Blog

New Publication in Global Humanities

Cochrane, L. and Chellan, W. (2015) “We Were Extremely Poor But We Were Pious”: Exploring the Interrelationships between Religious Adherence and Economic Status in the Muslim World. Global Humanities 2: 112-128. Abstract: This paper analyzes theological, quantitative and qualitative data regarding the relationships between economic status and religious adherence, with specific reference to Islam and […]

Tags: #Economic Status #Household Income #Poverty #Religiosity #Religious Adherence

Research
Practicing “Development” (Ferguson, 1990)

Practicing “Development” (Ferguson, 1990)

Following an earlier post on the construction of “development”, the following are thought provoking quotes from Ferguson’s (1990) The Anti-Politics Machine on the practice of “development”: Context: “The argument, in brief, is the following: “development” institutions generate their own form of discourse, and this discourse simultaneously constructs Lesotho as a particular kind of object of […]

Tags: #(a)political #Development #Ferguson #Practice of Development #Practicing Development

Thought Provokers
Constructing “Development” (Ferguson, 1990)

Constructing “Development” (Ferguson, 1990)

Quotes on the construction of “development” from Ferguson’s influential Anti-Politics Machine (1990): “The argument, in brief, is the following: “development” institutions generate their own form of discourse, and this discourse simultaneously constructs Lesotho as a particular kind of object of knowledge, and creates a structure of knowledge around that object. Interventions are then organized on […]

Tags: #Constructing Development #Development discourse #Framing Development #Politics of Development

Thought Provokers

Reading Ethiopia (Books)

Suggested reading on Ethiopia. Feel free to send me your additions and I’ll add them to the list.   In chronological order: The Ethiopia Books of Travels (1904, translated in 2021) Pasha Ex-Italian Somaliland (1951) S Pankhurst Ethiopia: A Cultural History (1955) S Pankhurst Indo-Ethiopian Relations for Centuries (1961) Muthanna The Blue Nile (1962) Moorehead Wichale XVII: The […]

Tags: #Books #Ethiopia #Suggested Reading

Featured Articles
Social Life of Disease – Smallpox

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

Thought Provokers
The Rational Peasant (1979) Popkin

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

Thought Provokers