Monday, June 4, 2012

Negotiating a National Agenda for Development: The Role of Culture

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

we would perhaps not be too far wrong if we did not expect a tidy clear-cut fit between the two constructs of development and culture
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Really?

If your culture is such that it can NEVER ever help you to develop, why do you think that you should see a nexus between 'development' and 'culture'?

Clearer thinking would point out that what you are obviously dealing with is NOT development per se, but STAGNATION!

Circular and perpetual stagnation like 'Persistent Poverty' cannot by any stretch of the imagination can ever be honestly called development. That is what our entertainment culture which is what most people understand by the word culture in these parts, has as its dominant, mercifully not only, manifestation of movements below the waist line.

There is a hell of a lot of difference between development and stagnation.

West Indians see culture mainly as entertainment.

Even the academics fail miserably to explore or pay scant attention ... if at all ... to the negative 'widely shared values' and one other but hidden dimension as has been done here.

What is overlooked time and time again, are the 'hidden assumptions' that trap our populations and generations into cycles of poverty and low expectations!

The author is quite clearly confused by the pure academic expatiation related to various viewpoints and definitions, rather than involving herself in an explanation or an interpretation of what obtains on the ground.

Obviously, no practical and actionable decisions can ever flow from this ball of confusion. This begs this question. Where is the value added?

June 4, 2012 at 3:51 PM

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