Anthropology and Development
Several researchers in Cultural Anthropology focus on questions related to development and social change in the context of international development cooperation. The interest is theoretical and epistemological in the sense that "the development industry" is today a global phenomenon that concerns a large part of the world's populations. Categories, approaches, perceptions and imaginations in development cooperation and humanitarian aid shape and influence many peoples' livelihoods opportunities.
But the the interest is also practical and problem-oriented as many Uppsala-anthropologists carry out assignments commissioned by Sida and other aid organisations. Recent years assignments have been conducted in Laos and East Timor (Ovesen), Vietnam (Zink), Bolivia and Peru (Widmark), and Burkina Faso and Mali (Hagberg).
The book Ethnographic Practice and Public Aid, edited by Sten Hagberg and Charlotta Widmark, with contributions by leading anthropologists is now published and can be ordered. For more information, click here
Several members of the department participated in the APAD conference in Ouagadougu, Burkina Faso, in January 2010, see APAD
A panel on Anthropological Engagement in International Development Cooperation was furthermore organised at the annual meeting of the Society for Swedish Anthropologists (SANT) in Lund, in March 2010.
The research group has also worked for the establishment of the master course Anthropology in Practice.