IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/prodev/v5y2005i4p261-278.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The antagonistic relevance of development studies

Author

Listed:
  • Giles Mohan

    (The Open University, Development Policy and Practice Department, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK, g.mohan@open.ac.uk)

  • Gordon Wilson

    (The Open University, Development Policy and Practice Department, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, UK)

Abstract

This paper discusses relevance in development studies. We argue that current debates around relevance assume a hegemonic view of development, which is bolstered by the high levels of research funding from key policy-making institutions. We feel relevance can be pluralized and radicalized, but that this requires us to be ideologically transparent and to examine other ways of undertaking and validating knowledge production. This involves first, acknowledging the material and ethical connectedness, but not sameness, of people; secondly, a relational tension between discipline and interdiscipline; thirdly, that problem-framing and influencing involves ‘researchers’ and ‘users’, whereby ‘users’ include students, practitioners, decision-makers and ‘the poor’. Further, we argue that such dialogic approaches require alternative criteria for rigour. Positivistic criteria imply a distinctive form of rationality, but if rationality is also pluralized then alternative epistemologies and methodologies of working with multiple rationalities is necessary.

Suggested Citation

  • Giles Mohan & Gordon Wilson, 2005. "The antagonistic relevance of development studies," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 5(4), pages 261-278, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:prodev:v:5:y:2005:i:4:p:261-278
    DOI: 10.1191/1464993405ps121oa
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1191/1464993405ps121oa
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1191/1464993405ps121oa?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Slater & Morag Bell, 2002. "Aid and the Geopolitics of the Post‐Colonial: Critical Reflections on New Labour’s Overseas Development Strategy," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 33(2), pages 335-360, April.
    2. Anthony Bebbington & Scott Guggenheim & Elizabeth Olson & Michael Woolcock, 2004. "Exploring Social Capital Debates at the World Bank," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(5), pages 33-64.
    3. Kanbur, Ravi, 2002. "Economics, Social Science and Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 477-486, March.
    4. Harriss, John, 2002. "The Case for Cross-Disciplinary Approaches in International Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(3), pages 487-496, March.
    5. Maeve Cooke, 2000. "Five Arguments for Deliberative Democracy," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 48(5), pages 947-969, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Michael Tribe & Andrew Sumner, 2006. "Development economics at a crossroads? Introduction to a policy arena," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(7), pages 957-966.
    2. Wendy Olsen, 2006. "Pluralism, poverty and sharecropping: Cultivating open-mindedness in development studies," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(7), pages 1130-1157.
    3. David Hulme & John Toye, 2006. "The case for cross-disciplinary social science research on poverty, inequality and well-being," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(7), pages 1085-1107.
    4. Mitra, Sophie & Palmer, Michael & Vuong, Vu, 2020. "Development and interdisciplinarity: A citation analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    5. John Toye & David Hulme & University of Manchester, 2005. "The case for cross-disciplinary social science research on poverty, inequality and well-being," Economics Series Working Papers GPRG-WPS-001, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    6. David Alexander Clark, 2011. "Adaptation and development: issues, evidence and policy relevance," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 15911, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    7. Kirsten, J, 2002. "Forty Years Of Agricultural Economics Scholarship And Practice In South Africa: A Time To Challenge The Consensus And Refocus Our Intellectual Work," Agrekon, Agricultural Economics Association of South Africa (AEASA), vol. 41(4).
    8. Nicola Jones & Andy Sumner, 2009. "Does Mixed Methods Research Matter to Understanding Childhood Well-Being?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 90(1), pages 33-50, January.
    9. Wendy Olsen, 2008. "Pluralism, Tenancy and Poverty: Cultivating Open-Mindedness in Poverty Studies," Working Papers id:1684, eSocialSciences.
    10. Andy Sumner & Michael Tribe, 2008. "Development studies and cross-disciplinarity: Research at the social science-physical science interface," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(6), pages 751-767.
    11. Wendy Olsen & University of Manchester, 2005. "Pluralism, Poverty and Sharecropping: Cultivating Open-Mindedness in Development Studies," Economics Series Working Papers GPRG-WPS-008, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    12. Ruttan, Vernon W., 2007. "Imperialism, Colonialism and Collaboration in the Social Sciences," Staff Papers 7356, University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics.
    13. Kirsten, Johann F., 2004. "Expanding the Frontiers of Agricultural Economics to Meet the Future Challenges of Agricultural Development," 2004 Inaugural Symposium, December 6-8, 2004, Nairobi, Kenya 9519, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).
    14. Fine, Ben, 2002. "Economics Imperialism and the New Development Economics as Kuhnian Paradigm Shift?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(12), pages 2057-2070, December.
    15. Rachel M. Gisselquist, 2018. "Legal empowerment and group-based inequality," WIDER Working Paper Series 039, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    16. Tara Das, 2009. "The information and financial power of the World Bank," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 9(3), pages 209-224, July.
    17. Ghazala Mansuri, 2004. "Community-Based and -Driven Development: A Critical Review," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 19(1), pages 1-39.
    18. Daniel Bendix, 2016. "The colonial present in international development? The case of German interventions in obstetric care in Tanzania," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 16(3), pages 229-243, July.
    19. Martin Prowse, 2010. "Integrating reflexivity into livelihoods research," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 10(3), pages 211-231, July.
    20. Jimmy Donaghey, 2008. "Deliberation, Employment Relations and Social Partnership in the Republic of Ireland," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 29(1), pages 35-63, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:prodev:v:5:y:2005:i:4:p:261-278. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.