development by moving beyond a myopic obsession with poverty alleviation to demand that Colombia become more inclusive and treat all of its people as citizens with full rights and responsibilities. Through ethnographic fieldwork conducted annually in Cauca from 1995 through 2002, Gow compares the development plans of the three communities, looking at both the planning processes and the plans themselves. In so doing, he demonstrates that there is no single indigenous approach to development and modernity. He describes differences in how each community defined and employed the concept of culture, how they connected a concern with culture to economic and political reconstruction, and how they sought to assert their own priorities while engaging with the existing development resources at their disposal. Ultimately, Gow argues that the moral vision advanced by the indigenous movement, combined with the growing importance attached to human rights, offers a fruitful way to think about development: less as a process of integration into a rigidly defined modernity than as a critical modernity based on a radical politics of inclusive citizenship.
Download or read book Global Modernity Development and Contemporary Civilization written by José Maurício Domingues and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-07-03 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book investigates modern global civilization, offering an alternative to post-colonial theories and the "multiple modernities" approach (as well as the civilizational theory linked to it). It argues that modernity has become a global civilization that is heterogeneous and intertwined with other civilizations, and also aims at a renewal of critical theory that is not US-centric and Eurocentric, focusing instead on China, South Asia (India) and Latin America (Brazil). Dealing with the themes of centre-periphery relations, complexity (including culture and religion), democracy and emancipatory possibilities, this book is based on general theoretical ideas such as collective subjectivity, the interplay of memory and creativity, and the concept of "modernizing moves," so as to deal with historical contingency.
Download or read book Fragments of Development written by Suzanne Bergeron and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Connecting post-colonial and feminist scholarship to economic theory, this book explains how modern economics has helped to constitute an expert discourse of development that marginalizes alternative perspectives and practices. It assesses theories of modernization, structural adjustment, and globalization.
Download or read book Social Change Development and Dependency written by Tony Spybey and published by Polity. This book was released on 1992-08-07 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book takes the study of development and social change out of the confines of the Modernization Theory - Dependency Theory debate. The author examines social change against a background of the rise of the West and the global spread of its institutions. Spybey analyzes the development of the nation-state system in the modern world, emphasizing its Western origins. He also traces out the emergence of colonialism, the capitalist world-economy and Western dominance over other parts of the world. The author goes on to examine these developments after the Second World War, against the background of the Cold War and the end of European colonialism, the reaffirmed of the existence of nation-state system by new global institutions, global military order and capitalist world economy. The First, Second and Third Worlds are placed in their social, political and economic contexts and traced through to the post-Bretton Woods period of oil crises, global recession and new international division of labour.
Download or read book Philosophy and African Development written by L. D. Keita and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2011 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Philosophy and African Development: Theory and Practice appraises development in a holistic manner. It goes beyond the usual measurement in terms of economic achievement and widens the scope to include the impact that history of ideas, political theory, sociology, social and political philosophy, and political economy have had on development in Africa. It is a departure from the traditional treatment of development by economists who point towards the so-called time-tested assertions and recommendations for 'sustainable development', but which are yet bring about significant change in the economies of the so-called 'developing' societies. It is on account of the failures of the economic development theory, with its tepid prescriptions for 'sustainable development' and 'poverty reduction' that theories of development have now been expanded from mere economic analysis to include considerations of history, sociology, political economy and anthropology, as could be discovered in this book. Most of the contributions in this book have been prepared by philosophers across Africa and the United States who implicitly practise their discipline as one whose most effective modern function would be to appraise the human experience in all its dimensions from the standpoints of modern social and natural sciences, all disciplinary offspring of philosophy itself. With chapters ranging from issues of modernity and religious interpretations, the human right to development, the idea of 'African time', the primacy of mental decolonisation, and the type of education we are offering in Africa today and as a tool for development, to development planning, science, technology and globalisation, as well as issues of post coloniality among others, the tenor of the contributions is not only proportional, but also engaged in the meta-analysis of the theories on which the concept of development is founded and practised. This book is strongly recommended as a useful text in the hands of scholars, researchers and students of development studies. It approaches the important issue of African development from the broad perspective of the social sciences in general, and buttresses this with the keen analytical approach of its contributors.
Download or read book Christianity Development and Modernity in Africa written by Paul Gifford and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is an important if largely unremarked diversity within African Christianity; on the one hand, an enchanted Christianity that views the world as pervaded by spiritual forces, and on the other a disenchanted Christianity that discounts such forces. An enchanted Christian sees his glorious destiny threatened by witches, marine spirits, spirit spouses, and ancestral curses. Churches catering for this worldview lay bare the workings of this spirit world, deliver those suffering from spirit attacks, and equip members to combat these forces. This enchanted imagination, along with the prosperity gospel, and emphasis on the pastor's 'anointing', are the principal characteristics of much African Pentecostalism. Gifford argues that the enchanted religious imagination militates against development by encouraging fear and distrust.
Download or read book Ordinary Cities written by Jennifer Robinson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-07-04 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the urbanization of the world's population proceeding apace and the equally rapid urbanization of poverty, urban theory has an urgent challenge to meet if it is to remain relevant to the majority of cities and their populations, many of which are outside the West. This groundbreaking book establishes a new framework for urban development. It makes the argument that all cities are best understood as ‘ordinary’, and crosses the longstanding divide in urban scholarship and urban policy between Western and other cities (especially those labelled ‘Third World’). It considers the two framing axes of urban modernity and development, and argues that if cities are to be imagined in equitable and creative ways, urban theory must overcome these axes with their Western bias and that resources must become at least as cosmopolitan as cities themselves. Tracking paths across previously separate literatures and debates, this innovative book - a postcolonial critique of urban studies - traces the outlines of a cosmopolitan approach to cities, drawing on evidence from Rio, Johannesburg, Lusaka and Kuala Lumpur. Key urban scholars and debates, from Simmel, Benjamin and the Chicago School to Global and World Cities theories are explored, together with anthropological and developmentalist accounts of poorer cities. Offering an alternative approach, Ordinary Cities skilfully brings together theories of urban development for students and researchers of urban studies, geography and development.
Download or read book Apostles of Modernity written by Guy Reynolds and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2008-01-01 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a revisionist account that takes "development" as its main theme, Guy Reynolds charts the responses of novelists, travel writers, and literary intellectuals to America's deepening engagement in world affairs following World War II." "Apostles of Modernity offers an original, in-depth study of the literary manifestations of this period of globalism in novels, memoirs, essays, reportage, and political commentary. Through close readings of texts Reynolds revisits and reassesses U.S. internationalism, showing how writers and intellectuals engaged with a cluster of topics: decolonization, the rise of the Third World, Islamic difference, the end of European empires, China's enduring significance, and transatlantic and cosmopolitan identities." "A contribution to the study of literary internationalism, Apostles of Modernity establishes new paradigms for understanding America's place in the world and the world's place in America.
Download or read book Expectations of Modernity written by James Ferguson and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1999-10-01 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Once lauded as the wave of the African future, Zambia's economic boom in the 1960s and early 1970s was fueled by the export of copper and other primary materials. Since the mid-1970s, however, the urban economy has rapidly deteriorated, leaving workers scrambling to get by. Expectations of Modernity explores the social and cultural responses to this prolonged period of sharp economic decline. Focusing on the experiences of mineworkers in the Copperbelt region, James Ferguson traces the failure of standard narratives of urbanization and social change to make sense of the Copperbelt's recent history. He instead develops alternative analytic tools appropriate for an "ethnography of decline." Ferguson shows how the Zambian copper workers understand their own experience of social, cultural, and economic "advance" and "decline." Ferguson's ethnographic study transports us into their lives—the dynamics of their relations with family and friends, as well as copper companies and government agencies. Theoretically sophisticated and vividly written, Expectations of Modernity will appeal not only to those interested in Africa today, but to anyone contemplating the illusory successes of today's globalizing economy.
Download or read book The End of Development written by Trevor Parfitt and published by Pluto Press (UK). This book was released on 2002-03-20 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Parfitt (politics, American U. in Cairo) summarizes the contesting ideas in development studies and new social developments ideas. Drawing on postmodern theory to illustrate how forms of development can be complementary to emancipatory social movements and projects, he presents a model which incorporates the needs of peoples both North and South, arguing against the post-development school's call for the end of development, and in favor of solving problems within the context of a pro-development approach. Distributed by Stylus. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Download or read book Modernization and the Crisis of Development in Africa written by Jeremiah I. Dibua and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-11-28 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, Jeremiah I. Dibua challenges prevailing notions of Africa's development crisis by drawing attention to the role of modernization as a way of understanding the nature and dynamics of the crisis, and how to overcome the problem of underdevelopment. He specifically focuses on Nigeria and its development trajectory since it exemplifies the crisis of underdevelopment in the continent. He explores various theoretical and empirical issues involved in understanding the crisis, including state, class, gender and culture, often neglected in analysis, from an interdisciplinary, radical political economy perspective. This is the first book to adopt such an approach and to develop a new framework for analyzing Nigeria's and Africa's development crisis. It will influence the debate on the development dilemma of African and Third World societies and will be of interest to scholars and students of race and ethnicity, modern African history, class analysis, gender studies, and development studies.
Download or read book Fragments of Development written by Suzanne Bergeron and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2009-01-22 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By tracing out the intersection between the imagined space of the national economy and the gendered construction of "expert" knowledge in development thought, Suzanne Bergeron provides a provocative analysis of development discourse and practice. By elaborating a framework of including/excluding economic subjects and activities in development economics, she provides a rich account of the role that economists have played in framing the contested political and cultural space of development. Bergeron's account of the construction of the national economy as an object of development policy follows its shifting meanings through modernization and growth models, dependency theory, structural adjustment, and contemporary debates about globalization and highlights how intersections of nation and economy are based on gendered and colonial scripts. The author's analysis of development debates effectively demonstrates that critics of development who ignore economists' nation stories may actually bolster the formation they are attempting to subvert. Fragments of Development is essential reading for those interested in development studies, feminist economics, international political economy, and globalization studies.
Download or read book Democracy against Development written by Jeffrey Witsoe and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013-11-05 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hidden behind the much-touted success story of India’s emergence as an economic superpower is another, far more complex narrative of the nation’s recent history, one in which economic development is frequently countered by profoundly unsettling, and often violent, political movements. In Democracy against Development, Jeffrey Witsoe investigates this counter-narrative, uncovering an antagonistic relationship between recent democratic mobilization and development-oriented governance in India. Witsoe looks at the history of colonialism in India and its role in both shaping modern caste identities and linking locally powerful caste groups to state institutions, which has effectively created a postcolonial patronage state. He then looks at the rise of lower-caste politics in one of India’s poorest and most populous states, Bihar, showing how this increase in democratic participation has radically threatened the patronage state by systematically weakening its institutions and disrupting its development projects. By depicting democracy and development as they truly are in India—in tension—Witsoe reveals crucial new empirical and theoretical insights about the long-term trajectory of democratization in the larger postcolonial world.
Download or read book Metrics of Modernity written by Sarah-Neel Smith and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2022-02 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction : art and development : a new framework for postwar art -- The semiperipheral art gallery : Gallery Maya, Istanbul -- Democratic abstractions : Bülent Ecevit on art and politics -- "The first coup in the Turkish art world" : the Developing Turkey competition of 1954 -- The artist as agent of development : Füreya Koral between Turkey and the United States, 1955-1958 -- Conclusion : building Istanbul modern : art and development in a twenty-first-century museum.
