Cultivating Development: An Ethnography of Aid Policy and Practice(Anthropology, Culture and Society)

What if development agencies and researchers are not driven by policy? Suppose that the things that make for 'good policy' - policy that legitimises and mobilises political support - in reality make it impossible to implement? By focusing in detail on the unfolding activities of a development project in western India over more than ten years, as it falls under different policy regimes, this book takes a close look at the relationship between policy and practice in development. David Mosse shows how the actions of development workers are shaped by the exigencies of organisations and the need to maintain relationships rather than by policy; but also that development actors work hardest of all to maintain coherent representations of their actions as instances of authorised policy. Raising unfamiliar questions, Mosse provides a rare self-critical reflection on practice, while refusing to endorse current post-modern dismissal of development.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Glossary and abbreviations 1. Introduction: The Ethnography of Policy and Practice 2. Framing a Participatory Development Project 3. Tribal Livelihoods and the Development Frontier 4. The Goddess and the PRA: Local Knowledge and Planning 5. Implementation: Regime and Relationships 6. Consultant Knowledge 7. The Social Production of Development Success 8. Aid Policy and Project Failure 9. Aspirations for Development 10. Conclusions and Implications Bibliography Index

About the Author :
David Mosse is Professor of Social Anthropology at SOAS, University of London. He is author of The Rule of Water (Oxford University Press, 2003), Cultivating Development (Pluto, 2004) and The Aid Effect (Pluto, 2005).

Review :
Cultivating Development is a superb book, one of those rarities that can change entire ways of thinking. David Mosse is the first social scientist in a generation who can successfuly take cutting-edge insights from academic anthropology and use them to explain practical problems in development. David Mosse's subtle exploration of both theory and fieldwork produces a number of counter-intuitive but undoubtedly correct findings, such as the fascinating discussion of "the tyrrany of particiaption", and his pleasing prose make the book a genuine pleasure to read. For anyone interested in development, "Cultivating Development" is a do-not-miss experience. -- Scott Guggenheim, Lead Social Scientist, The World Bank Strongly argued, vividly illustrated and fluently written, Cultivating Development conjures up a world of projects and policy-making immediately recognisable to development professionals everywhere. Its provocative thesis challenges the received wisdom of htat world and compels us to examine afresh the politics and ethics of engaging with development. Amid the profusion of literature in this feild, this book stands apart as an insider's account that is consistently critical yet steadfast in respecting its subjects. Highly recommended. -- Amita Baviskar, Visiting Professor, Department of Cultural and Social Anthropology, Stanford University Mosse describes how a development project finds ways of working itself out and how these ways are rarely based on policy in the way that we usually assume but that they can nevertheless be turned into policy after the event. Any development professional will find many scenarios and episodes that are recognisable here. As the many entry points slowly build up intyo a rich and thick description of the projects's world, it becomes clear that this candid depiction forces us to engage with candid questions especially about the book's two principal concepts: practice and policy. -- Ingie Hovland, Development Policy Review Mosse's book is a brave and crucial work which dismantles the accepted orthodoxies about the making of development by development agencies. Everyone with an interest in development - whether practitioner or critic - should read this book. -- Dinah Rajak, Development in Practice