Logan Cochrane

Social Life of Disease – Smallpox

Pox: An American History (2011) by Willrich provides a wealth of interesting examples of the intersections between public health, epidemiology, society, culture and politics. The context: “All told, during the five-year wave of epidemics around the turn of the century, the federal service counted 164,283 American cases of smallpox. The actual number of cases may […]

Tags: #Smallpox #Social life of disease

The Rational Peasant (1979) Popkin

Popkin’s book offers ideas that, at least at times, directly confront those of James C. Scott (see quotes from one of his works here). This post continues the ‘thought provokers’ series of posts from The Rational Peasant (1979). On assumptions of peasant life: “Some representations of preindustrial society idealize life in peasant villages. These romantic […]

Tags: #Agency #Moral Economics #Myth of the Village #Peasant Studies #Political Economics

The Will to Improve (2007) Li

For anyone interested in international development, this is essential reading. The opening chapters of the book are academic, and I suspect this has contributed to it mostly being engaged with by academics. However, Li’s book is highly recommended for practitioners, even if that means skimming some parts. What follows is not a summary of The […]

Tags: #Complexity #Ethnography #Practice of Development #Rendering Technical #The Will to Improve

Development as Freedom (1999) Sen

Many of Sen’s contributions have become common knowledge and do not appear to be as groundbreaking as they once were. Nonetheless, what follows is a selection of thought provoking quotes from Development as Freedom: On freedom(s): “These include (1) political freedoms, (2) economic freedoms, (3) social opportunities, (4) transparency guarantees and (5) protective security. Each of […]

Revisiting Scott’s (1985) Weapons of the Weak

On ‘weapons of the weak’: “Here I have in mind the ordinary weapons of relatively powerless groups: foot dragging, dissimulation, false compliance, pilfering, feigned ignorance, slander, arson, sabotage and so forth. These Brechtian forms of class struggle have certain features in common. They require little or no coordination or planning; they often represent a form […]

Tags: #Capitalism #Creation of Custom #James C. Scott #Marxist Revolution #Weapons of the weak

NGO Lessons from Oshinsky’s (2005) Polio: An American Story

NGO lessons from Oshinsky’s (2005) Polio: An American Story. Not a summary or review, but some thought provoking quotes: Strategic planning and framing of the issue: “No disease drew as much attention, or struck the same terror, as polio. And for good reason. Polio hit without warning. There was no way of telling who would […]

Tags: #Innovation #institutional barriers #Leadership #Polio #Strategic Planning

“Give a Man a Fish” (2015) by James Ferguson

Notes from James Ferguson’s (2015) Give a Man a Fish (not a summary or review). A few thought provoking quotes. On neoliberal criticisms and a more productive way forward: “…I have been drawn into this project by an impatience with the increasingly empty (as it seems to me) politics of “opposing neoliberalism.” Critiques of neoliberalism […]