International Development and the Social Sciences: Essays on the History and Politics of Knowledge

by Frederick Cooper, Randall M. Packard (Editor)

During the past fifty years, 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." The idea of development―and the relationship it implies between industrialized, affluent nations and poor, emerging nations―has become the key to a new conceptual framework. Development has also become a vast industry, involving billions of dollars and a worldwide community of experts. These essays―written by scholars in many fields―examine the production, transmission, and implementation of ideas about development within historical, political, and intellectual contexts, emphasizing the changing meanings of development over the past fifty years.

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 a modernity that it does not necessarily want, and those who see development efforts as a distortion of the world market. These essays look beyond the polemics and focus on the diverse, contested, and changing meanings of development among social movements, national governments, international agencies, foundations, and scholars.

Genres: Nonfiction

376 pages, Paperback

First published January 3, 1998

About the author

Frederick Cooper is an American historian who specializes in colonialization, decolonialization, and African history. Cooper received his Doctor of Philosophy from Yale University in 1974 and is currently professor of history at New York University.

Cooper initially studied the labor movement in East Africa, but later moved on the a broader consideration of colonialism. One of his best known conceptual contributions is the concept of the gatekeeper state.

Reviews

[Benjamin Siegel · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of maybe three or four edited volumes ever compiled that's worth reading and rereading. Not a bum essay in the pack; everyone thinking about development or doing it should get a copy.

[Chau · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it over and over, important book and pertinent to my own.

[Julia]

Read intro, ch. 3