{"id":213,"date":"2017-04-18T12:07:10","date_gmt":"2017-04-18T11:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.projects.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk\/anthropology-of-aid\/?page_id=213"},"modified":"2019-06-07T10:49:51","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T09:49:51","slug":"beyond-the-binary-of-developed-and-developing","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/anthropology-of-aid\/the-issues\/beyond-the-developing-world\/beyond-the-binary-of-developed-and-developing\/","title":{"rendered":"(2016-7) Beyond the binary of \u2018developed\u2019 and \u2018developing\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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(2016-7) Beyond the binary of \u2018developed\u2019 and \u2018developing\u2019<\/h1>\n

By Joss Bennett, Angharad Boddington-Jones, Nicola Helen Dale, Hermione Francis, Sebastian Marco James Notarmarco Pope, Yusufu John Yusufu<\/p>\n

In this blog we will address the ways in which anthropology can help us understand development and humanitarian expertise better. Using the work of Lewis\u2019s\u00a0\u2018Time to Abandon \u201cParallel worlds\u201d\u2019\u00a0and Ferguson\u2019s \u2018Anthropology and Its Evil Twin\u2019,\u00a0we point to the self-reflexive view of anthropological enquiry which can identify issues that are unacknowledged and foreground them toward positive change. As a discipline that is \u2018hyper-aware\u2019 of its colonial past, we argue that anthropological analysis is intertwined with issues relevant to development and humanitarianism. \u00a0As seen in the theoretical angles of Lewis and Ferguson, there is a binary separation of the world into that of \u2018developed\u2019 and \u2018developing\u2019 countries in both worlds of anthropology and aid. By questioning the fetishism of the other in this view, we are able to overcome these distinctions and ultimately promote a unified response to global issues such as poverty.<\/p>\n

In his work, Ferguson outlines anthropology\u2019s \u2018uncomfortable intimacy\u2019 with development, its \u2018evil twin\u2019, as he describes the \u2018curious dual organisation\u2019 between them (1997: 169). However, we suggest that if anthropology maintains an awareness of its colonial past and \u2018a willingness to question the disciplinary identity of anthropology itself\u2019 (1997: 152), an anthropological analysis can provide an insight into development and humanitarian expertise. This is because anthropology provides an interconnection between the \u2018developed\u2019 and \u2018developing\u2019 worlds since anthropology is interested in studying a particular kind of people, whilst showing how they are linked to the wider world. Ferguson also states that the new critical approach of anthropology rejects \u2018the picture of the world as an array of individual societies, each moving through history independently of others\u2019 (1997: 162). This point highlights how modern anthropology can be used in humanitarian and development efforts to combine perspectives of the local and the global, rather than divide them. This can provide a more in-depth understanding of development and humanitarian expertise.<\/p>\n

Lewis furthers this understanding by unpacking the historical dichotomy within the Third Sector between international NGOs and domestic non-profit organizations. This binary approach creates a distinction between those working in the \u2018developing\u2019 and \u2018developed\u2019 worlds and their use of practice and knowledge. He proposes that we should reconsider these boundaries and establish a more unified perspective of aid work in both the developed and developing nations. With our world becoming increasingly interconnected, shared problems such as poverty exist within both developing and developed countries. Combining knowledge and practice from international NGOs and domestic non-profit organisations could be an effective way to tackle these shared problems.<\/p>\n

In conclusion, we argue that it is the reflexive nature of anthropological analysis that has allowed it to question the separation of \u2018the west\u2019 and \u2018the rest\u2019 within the colonial encounter that is at the foundation of the discipline and generate new theories about the interconnectedness of the world. \u00a0Anthropology provides an in-depth understanding of how more unified approaches are both positive and necessary as well as being beneficial in solving world problems.<\/p>\n

Bibliography:<\/p>\n

Ferguson, J. (1997) Anthropology and Its Evil Twin: \u201cDevelopment\u201d in the Constitution of a Discipline. In: Cooper F and Packard R (eds) International Development and the Social Sciences. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp.150\u2013175.<\/p>\n

Lewis, D. (2014)\u00a0Heading south: time to abandon the \u2018parallel worlds\u2019 of international non-governmental organization (NGO) and domestic third sector scholarship?<\/em>\u00a0VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 25 (5). 1132-1150.<\/p>\n

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