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What Is a “Development” Research Project? Transforming Ideas of Development through Development Research

By Mette Fog Olwig, Jacob Rasmussen, Lone Riisgaard, Christine Noe, Geetika Khanduja, Peter Taylor, Herbert Hambati, Lisa Ann Richey, Chris Büscher and Paola Minoia / New Rhythms of Development blog series

Development Studies has long operated with binaries such as “developed/developing” and “traditional/modern” that foster implicit assumptions of Northern superiority. As a result, research projects taking place in so-called “developing countries” tend to ask different research questions and use different methods leading to types of theories that differ from those concerning so-called “developed countries.”

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Global partnerships to prioritise care and the preservation of life

By Christiane Kliemann / New Rhythms of Development blog series

Amid the multitude of current interconnected and mutually reinforcing global crises, the closing panel of our recent #NewDevRhythms conference in Lisbon centred around the question what Development Studies could do to understand and respond to the various facets of these crises, while, as a  discipline, facing numerous crises of its own. To consult and bring forward non-European perspectives, EADI president Andy Sumner who chaired the session had invited representatives of Development Studies Associations from different parts of the world.

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Four approaches to shifting mindsets for decolonising knowledge

By Peter Taylor and Crystal Tremblay

In the context of knowledge for development, what does it require to deconstruct the dominant narratives and personal privileges embodied in our race, class, gender, etc.? And, in a knowledge landscape littered with potential minefields, how do we go about shifting the mindsets that shape the ways in which ‘we’ understand the world and our subsequent values, behaviours, and attitudes?

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Friends, foes, or frenemies? Reflecting on the Varieties of Development Studies and relations with Economics

By Andy Sumner

At the recent EADI meeting in Budapest I reflected on the relationship between Development Studies and Economics, which has been a topic of debate among scholars for many, many years. While both share a common goal of addressing issues important to development, they often approach these issues from very different angles. Some argue that Development Studies and Economics can work together as friends, complementing each other’s strengths. Others believe that they are foes, with different worldviews and approaches that are irreconcilable. A third perspective suggests that they are frenemies, engaging in a love-hate relationship.

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Understanding epistemic erasures of local & indigenous communities:

Decolonizing research and re-imagining alternative partnerships in Development Studies

By Yafa El Masri, Melis Cin, Kitty Furtado, Paola Minoia and Rahime Süleymanoğlu-Kürüm / New Rhythms of Development blog series

Epistemic erasures continue to exist in a wide range of institutional designs at the local, national, regional, European and international level. Bringing up a debate on this topic not only opens the possibility to raise awareness on the concept, but also motivates research to shed light on alternative partnerships of resistance to these erasures. As Sharon Stein and others have pointed out,  partnerships that arise collaboratively between actors from academia, civil society and politics can contribute to recognizing, repairing and re-imagining new decolonial futures.

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