Development beyond politics : aid, activism and NGOs in Ghana / Thomas Yarrow.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Yarrow, Thomas, 1977-

Series:

Non-governmental public action series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Economic assistance--Ghana.

Economic assistance.

Non-governmental organizations.

Ghana--Economic conditions.

Ghana.

Economic conditions.

Non-governmental organizations--Ghana.

Physical Description:

xvi, 199 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK ; New York : Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

Summary:

Is 'development'.a solution for positive social change or a cynical western strategy for maintaining inequality? Do African NGOs represent a flourishing civil society or the strategic allocation of external resources by local elites? Moving beyond an increasingly polarized debate about the role of NGOs, this book reveals the practices and social relations through which ideas of development are concretely established. Rather than reducing these to a single, encompassing development 'logic', Thomas Yarrow argues for the need to understand the multiple and conflicting epistemologies through which development interventions practically proceed.Through ethnographic description, he brings to life the everyday realities of development professionals in Ghana.The result is a profound challenge to theories of development and public culture, in Africa and beyond.

Thomas Yarrow is a social anthropologist who lectures in the School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography at Bangor University, UK. He has undertaken ethnographic research on a range of subjects including Ghanaian NGOs, the Volta Resettlement project and the interface betweeri. archaeology and anthropology.He has theoretical interest ln development, globalization, public culture, space and place. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part I Ideology

The Politics of Charity

Taking Development Personally

Personal Relations, Public Debates

Part II Knowledge

Local and Global

Indigenous and Western

Policy and Practice.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 182-192) and index.

ISBN:

9780230236424

0230236421

OCLC:

713185452