Decolonizing Development: Colonial Power and the Maya by Joel Wainwright

by Joel Wainwright

Postcolonialism and political economy are brought together in this groundbreaking book, which examines development among the Maya of Belize. Decolonizing Development investigates the ways colonialism shaped the modern world by analyzing the relationship between colonialism and development as forms of power. Through close readings of archival texts, maps, and development practices, Joel Wainwright unearths the roots of centuries of struggle over the representation of the Maya and their lands. He traces the shifts in discourses on this pre-Columbian civilization and documents indigenous resistance to the British colonial state.The politics of state-led development projects since the 1950s are explored through three case the works of a soil scientist who served the British colonial state in Belize; two agricultural development projects that intended to settle Maya agriculture by improving mechanized rice production; and a 'counter-mapping' project that offers an indigenous view of the geography of southern Belize.Wainwright demonstrates how development - a stage upon which colonial struggles are replayed - sustains the very power inequalities it aims to resolve.

Paperback

First published February 15, 2007

Reviews

[Doc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this book is written from all sorts of post- perspectives (postcolonialism, post-structuralism, post-Marxism, postmodernism), it's remarkably clear and grounded in historical and ethnographic detail. This last bit is ironic, because the author (a geographer) explicitly critiques anthropology and the ethnographic tradition, yet it's obvious to me that his work with the Maya movement helped him frame his argument and provided data ... just as in a good ethnographic study.

I'm not yet certain how I feel about his arguments, but it's a great intro to contemporary (radical) geographic theories of space and territory, as well as an attempt to think through decolonizing and critiquing development. It's avowedly not "anti-development," which he describes as a fallacy, but seek to move *beyond* development.

[Sam Orndorff · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent introduction to decolonial geography. This book is very readable and well researched.