Abstract

This book re-establishes the relevance of mainstream anthropological (and sociological) approaches to development processes and simultaneously recognizes that contemporary development ought to be anthropology‘s principal area of study. Professor de Sardan argues for a socio-anthropology of change and development that is a deeply empirical, multidimensional, diachronic study of social groups and their interactions. The Introduction provides a thought-provoking examination of the principal new approaches that have emerged in the discipline during the 1990s. Part I then makes clear the complexity of social change and development, and the ways in which socio-anthropology can measure up to the challenge of this complexity. Part II looks more closely at some of the leading variables involved in the development process, including relations of production; the logics of social action; the nature of knowledge; forms of mediation; and ‘political‘ strategies.
'A subtle, wide-ranging argument for a productive tension between the development industry and its critics on behalf of its ultimate subjects.' James C. Scott, Yale University 'This is a lucid, thoroughly researched and brilliantly argued book.' Achille Mbembe, author of On the Postcolony 'Olivier de Sardan tackles two sets of vested interests head-on but, more than that, he offers a resolution both might find appealing and neither can afford to ignore.' Richard Fardon, University of London 'Olivier de Sardan throws a long-needed intellectual bridge over the big canyon separating European and American development anthropologies.' Michael M. Cernea, World Bank and George Washington University 'Condenses several decades of research into an accessible and well-referenced textbook that provides provoking insights into the anthropology of development.' 'Highly reflexive and full of wit.' 'A brilliant book that triggers many questions ... While not everything Olivier de Sardan writes is new, it has rarely been formulated more lucidly and to the point.' Development and Change
Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan is Professor of Anthropology at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Marseilles and Director of Research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris