Culture in Development, Culture and Development

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

What is the relationship between development projects, which often pursue universal goals and scalable approaches, and cultural difference? How does culture shape the impact of development projects? How are development practitioners themselves shaped by culture? In this course, we use materials from anthropology, sociology, and history to explore how development processes shape, and are shaped by, culture. Approaching culture in terms of the meanings, values, practices, and norms that shape social life in both overt and subtle ways, we will focus on how different actors in the development world create and communicate knowledge about social issues and their potential solutions. Along the way, we will draw on different theories about culture, power, and inequality to analyze mainstream development approaches to data, expertise, and social transformation.