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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Auditing poverty? Applied anthropologists and the discourse of development in post-apartheid South Africa
Author:Connor, TeresaISNI
Year:2015
Periodical:Anthropology Southern Africa (ISSN 2332-3264)
Volume:38
Issue:1-2
Pages:88-102
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:anthropological research
displaced persons
informal settlements
development projects
External link:https://doi.org/10.1080/23323256.2015.1051068
Abstract:This article debates the opportunities and disadvantages attached to applied anthropology, specifically consultancy linked to development work, within the institutions and processes of the modern neo-liberal state. Located within political and applied anthropology, the article uses insights gained from two projects to assess the impact of development projects on displaced people, and to evaluate the actual process of producing reports. These cases illustrate how anthropologists deal with the conflicting demands of received knowledge (about development) and actual conditions on the ground during research. The paper argues that development outcomes mostly depend on classification, calculation and the displacement of people in order to motivate a particular type of development intervention by the state, and compares this with Foucault's use of 'governmentality'. Ultimately, although this method of classification has strengthened the role of the South African state, it has also produced very static conceptions of citizenship, particularly in relation to the provision of housing for informal dwellers. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
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