A Review on the Chapters of The Problematization of Poverty: The Tale of Three Worlds and Development and Economics and the Space of Development: Tale

Summary
The article delved into 2 chapters of the book by Escobar (1995); the chapters of The Problimitization of Poverty: The Tale of Three Worlds and Development and the Economics and the Space of Development: Tales of Growth and Capital. The first chapter talked about the ‘discovery’ of mass poverty in the post-World War II period in the countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. It talked about the historical development of poverty on a global scale and the invention of development strategies during the different periods to ‘eradicate’ poverty. Of course, the type of development being promoted is the instigation of the ideas and expectations of the Western countries on what a normal course of evolution and progress should be.

It went on to discuss the historical factors of development in terms of economic progress, its definition, and institutionalization wherein development became the object of study, the ‘scientification’ of development in different levels bringing with it the politics of knowledge and the arguments issued on the failure or success of strategies and programs employed by development groups and institutions. Such development strategies are believed to ‘normalize’ the ‘abnormal’ world with the presence of poverty. Several examples were presented in the article on the nature of poverty found and the discourses of approaches and interventions employed to change the existing social systems and the range of poverty found.

The previous chapter is a take-off point for the second chapter on the economics of development. It brings about the use of development economics to achieve growth and capital – the mirrors of economic success and modernity. It started with the discussion on the definition of economics followed by the presentation of discourses on various economic theories and models from classical to modern. But this is not just about the rhetoric of economic. The author went to discuss economics of culture in terms of the historical constructions of the economy, economy as a cultural force, practices that emerged as a result of these constructions and the consequences of such constructions. It includes the discussion on the ‘capacity of people to model their own behavior and reproduce forms of discourse that contribute to the social and cultural domination effected through forms of representation’.

The author proposed a re-thinking on what development is in the perspective of the economy on two levels, (1) to accept that there is a plurality of models with the inclusion of local constructions and (2) to have a theory on the mechanisms that take place in the local and global arena given the dynamics of the local forms and the global system of economic and cultural production. He further stated that a global economy must be understood as a decentered system taking into account the ways in which local group participates in the complex process and how the most exploitative mechanisms of capitalism can be avoided.

Critique and Reflection
In the guise of humanitarian concern, there emerged ‘new forms of power and control,’ of which those that were supposed to be ‘beneficiaries’ – the poor, became the target and playing field of the different agencies for development. The tale of massive poverty created a myth that indeed, the ‘third world’ is a third world – the inferior, the underdeveloped, the ignorant. As it is, along with the aids are economic exploitation of rich natural resources and indigenous knowledge.

More than the discussion of the different development approaches, theories and sophisticated models, the point that can be drawn from the article is the biases incurred in social enterprises, carried over and over with the changing dynamics of the world. The introduction of new concepts of the West to the ‘underdeveloped’ nations, in the guise of awareness-raising or knowledge –building is a unilinear point of view of what a ‘normal’ world should be. This fails to account that before the conquest of the West and the massive exploitation that occurred making the rich richer and the poor poorer, people were living according to the way of life that is normal to them.

As a way to re-contextual development, it should take into account local models to represent people’s construction of development. Certainly, this is an interpretative way of seeing it and to the hardcore scientist, this is unacceptable. ‘It takes the ‘subjects’ as agents of self-definition whose practice is shaped by their self-understanding.’ But this should truly be the perspective of development agencies in their implementation of changes in the local setting, if indeed the local system needs an overhaul. Connecting this with the article on human rights, this is a way of respecting their capability for self-determination. The involvement of the people, their inclusion to the different stages of program implementation, taking into account their own descriptions and use it a starting point for any agenda may that be for social research or for any development undertakings.

Source: Escubar, A (1995). Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.