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The Discourse of Maendeleo and the Politics of Women’s Participation on Mount Kilimanjaro

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  • Claire Mercer

Abstract

Studies of participatory development and empowerment often fail to place people’s actions and motivations within their wider cultural, social, political and economic context. Drawing on fieldwork which looked at village‐based women’s groups on Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, this article deconstructs the dominant discourse of development on the mountain (maendeleo) to show how women’s participation in their local organizations is used as a strategy to boost their social status and financial gains. Local, national and global discourses on development, modernity and gender are reappropriated by Chagga men and women to produce a normative Chagga developmental subjectivity which women can demonstrate by participating in women’s groups. The over‐representation of better‐off and higher‐status women in these groups suggests that, in excluding the poorest women, participation in women’s groups is serving to legitimate, and perpetuate, existing inequalities within Chagga society.

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  • Claire Mercer, 2002. "The Discourse of Maendeleo and the Politics of Women’s Participation on Mount Kilimanjaro," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 33(1), pages 101-127, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:33:y:2002:i:1:p:101-127
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-7660.00242
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    Cited by:

    1. Buchenrieder, Gertrud & Dufhues, Thomas & Theesfeld, Insa & Nuchanata, Mungkung, 2017. "Participatory local governance and cultural practices in Thailand," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 3, pages 1-19.
    2. Wen Hua, 2021. "Analysis on the Income Effect of Farmers’ Cooperative Management: Based on the Chinese Practice," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 15(12), pages 103-103, July.
    3. Thorp, Rosemary & Stewart, Frances & Heyer, Amrik, 2005. "When and how far is group formation a route out of chronic poverty?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 907-920, June.
    4. Peris S. Jones, 2003. "Urban Regeneration's Poisoned Chalice: Is There an Impasse in (Community) Participation-based Policy?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 40(3), pages 581-601, March.
    5. Nichols, Carly, 2020. "Nutrition sensitive agriculture: An equity-based analysis from India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).

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