tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813702045456690661.post7489163132505243405..comments2023-06-28T05:16:54.842-04:00Comments on anthropologies: Anthropology and development: a feel-good essayRyan Andersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18008425994341539639noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813702045456690661.post-58842529386130906292012-02-07T08:40:29.934-05:002012-02-07T08:40:29.934-05:00Scott, glad you liked it!
I haven't got any ...Scott, glad you liked it! <br /><br />I haven't got any references on the specific topic you mention (the state-state/state-civil society connections). But I think you're right that these kinds of differences would have important implications. I've asked one of my professors at the LSE, Hans Steinmuller, for further references and here are some he shared in case you're interested in following up: <br /><br />Ching Kwan Lee has written on labour relations in China, and is now doing research on labour relations in Chinese invested companies on the Chinese copperbelt<br /><br />http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=6166296<br /><br /> <br />Yan Hairong and Barry Sautmann are also doing research on the Chinese in Zambia.<br /><br />http://www.ealc.uiuc.edu/ealc/people/faculty/yan.htm<br /><br />http://www.sosc.ust.hk/faculty/detail/sautman.html<br /><br /> <br /><br />I think there are quite a few scholars based at the Chinese studies department of Stellenbosch university who work on the Chinese in Africa.<br />http://www.ccs.org.za/<br /><br /> <br />Two films on the Chinese in Africa: <br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA9w3eVGJS8<br /><br />http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/peopleandpower/2012/01/20121484624797945.html<br /><br /> <br />I absolutely agree with you on your comment about "topographies of power", also, I feel that as anthropologists we're ideally situated to understand how this all plays out in specific times and places, with real people involved. Really, the possibilities for future research on the subject seem promising.Agustin diznoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5813702045456690661.post-12279921972281873672012-02-02T10:43:06.626-05:002012-02-02T10:43:06.626-05:00Great essay. I appreciate the perspective that ant...Great essay. I appreciate the perspective that anthropology and anthropologists can (and should) be attentive and contribute to documenting and conceiving alternatives. With all the critiquing we tend to do, there needs to be more room for hopeful and positive contributions. <br /><br />The question of shifting global relationships and the emergence of new donor states is a fascinating one. It could be interpreted as revealing a changing global balance of power, the end of old empires and rise of new ones. I wonder though, and would be grateful for references to people writing on this, whether new state "partners" like China are primarily funding other states, where established "donors" have gone grassroots and are paying more attention and spending more money on non-state organizations like NGOs and CBOs. To me this situation creates all sorts of fascinating political possibilities. <br /><br />More likely, the established donor areas are working with both states and civil society, probably resulting in particular interests and factions supporting opposing sides of local struggles in recipient areas (e.g., bilateral aid greasing the wheels of extractive industry concessions and contracts while NGO money goes into environmentalist and local rights movements against such concessions). These complex webs of finance and influence may underwrite different topographies of power, leading to any number of conflicts and compromises at many different scales. The challenge, then, is to be able to understand local dynamics (whichever locality that entails) in the context of these larger-scale processes and relationships. <br /><br />Thanks again for a thought-provoking piece!Scott Mhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01888644437390458100noreply@blogger.com