This is Power point of 'Anthropology of Development' course compiled by Mr. Kebede Lemu. Therefore, use it, read it.

1. Anthropology of Development
By
Mr. Kebede Lemu B.
Email: kebedel2013@gmail.com
or kebedelemu9@gmail.com
March, 2023

2. Contents of the Course
• Chapter One: Introduction
• Chapter Two: Development Theories
• Chapter Three: The History and Politics of
Development Knowledge
• Chapter Four: Anthropology and post-
development
• Chapter Five: . Anthropological Skills to
Development
• Chapter Six: : Development Discourses in
Ethiopia

3. Chapter One: Introduction
What is Development?
 ‘Development’ in its modern sense first
came to official prominence when it was
used by USA President Truman in 1949;
 as part of the rationale for post war
reconstruction in ‘underdeveloped’
areas of the world, based on provision
of international financial assistance and
modern technology transfer.

4. Cont….
• The word ‘development’ is used in several ways.
• It refers to an ongoing process.
• Development means making a better life for
everyone.
• In the present context of a highly uneven world, a
better life for people means, essentially, meeting
basic needs:
– sufficient food to maintain good health;
– a safe, healthy place in which t olive;
– affordable services available to everyone; and
– being treated with dignity and respect (Peet and
Hartwick, 2009).

5. Cont….
• Current definitions usually refer to
development as;
• a “process of change” that is
associated to the enjoyment of a
higher standard of living conditions,
including;
» health and education, as well as
»a greater control and choice for
citizens over their own decisions.

6. Cont…
• To put in simple words, ‘development’ is desirable
replacement for underdevelopment or
backwardness.
• For United Nations Organization, development
involves providing increasing opportunities to
people for a better future.
• Well known economist, Gunnar Myrdal viewed
development as a process by which;
• poverty is alleviated,
• inequality reduced, and
• opportunities for self-actualization increased.

7. Cont….
• A variety of terms such as;
– progress,
–civilization,
–modernity,
–industrialization,
–westernization are used loosely as synonyms
for development.
• For anthropologists, development is not just
using new technologies for increased
production, but involves a change in
objectives, outlook, ideas and relationships.

8. Cont….
• Marxian concept of development is
based on egalitarian values, a social
order free from exploitation leading to;
• freedom,
•mobility towards better quality of
life,
•a classless society.
• However , there is no general agreement
on this concept.

9. Development as modernity….
• For many people, ideas of development
are linked to concepts of modernity.
• ‘Modernity’ in its broadest sense means
the condition of being modern, new or
up-to-date, so ‘the idea of “modernity”
situates people in time’ (Ogborn 1999:
153).
• Because of social, economic, political
and cultural dynamism, what is ‘modern’
will change over time and also spatially.

10. Cont.….
• What is ‘modern’ in one place may be ‘old-
fashioned’ elsewhere.
• However, more specifically, ‘modernity’ has
been used as a term to describe particular
forms of economy and society based on the
experiences of Western Europe.
• In economic terms, ‘modernity’ encompasses;
• Industrialization,
• Urbanization and
• The increased use of technology within
all sectors of the economy.

11. Development as an economic process…
• People defining development as
‘modernity’, look at development
largely in economic terms.
• This conception of development
underpins much of the work of
international organizations such as the
World Bank, and also many national
governments in both the Global North
and Global South.

12. The three approaches in the anthropology of
development
1. The basic needs approach
2. The right based approach
3. The capabilities approach

13. 1. The Basic Needs Approach
• A ‘basic needs’ approach to development first
emerged in opposition to the sole focus on
modernisation after the Second World War.
• Organisations like;
– the International Labour Organisation (ILO)
and
–the World Bank developed a framework for
basic needs and the focus in the 1960’s and
1970’s was on money incomes and how it
could satisfy basic material needs.

14. Cont….
• A basic needs (BN) approach to
development is one which gives priority
to meeting the basic needs of all the
people.
• The actual content of BN have been
variously defined:
–they always include the fulfilment of
certain standards of nutrition, (food and
water), and the universal provision of
health and education services.

15. Cont….
• The BN assumption is that money income
and social income give people choices to
choose the kinds of basic goods and services
that will lead to a decent life.
• It focused on alleviation of poverty
(improving poor people’s conditions and
lowering the number of poor).
• At minimum, people should get basic
needs.
• Many international organisations still use the
concept actively in their work.

16. 2. The Right Based Approach
• In 1990, the right based approach emerged as
an alternative to the basic needs approach.
• According to proponents of right based
approach, addressing peoples’ basic needs
does not ultimately lead to long term
development.
• Right based approach focuses on social and
economic rights as well as civil and political
rights.
• E.g. the right to education and the right to
speak freely.

17. Cont….
• This approach provides more
accountability for people and states
as well.
• Criticism: Poor people generally
have limited access to institutions
that they may help to enforce these
rights.

18. 3. The Capabilities Approach
• The capability approach was first advocated
by economist Amartya Sen.
• In addition to a need for a provision of
minimum resources in order for people to be
able to function as human beings.
• Sen has proposed that human freedoms are
needed as well.
• Sen introduces capability and functioning as
the most suitable criteria to evaluate how
people are fairing in the development
process.

19. Cont….
• Functioning, he contends, reflect what a
person may value doing or being.
• A person’s capability is all the various
combinations of functioning that are
feasible for that person to achieve.
• Another way to put this is that
functioning is what a person manages to
be or to do, while capabilities are the real
opportunities and choices that are
available to that person.

20. Cont….
• Sen primarily advocates the capability
approach as a tool to evaluate how people are
doing.
• It considers the capabilities of each person.
• It recognizes diversity in social factors such as
ethnicity and gender.
• Capabilities include the ability to read, write
and speak effectively, doing something that
each person like.
• It goes beyond the basic needs approach.

21. Chapter Two: Development Theories
1. Modernization Theory of Development
 It was the dominating theoretical perspective
in 1950s and 1960s.
 The idea was highlighted by US Economist
W.W. Rostow in the ‘stages of economic
growth: non-Communist Manifesto (1960).
 Rostow demonstrated that the economic
growth accomplished in the west should be
used as an example for the rest of the world.

22. Cont….
Modernization theories have equated
a shift from tradition to modernity as
development.
 The modernization theories
revolved round the conservative
features of traditional societies and
the attitudes of peasants as obstacles
for development.

23. Cont….
• Peasants are characterized as lacking in
innovativeness and aspirations, and
having a fatalistic (passive) outlook, and
parochial (narrow minded) attitude.
• Modernization theories deny any link
between backwardness and colonial rule.
• The theories blame the economic,
political and cultural inadequacies of
people of third world nations, for their
underdevelopment.

24. Cont….
• The third world countries are blamed
for their own backwardness and are
asked to learn from and follow the
examples set by the western nations.
• Modernization theories are
supportive of the market ideologies
of the western nations.
• Max Weber was proponent of this
theory

25. Cont……
• The traditional societies wee considered as
poverty ridden, conservative, fatalistic, and
politically incapable.
• They deny the relevance and potential of
traditional institution.
• Modernization is homogenizing process
(Europeanization or Americanization
process.
• All countries should follow the European
model for achieving development

26. Cont….
• They emphasize the institutional
reforms and infrastructure
development as priorities.
• The aid policies promoted by
international organizations advocated
the need to eliminate any traditional,
cultural or institutional barriers that
could prevent ‘progress’.

27. Critics….
• It deny the relevance and potential of
traditional institution/societies.
• Ethnocentric/Eurocentric

28. 2. Dependency Theory of Development
• Dependency theories project the poverty of the
nations as a result of;
• colonial intervention (western imperialism)
and
• the policies pursued by them (post-imperial
manipulation; such as adverse conditions of
trade.
• Many conditions of underdevelopment originate
outside the state and community.
• These theories explain that rich countries became
wealthy at the expense of poorer countries.

29. Cont….
• The dependency theory laid an emphasis on
the unequal trade relationship between
‘north’ and ‘south’.
• The theorists argued that ‘underdevelopment’
was;
• the result of the integration of small
economies into the greater global
capitalist system,
• mainly to provide cheap raw materials to
industrialized countries.

30. Cont….
• This has sometimes been explained
with the center/periphery model
where the global north presents the
‘center’ of capitalism and global
south its ‘periphery’.
• The economies of the periphery were
then merged into capitalism on
highly unequal terms.

31. Cont….
• The periphery provided raw materials for
manufacturing in the center and peripheral
societies became dependent upon foreign
markets. (Gardner & Lewis, 2015:23).
• Dependency theory suggests that core
countries, which are rich, take resources
from peripheral countries, which are poor.
• The rich continue to increase their wealth
through this relationship, while the poor
remain impoverished.

32. Critics…..
• It oversimplified Marx’s ideas about
the destructive power of capitalism,
• For underestimating the strategies of
marginal groups; to resist and
renegotiate their place within the
global system, and for its lack of
solutions to poverty and
underdevelopment.

33. World-system theory of development
• Developed by sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein.
• This theory emphasizes the social structure of
global inequality.
• World systems theory took the idea of core, semi-
peripheral and peripheral countries and expanded
it as follows:
• Core countries are wealthy, militarily strong, and
hold significant social power and colonial power.
• E.g. USA, UK, Germany, etc
• They are dominant capitalist countries that
exploit peripheral countries for labor and raw
materials.

34. Cont….
• They are focused on higher skill and
capital-intensive production.
• Core countries are powerful, and this
power allows them to pay lower
prices for raw goods and exploit
cheap labor, which constantly
reinforces the unequal status between
core and peripheral countries.

35. Cont….
• Semi-peripheral countries; fall in the
middle of the economic spectrum.
• They have some of the characteristics of
core and peripheral countries.
• E.g. India, South Korea….
• These countries are sometimes exploited
by core countries, but they also may
exploit periphery countries themselves.

36. Cont….
• Peripheral countries are poor, have
exploitable resources, and do not possess
great social stability or government.
• E.g. Ethiopia and other African
countries
• These countries lack a strong central
government and may be controlled by
other states.
• These countries export raw materials to the
core countries, and they are dependent on
core countries for capital and have
underdeveloped industry.

37. Cont….
• These countries also have low-skill,
labor-intensive production, or, in other
words, cheap labor.
• Periphery countries are commonly also
referred to as developing countries.
• Foreign investors promote the extraction
of raw materials and the production of
cash crops, which are all exported to core
countries.

38. Cont….
• Generally, the relationship between
zones are characterized by
exploitative trade.
• The theory of world system is still
influential.
• Again, theory indicates as all
countries are interconnected and
interdependent.

39. Chapter Three
The History and Politics of Development
Knowledge
 Political geography of the globe is vastly changing.
 Hence,
all people in different countries;
In born of earlier decolonization,
in developing nations,
In superpowers,
In declining empires,
new nations in Africa and Asia have to rethink
how the globe is reorganizing.

40. Cont….
• The idea of development and the relationship it
implied between;
–industrialized,
–affluent nations and
–poor, emerging nations – became the key to
a new conceptual framework.
• Different international organizations and has
funded with billions of dollars and focused on
research and action directed toward
development.

41. Cont….
• Meanwhile, people from developing
countries;
• have studied economics or public health
in European or American universities,
• done stints in international
organizations,
• attended international conferences, and
• staffed government and
nongovernmental organizations in their
home countries.

42. Cont.….
• Then, missions go out from agencies
in the United States or Europe to
investigate problems and set up
projects and work with experts,
bureaucrats, and politicians in
‘‘host’’ countries.
• International exchange itself widens
the gap between rich and poor.

43. Cont….
• The state in ‘‘less developed countries’’ and
international agencies such as the World
Bank each bargain a role by accepting each
other’s:
• the national government allocates
development resources and portrays itself
as the agent of modernity,
• while outside agencies legitimately
intervene in sovereign states by defining
their services as benevolent, technical,
and politically neutral.

44. Cont….
• During 1960s,
• colonial empires around the world
have collapsed and
• vast areas that were once known as
"colonies" have become known as
"less developed countries" or "the
third world."
• Development has also become a vast
industry, involving billions of dollars and
a worldwide community of experts.

45. Cont….
• The concept of development has come
under attack in recent years both from;
• those who see development as the
imperialism of knowledge,
imposing on the world as modernity
that it does not necessarily want, and
•those who see development efforts
as a distortion of the world market.

46. Cont.…..
• Hence, the concept development is
diverse, contested, and changing
among social movements, national
governments, international agencies,
foundations, and scholars.

47. Development Project and Social Logic
• Development Project means any project
undertaken for the purpose of
development.
• Development projects has share some
common goals.
The goal of all development projects is
to improve people's lives through
skills training and other livelihood
programs.

48. Cont.….
• Development organizations prepare
and implement development projects
and work;
• to strengthen the capabilities of
local institutional and
•to promote community self-
reliance through sustainable
strategies.

49. Cont.…
 One of the key success factors of
development projects is;
 when their planning involves people
who will benefit or be affected by the
project.
Beneficiaries need to play a larger
role in the planning and
implementation of development
efforts that will reshape their lives.

50. Cont.….
• Social Logic: is a kind of driving
force (or reason) behind development
actors/participants actions/works.
• E.g. Unpredictable climate,
administrative measures, pricing
systems, taxation etc…

51. Advocacy Research and the World Bank
• Small number of anthropologists who work
as permanent employees of the Bank, often
hires as consultants.
• Hint. Advocacy research is that carried out
with the intention of providing evidence and
arguments that can be used to support a
particular cause or position.
• Advocacy research have been some great
successes in terms of halting or redirecting
potentially harmful Bank projects.

52. The Social Organization of the IMF’s Mission
Work
• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) works to
achieve sustainable growth and prosperity for all of
its 190 member countries.
• It does so by supporting economic policies that;
• promote financial stability and
• monetary cooperation, which are essential to;
» increase productivity,
»job creation, and
»economic well-being.
• The IMF is governed by and accountable to its
member countries.

53. Cont…..
• The IMF has three critical missions:
• advancing international monetary
cooperation,
• encouraging the expansion of trade and
economic growth, and
• discouraging policies that would harm
prosperity.
• To fulfill these missions, IMF member
countries work collaboratively with each other
and with other international bodies.

54. Chapter Four
Developing Term Paper (Assignment)
• Anthropology and Post Development
• Anthropology and post-development: into
the twenty-first century.
• The anthropology of development from
2000 onwards: new agendas, old question
• The importance of incorporating gender
on development.

55. Chapter Five: Anthropological Skills to
Development
Specific anthropological skills and knowledge to be
applied in development Projects
The involvement of anthropology in development
can be traced to the colonial era, when
anthropologists focused on the study of the
introduction of innovations in simple societies.
The interest of anthropologists increased
extensively, when they started studying the
introduction of planned change in the newly
independent nations (the former colonies).

56. Cont….
• In the post colonial period, when
developed nations started offering
economic and technical aid to third
world nations, anthropologists started
looking into the social implications of
developmental assistance.
• Anthropologists assisted administrators
to plan for development programmes,
by applying their knowledge of people.

57. Cont…
• They played a role in understanding
the resistance of people to
development innovations.
• They analyzed the social framework
of the communities as reflected in
beliefs and values, in order to suggest
suitable measures to minimize
resistance to development innovations.

58. Anthropologists as change agents and
advocates of development
• The programmes aiming at development
of the people will be successful, only if;
– the policymakers,
–planners, and
–development administrators
understand the people, their culture
and pressing needs, and their
aspirations.

59. Cont…
• The needs and priorities of people, their capacity
to absorb development innovations, the
compatibility of development innovations with
the culture of people have to be understood.
• The expertise of anthropologists helps in
framing of policies, relevant and meaningful to
the people.
• The holistic approach of anthropologists makes
them realize the overall consequences of
development such as changes in relations,
institutions, values, etc.

60. Cont….
• In a developmental scenario, the
anthropologists focus on the
perceptions or the points of view of the
people.
• Anthropology highlights the need for
tolerance towards cultural variation,
and disapproves ethnocentric
imposition of alien ideas and practices
in the name of development.

61. Cont…..
International aid agencies providing financial
and infrastructural assistance to third world
countries recognized the value of
anthropological knowledge and employed
anthropologists as consultants and advisors.
 In the context of development, anthropologists
play a variety of roles.
Approaching planned development as induced
change, anthropologists participate along with
agents and agencies of development.

62. Cont….
• For anthropologists dealing with development,
the interest lies in policies and programmes.
• They analyze the impact of global, national,
and regional processes on local populations.
• They also deal with issues related to economic
development, different types of inequality ,
poverty, hunger, issues related to environment,
international migration, identity, ethnic
conflict, resettlement, displaced people,
refugees, and human rights.

63. Cont…..
• Anthropologist can contribute in analyzing
policies, studying the implementation of
projects and programmes and their impact
on people; and advising planners and
administrators.
• The contribution of anthropologists has
been conspicuous in highlighting the failure
of top-down approaches, inculcating social
and cultural sensitivity in project
formulation, building bridges between
people and development administration.

64. Cont….
• Frequently, the preoccupation of
anthropologists can be seen in social impact
assessment.
• In the context of development,
anthropologists emphasize respect for human
and natural resources, knowledge and
experiences of people, protection of
environment, and equity .
• Anthropological knowledge has tremendous
role in projects.
• Most of the time, projects fail because of
lack of cultural understanding.

65. Cont….
• Generally, the role of Anthropologist can denote as;
Researcher Advocator
Consultant Cultural Broker
Advisor Mediator
Administrator Educator
Analyst Social Doctor/Human Engineer
Policy maker Agent of Change
Planner Evaluator

66. Chapter Six: Development Discourses
in Ethiopia
 This chapter is includes development
discourses in Ethiopia in three regimes
(Imperial, Dergue and EPRDF).

67. Development and modernization
Discourses during the Imperial Regimes
• After the total demise of the Italian
occupation with the help of the British forces,
the imperial regime was very much concerned
with securing absolute power and stabilizing
the country’s ungoverned territories rather
than focusing on the economy of the rural
community.
• The government’s intention was dominating
the economic process, in collaboration with
foreign forces.

68. Cont....
• This unsettled political situation had led the
country in the path of a complex economic
crisis.
• Consequently, demand for foreign support
had become a major trend, thereby opening
the space for foreign states and private
companies.
• The agreements signed with foreign actors
favored the foreign companies.

69. Cont.….
• Imperial Government to adopt an import
substituting industrialization development
strategy.
• Import Substitution (IS) refers to a policy that
eliminates the importation of the commodity
and allows for the production in the domestic
market.
• a large portion of Ethiopia‘s arable land was
not utilized yet and the government was
leasing huge tracts of land for foreign and
local investors in order to promote large scale
commercial farms.

70. Cont.…..
• The imperial government of Haileselasie, was
the first government to exercise different
development policies as Ethiopia is the first
African state to attempt economic
development planning.
• During Imperial regime, laid heavy emphasis
on building up the country’s infrastructure.
• Priorities in investment were given to
transport, communication and energy;
service, post and education also got
considerable support.

71. Cont.….
• The agricultural sector received the least
investment in comparison with other
major sectors.
• The lion share in all case went to
transport, communications, energy and
utilities.
• However, the decisive turn in favor of
agricultural modernization was made in
1960. The shift away from smallholder
agriculture and in favor of mechanization.

72. Cont.…
• The modern sector of agriculture was to be
responsible for producing industrial crops.
• The policy of concentrating development efforts in a
given area (particularly around Awash Valley) so as
to bring the required changes in agriculture.
• Large-scale commercial farms were established;
– to achieve rapid gains in output both to domestic
consumption and the availability of surpluses for
investment,
– to get an increase in agricultural exports or
substitution for imports, to create new employment
opportunities

73. The Derg regime
• The revolution in 1974 ultimately
resulted in removal of the emperor from
power.
• Beginnings made to promote the
development of peasant agriculture.
• The major step taken was launching the
development objective declaration on
December 1974 socialism as the guiding
ideology of the country.

74. Cont.…..
• A key part of the effort to reshape the
economy was the implementation of Africa's
most ambitious land reform program, which
included nationalization of both rural and
urban land.

75. Cont.….
• The Marxist Derg regime believed
that unequal landholdings and labor
relations based on sharecropping
were unjust and explained Ethiopia's
persistent vulnerability to famine.
• The Derg implemented a radical
agrarian transformation, confiscating
and redistributing all land equally per
capita within rural communities.

76. EPRDF
What is Developmental State?
 At the turn of the millennium the
term ‘developmental state’ has become
a “buzz word” (Routley, 2012) in
development studies and was used to
denote in generic terms states that
intervene in economic processes and
direct the course of development rather
than relying only on market forces (Ricz,
2019).

77. Cont.…..
• Agricultural Development Led Industrialization
(ADLI) is the policy principle adopted by
Ethiopia, a low-income country, to promote its
national development.

78. Characteristics of developmental state
• Based on the theoretical and the empirical
experiences of East Asian countries studied by
DS scholars in the period between 1960s and
1990s, the defining characteristics of the
developmental state have been summarized as
follows:
• A capable, autonomous, and effective
bureaucracy.
• A development‐oriented political leadership,
an elite group guided by a modernizing
vision for the whole nation.

79. Cont….
• A close relationship between a state agency
and key business groups who play a central
(economic, political, and social) role.
• Successful policy interventions which
promote growth and overall
performance‐oriented governance.
• A strong, centralized, and authoritarian state
with records of repression and poor human
rights.

80. Developmental state in Ethiopia
 Ethiopia is one of the few countries
in Africa which has been studied as
part of the growing literature on
‘developmental states’ (DS).
 Inspired by the miraculous economic
transformations of South Korea and
Taiwan, the EPRDF government began
adopting the East Asian developmental
state model to the Ethiopian economy.

81. Cont.…
• Meles reject the ‘Washington consensus’
model of development as a ‘dead end’.
• Meles (2006) authored his ideas in a
monogram entitled, African Development:
Dead Ends and New Beginnings.
• He argued that reforms imposed by Bretton
Woods institutions upon Africa have not
worked instead they have led them to new
dead ends.
• He says the reforms were based on wrong
assumptions that African governments are
worse than African markets.

82. Cont.….
• Meles warns Africa should not go back to both
failed exercises.
• According to Meles, the failure of the neo-
liberal paradigm in Africa has rendered the
continued marginalization of Africa in an
increasingly globalizing environment.
• Since the neoliberal paradigm is not working
in Africa, he emphasizes that a “third way” or
a developmentalist state of the type that
appeared in Korea and Taiwan is the only way
out.

83. Cont.…..
• According to Meles, the reason why neo-
liberal ideals do not work is due to the failure
to understand the economic context of
developing countries.
• He says that the widespread poverty and the
absence of a democratic civic culture render
neo-liberalism incompatible with the realities
of poor countries.
• Meles argues that democratic reform is only
to be undertaken after some degree of
economic development is primarily achieved.

84. Cont….
• Issues mainly related to democracy and
governance led to massive protests which
finally led to the resignation of former Prime
Minister Haile Mariam Desalegn in February
2018.
 The political settlement in the country impacted
the developmental state which eventually led to a
change of leadership by 2018.
• EPRDF promised ‘deep reform’ and installed
the reformist Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in
April 2018.

85. Cont…..
• When Abiy Ahmed took office, his first course
of action was to liberalize the political
dispensation i.e., setting political prisoners
free, ensuring freedom of the press, allow
banned opposition political parties to operate
freely, among others.
• unveiled an ambitious reform program, the
Homegrown Economic Reform Agenda
(HERA) which is intended to stimulate
private sector growth and address
macroeconomic issues.

86. Cont….
• On the economic front, in addition, the
administration initiated the process of
privatizing some of the country’s most
prized public assets to foreign investors
to generate foreign exchange (This
include Ethiopia’s lucrative state-owned
mega companies, such as Ethio telecom).

87. Cont….
 In April 2018, the reformist Prime Minister Abiy
Ahmed’s administration began ambitious
homegrown economic reform program, which
marked a shift from the previous developmental state
approach.
 the shift in policy post 2018 indicates that the
trajectory of the developmental state will continue.
 The government may not use the term
‘developmental state’ as before but will continue
public investment and government intervention in the
economy.
 It also encourages the private sector to have a strong
hand in the economy.

88. The End
Thank You!!