پژوهشهای اقتصادی (Mar 2014)

An Alternative Discourse for "Development": Anthropological Approach to Development Concept

  • leila alavi,
  • Reza Ranjpour

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 1
pp. 169 – 192

Abstract

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The topic of this paper is development crisis from anthropologists’ perspective. This crisis challenges the current development discourse and reveals the necessity of alternative discourse for development. Current development arrangements are not responding for international community; in addition, differentiations and labels (for example “developed” or “underdeveloped”) have fossilized because of dual crises of paradigm and economy; and they need to new versions of social and global formulations. Studying of anthropological consequences of development crisis, its critical idea, and similarities of Islamic revolution discourse with anthropologists approach is the main purpose of this paper. So, we use descriptive - analytic methodology with discourse approach. Finally, we criticize anthropology, pure conceptualization of development crisis in terms of political and economic terms, establish an alternative approach for development, and found new development discourse against the dominant hegemonic discourse of development. The post-development discourse is a movement about the domination of modern development sciences, which focuses on local independence, culture, and knowledge. In this paper, the local and pluralistic movements are proposed for strengthening of alternative discourse of development. In the end, we conclude that Iranian religious discourse and anthropologists’ post-developmental discourse present alternative discourses for development by deconstructing and reexamining of modern development model.

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