Syllabus concepts to know

• When does development become “non-development”?
• To what extent is development the other side of the coin to “under-development”?
• How might development anthropologists resolve ethical issues?
• Who decides whose “needs” are to be provided for?
• Is development the new colonialism?
• To what extent is indigenous knowledge relevant to development policymaking? This area of inquiry requires a balance between conceptual understandings, which serve as analytical frameworks, and topic-based exploration. One approach to the teaching of this might be to explore, for example, the relationship between a developed nation and a developing nation that were formerly connected as the colonizer and the colonized. To begin with, the nature of the relationship can be analysed through investigating data available on government and NGOs’ websites and also examining contrasting viewpoints expressed in print/electronic media. An anthropological framework can then be applied to evaluate the current relationship in terms of development and the notion of neo-colonialism, using specific ethnography and other writings. Also of interest will be the critical evaluation of the role of an anthropologist (particularly any ethical considerations) in advising a government or an NGO regarding a development project that affects a specific community in the developing nation being studied.