Grassroots Postmodernism

Grassroots Postmodernism PDF Author: Gustavo Esteva
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
ISBN: 1783601841
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
With the publication of this remarkable book in 1998, Gustavo Esteva and Madhu Suri Prakash instigated a complete epistemological rupture. Grassroots Post-modernism attacks the three sacred cows of modernity: global thinking, the universality of human rights and the self-sufficient individual. Rejecting the constructs of development in all its forms, Esteva and Prakash argue that even alternative development prescriptions deprive the people of control over their own lives, shifting this control to bureaucrats, technocrats and educators. Rather than presuming that human progress fits a predetermined mould, leading towards an increasing homogenization of cultures and lifestyles, the authors argue for a ‘radical pluralism’ that honours and nurtures distinctive cultural variety and enables many paths to the realization of self-defined aspirations. This classic text is essential reading for those looking beyond neoliberalism, the global project and the individual self.

Grassroots Postmodernism

Grassroots Postmodernism PDF Author: Gustavo Esteva
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
ISBN: 1783601841
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Get Book

Book Description
With the publication of this remarkable book in 1998, Gustavo Esteva and Madhu Suri Prakash instigated a complete epistemological rupture. Grassroots Post-modernism attacks the three sacred cows of modernity: global thinking, the universality of human rights and the self-sufficient individual. Rejecting the constructs of development in all its forms, Esteva and Prakash argue that even alternative development prescriptions deprive the people of control over their own lives, shifting this control to bureaucrats, technocrats and educators. Rather than presuming that human progress fits a predetermined mould, leading towards an increasing homogenization of cultures and lifestyles, the authors argue for a ‘radical pluralism’ that honours and nurtures distinctive cultural variety and enables many paths to the realization of self-defined aspirations. This classic text is essential reading for those looking beyond neoliberalism, the global project and the individual self.

The Future of Development

The Future of Development PDF Author: Gustavo Esteva
Publisher: Policy Press
ISBN: 1447301102
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
On January 20, 1949 US President Harry S. Truman officially opened the era of development. On that day, over one half of the people of the world were defined as "underdeveloped" and they have stayed that way ever since. This book explains the origins of development and underdevelopment and shows how poorly we understand these two terms. It offers a new vision for development, demystifying the statistics that international organizations use to measure development and introducing the alternative concept of buen vivir: the state of living well. The authors argue that it is possible for everyone on the planet to live well, but only if we learn to live as communities rather than as individuals and to nurture our respective commons. Scholars and students of global development studies are well-aware that development is a difficult concept. This thought-provoking book offers them advice for the future of development studies and hope for the future of humankind.

The Development Dictionary

The Development Dictionary PDF Author: Wolfgang Sachs
Publisher: Zed Books
ISBN: 9781856490443
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
In this pioneering collection, some of the world's most eminent critics of development review the key concepts of the development discourse in the post-war era. Each essay examines one concept from a historical and anthropological point of view and highlights its particular bias. Exposing their historical obsolescence and intellectual sterility, the authors call for a bidding farewell to the whole Eurocentric development idea. This is urgently needed, they argue, in order to liberate people's minds - in both North and South - for bold responses to the environmental and ethical challenges now confronting humanity. These essays are an invitation to experts, grassroots movements and students of development to recognize the tainted glasses they put on whenever they participate in the development discourse.

Gustavo Esteva

Gustavo Esteva PDF Author: Gustavo Esteva
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000620069
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
In his reflections on decolonization and post-development, Gustavo Esteva forged a unique synthesis of critical theory and political economy. This book presents more than half a century of "reflection in action" in the form of essays, books, and interventions in national and international forums and newspaper articles—most published here for the very first time. It showcases Esteva’s evolving thought on economic theory, social change, revolutionary subjectivity, transition, development, the challenges of a new era and personal and communal autonomy, all associated with the challenges and advances in the construction of a new society. Through this translation, Esteva’s writings engage with many of the important cultural and political debates of the present day and retain their power both to provoke and move the reader. Readers will see a thinker at work, formulating local, grassroots alternatives as they are emerging in Mexico and Latin America, with a keen sensibility to what happens in other regions of the world. Gustavo Esteva: A Critique of Development and Other Essays offers a lucid insight into the climatic and sociopolitical collapses we face and will be of interest to students and scholars of critical theory, post-colonial and de-colonial studies, and post-development studies.

Escaping Education

Escaping Education PDF Author: Madhu Suri Prakash
Publisher: Counterpoints
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
"Escaping Education challenges the modern certainly that education is a universal good and a human right. It opens doors to alternative landscapes of learning and living that still flourish at the grassroots, within the cultures of the uneducated, the undereducated, and the illiterate who constitute the social majorities or the Two-Thirds World. It celebrates the richness of their traditions, their pluriverse or commons, common sense, and communal teaching, keeping at bay the modern reign of homo oeconomicus and homo educandus, Standing the all-too-familiar tale of education on its head, it joins the regeneration of soil cultures, resisting cultural meltdown in the global classroom."--BOOK JACKET.

Joyful Militancy

Joyful Militancy PDF Author: Carla Bergman
Publisher: AK Press
ISBN: 1849352895
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 220

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Book Description
"Absolutely what we need in these days of spreading gloom." —John Holloway, author of Crack Capitalism "A guide to a fulfilling militant life." —Michael Hardt, co-author of Assembly "Rigid radicalism" is the congealed and debilitating practices that suck life and inspiration from the fight for a better world. Joyful Militancy investigates how fear, self-righteousness, and moralism infiltrate and take root within liberation movements, what to do about them, and ultimately how tenderness and vulnerability can thrive alongside fierce militant commitment. Carla Bergman co-edited Stay Solid: A Radical Handbook For Youth. Nick Montgomery is an organizer and writer currently at Queen's University.

Mayan Lives, Mayan Utopias

Mayan Lives, Mayan Utopias PDF Author: Jan Rus
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780742511484
Category : Chiapas (Mexico)
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description
The Maya Indian peoples of Chiapas had been mobilizing politically for years before the Zapatista rebellion that brought them to international attention. This authoritative volume explores the different ways that Indians across Chiapas have carved out autonomous cultural and political spaces in their diverse communities and regions. Offering a consistent and cohesive vision of the complex evolution of a region and its many cultures and histories, this work is a fundamental source for understanding key issues in nation building. In a unique collaboration, the book brings together recognized authorities who have worked in Chiapas for decades, many linking scholarship with social and political activism. Their combined perspectives, many previously unavailable in English, make this volume the most authoritative, richly detailed, and authentic work available on the people behind the Zapatista movement.

Grassroots Post-Modernism

Grassroots Post-Modernism PDF Author: Gustavo Esteva
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN: 9781856495462
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Gustavo Esteva is one of Latin America's best-known alternative thinkers about development. For this book, he teams up with Madhu Suri Prakash to offer a vibrant and provocative critique of the Western development paradigm.

Decolonizing Knowledge

Decolonizing Knowledge PDF Author: Frédérique Apffel-Marglin
Publisher: Clarendon Press
ISBN: 0191583960
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 410

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Book Description
Development failures, environmental degradation and social fragmentation can no longer be regarded as side effects of `externalities'. They are the toxic consequences of pretensions that the modern Western view of knowledge is a universal neutral view, applicable to all people at all times. The very word `development' and its cognates `underdevelopment' and `developing' confidently mark the `first' world's as the future of the `third'. This book argues that the linear evolutionary paradigm of development that comes out of modern Western view of knowledge is a contemporary form of colonialism. The authors - covering topics as diverse as the theory of knowledge underlying the work of John Maynard Keynes, what the renowned British geneticist J.B.S. Haldane was looking for when he migrated to India, the knowledge of Mexican and Indian peasants - propose a pluralistic vision and decolonization of knowledge: the replacement of one-way transfers of knowledge and technology by dialogue and mutual learning.

Aboriginal Rights and Self-government

Aboriginal Rights and Self-government PDF Author: Curtis Cook
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN: 9780773518858
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
A timely study of the Aboriginal rights movements, this collection of essays explores the situation in Canada and Mexico, where demands by Native peoples for political autonomy and sovereignty are increasing, and suggests why there is little corresponding activity in the United States. The contributors address practical questions about the viability of multiple governments within one political system and epistemological questions about recognizing and understanding the "other." Curtis Cook is professor of political science, The Colorado College. Juan D. Lindau is professor of political science, The Colorado College.