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SoSe 22: The (anti)politics of "development" in sub-Saharan Africa

Dominik Mattes

Kommentar

Throughout many decades, the countries and societies of sub-Saharan Africa have been the target of (and subject to) innumerous inter- and transnationally operating projects aiming at their ‘development’ and humanitarian relief, the meaning of which often varied starkly from one context to the other. The participants of this seminar will read (parts of) four ethnographies (monographs) focusing on particular sites of development ‘cooperation’ as well as and ‘impartial’ humanitarian intervention in Eastern and Southern Africa. These include a rural development program in Lesotho, a UNHCR camp for Burundian Hutu refugees in Western Tanzania, and the activities of Doctors Without Borders in Uganda. By way of these examples, the seminar aims to critically discuss the intricacies of the moral discourses legitimizing development initiatives and humanitarian interventions, as well as their often paradoxical social, political, and ethical implications. Schließen

Literaturhinweise

Ferguson, James. 1994. The Anti-Politics Machine. “Development,” Depoliticization, and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Turner, Simon. 2010. Politics of Innocence: Hutu Identity, Conflict, and Camp Life. New York: Berghahn.
Redfield, Peter. 2013. Life in Crisis. The Ethical Journey of Doctors Without Borders. Berkeley: University of California Press. Schließen