ANTH 320/DEVS 321 PEOPLE AND DEVELOPMENT Fall 2017
Sept.
25 READ: Budabin, Alexandra Cosima, Louise Mubanda
Rasmussen and Lisa Ann Richey (2017) Celebrity-led development
organisations: The legitimating function of elite engagement, Third
World Quarterly, DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2017.1322465
How many can attend Global Issues Forum on October 3, 3:45-5 in Dennis Hall? Questions (roughly):
- What would the implications be of Free and
Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) being ongoing, rather than only at the
beginning of projects? - What
are the dangers of FPIC being coopted into serving stereotypes about
indigenous communities, or becoming a tool to manipulate such
communities? Based on (probably): video by Silver Donald Cameron “Defenders of the Dawn” http://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2674956490;
NOTE:
If you have missed a class in which we discuss a reading, you must
submit a missed class assignment (see the course outline for what that
involves). It is your responsibility to keep on top of this; I will not
remind you that you must do this.
Budabin, Cosima, Rasmussen and Richey: Remember Dew:
Dew, is a young person from Canda who happened to spend some time
in Villachica while on an extended backpacking trip around the
continent. Dew very much enjoyed being in Villachica since the people
were so pleasant despite Dew’s poor language skills in Poorish. Dew was
shocked that so much time was spent by Villachiqueños hanging about
talking to the others in line for water from the spring and carrying it
home. If they could spend that time more productively, Dew thinks they
might be able to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. While Dew
has no background in development studies, Dew is well intentioned and
has decided to raise money from friends, neighbours and local business
community in Canda to provide Villachica homes with potable tap water.
- What happens if Dew is a celebrity?
-
Note the structure of Budabin et al’s paper; they articulate a clear
argument, define the concepts (authenticity, credibility and
accountability) they will use to analyse the evidence, describe the
context within which they will discuss the issue (both the rising
importance of celebrity-led development and the specific cases they
will discuss), and carry out the analysis consistently with their
concepts. This is a very nice model of a well-constructed and argued
essay.
The big questions that underlie Budabin et al’s paper
are, that are not directly addressed but that spur their inquiry are:
Who should decide what is done as development? To whom should those
involved in development be accountable? They pursue these by asking how
celebrity-led development operates and what the implications are for
the structure of the development field of celebrity-led development (do
they challenge or reinforce inequalities?)
- What do they argue? - What is meant by authenticity? - how is this concept related to celebrity-led development? - What is meant by credibility? - how is this concept related to celebrity-led development? - What is meant by accountability? - how is this concept related to celebrity-led development? - What is the basis of their evidence? That is, what is their methodology? - What do various NGOs, including celebrity-led ones do? - what is involved in programme implementation? Grant-making? Advocacy? - How do Madonna, in Raising Malawi, and Ben Affleck, in ECI, try to achieve their authenticity, credibility and accountability? - how are these gendered? Racialized? -
Is it a problem that accountability is oriented to their corporate and
philanthropic organizations in the US? Or involves “tabloid
accountability”? - Why do celebrities get involved in development?
What resources do they use to make sure their personal “brand” is
helped and not hurt by this?