A
discipline asserting its identity and place displacement, aid and anthropology
in Sudan
Munzoul Abdalla M. Assal
Abstract:
The relationship between anthropology and development is very much
contested. While the debate about such relationship is not new (it began during
the early 1970s and continued up to the present), it started to be heated during
the closing decade of the last century with the ascendance of the post-modern
critique in anthropology. Arguments of the debate are, generally, either for or
against involvement of anthropology, whose dubious history is often cited by
those who are sceptic about its role. It is unfortunate that most current heated
debates on the relationship between anthropology and development are a
reflection of anthropological elitism preoccupied with general dilemmas of
anthropology while the real dilemma, that of those who are brutally subjected to
misguided development and mass displacement, is compromised. This paper is
against such muted anthropological elitism and while it endeavours to make the
case for a positive role of anthropology in development, it does not distance
anthropologists from the failures of development industry or portray them as an
innocent part in that industry. It argues that while revealing the realities of
the powerless is still needed, anthropologists need also to focus on the
powerful, and probably be part of the power apparatus. The case of the displaced
persons in Sudan and the author’s own experience with NGOs are used to
substantiate the paper’s arguments and avert the muted elitism characterising
much of the current debates on anthropology and development.
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