ANTH 320/DEVS 321 PEOPLE AND DEVELOPMENT Fall 2018

I acknowledge that St FX is in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People.

Sept. 26-Oct. 3 (Note Global Issues Forum on Oct. 1) Sustainable development goals.
    READ: Kimanthi, H., and P. Hebinck (2018). ‘Castle in the sky’: The anomaly of the millennium villages project fixing food and markets in Sauri, western Kenya. Journal of Rural Studies, 57, 157-170.

- What kind of article is this? What is their purpose?
- Why have I asked you to read it?
    - to prepare for the Global Issues Forum on October 1 (remember to go to Dennis/Marie Desmond Halls in Coady West at 3:45, and to read and prepare for the assignment on it)
    - since this article is on a case study of implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), not on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), how does it help?
        - since the SDGs have only been in place for a few years, there has been little time to evaluate their effect; what can learn about how the MDGs were implemented that can permit us to think about whether the SDGs will have better/worse/similar outcomes?
    - video pro-SDG; also read the article in the New Internationalist that criticizes the SDGs
- What do Kimanthi and Hebinck argue?
- Theoretical concepts:
    What is meant by “assemblage”? (section 4, which both defines the term, and explains how it is applicable in this case study)
        - six practices related to assemblages (from Li; observe how the authors use them to organize and analyze the evidence)
            -a) forging alignments
            - b) rendering technical
            - c) authorizing knowledge
            - d) managing failures
            - e) anti-politics
            - f) reassembling
    - other concepts/terms (largely from section 2, which I see as a context section in terms of how the MDGs/MVP fits into the history of development interventions):
        - Green Revolution
        - Integrated Rural Development
        - Structural Adjustment Policies
        - philanthrocapitalism
        - Rostovian (based on WW Rostow’s “Stages of Growth”
        - rendering technical
        - depoliticizing
        - how does the MVP define “poverty”?
- What is their methodology?
    - multiple sources of information, both past research and current qualitative research; note the different roles/histories of the two authors
        - note that they point out that they were not allowed access to MVP data
- Context: What is the MVP (Millennium Village Project), in particular, the SMV (Sauri Millennium Village project)?
- Evidence:
    - a) how did Sauri get chosen as a result of pre-existing relationships, therefore relating to the “forging alliances/networks” idea? Was it the “best” location for a project of this sort?
    -b) how did the SMV”render technical” a solution?
        - what kinds of things were promoted, and how did this relate to the underlying philosophy of the intervention about “modernity” versus “traditional” ways?
    -c) what “knowledge” (understandings of local patterns, ideas about what should be done to “fix” “problems”, ways of evaluating impact, etc) did  the SMV project claim was “authoritative”
    -d) how did the SMV manage failure?
    -e) how did the SMV ignore the politics of the region, presenting its work as “anti-political”? What was really going on in terms of the political effects of the project?
    - f) how was the SMV “reassembled”, especially by local farmers?
- How do you respond to and evaluate this article? Possible questions:
    - are the authors being fair to the project and its intentions? How do they envisage development ought to be done?
        - do you think their interpretation is right?
    - with respect to whether this is a model for understanding the SDGs: what key differences in how the MDGs and SDGs were put together and how they will be implemented might lead to differences in impact?
        - what things are similar?
    - etc.