Culture and Public Action

458 Pages·2004·1.739 MB·English

by  Vijayendra Rao, Michael Walton (eds.)

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Contributors
Anita Abraham
Sabina Alkire
Arjun Appadurai
Lourdes Arizpe
Fernando Calderón
Monica Das Gupta
Shelton H.Davis
Mary Douglas
Simon Harragin
Carol Jenkins
Arjo Klamer
Timur Kuran
Jean-Philippe Platteau
Vijayendra Rao
Amartya Sen
Alicia Szmukler
Marco Verweij
Michael Walton
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Culture and Public Action
Edited by
Vijayendra Rao
Michael Walton
and
Stanford Social Sciences
an imprint of Stanford University Press
Stanford,California 2004
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Stanford University Press
Stanford,California
© 2004 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/
The World Bank
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Washington,DC 20433
Telephone [phone]
Internet www.worldbank.org
E-mail [email protected]
Chapter Three © 2004 by Arjun Appadurai
All rights reserved.
The findings,interpretations,and conclusions expressed herein are those of
theauthor(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Board of Executive
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Printed in the United States of America
On acid-free,archival-quality paper
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Culture and public action / edited by Vijayendra Rao and Michael Walton.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn0-8047-4786-5 (cloth :alk.paper)—isbn0-8047-4787-3 (pbk.:alk.paper)
1.Culture. 2.Economic development—Social aspects. 3.Developing
countries—Cultural policy. I.Rao,Vijayendra. II.Walton,Michael,date–
hm621.c8575 2004
306—dc22 2004001629
Original Printing 2004
Last figure below indicates year of this printing:
13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04
Typeset by BookMatters in 10.5/12.5 Bembo
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Contents
Preface vii
Contributors xi
1. Culture and Public Action:Relationality,Equality
of Agency,and Development3
Vijayendra Rao and Michael Walton
2. How Does Culture Matter?37
Amartya Sen
3. The Capacity to Aspire:Culture and the Terms
of Recognition59
Arjun Appadurai
4.Traditional Culture—Let’s Hear No More About It85
Mary Douglas
5. Appendix to Douglas:Cultural Theory
and Development Studies110
Marco Verweij
6. Cultural Obstacles to Economic Development:
Often Overstated,Usually Transitory115
Timur Kuran
7. Cultural Goods Are Good for More than Their
Economic Value138
Arjo Klamer
8. The Intellectual History of Culture
and Development Institutions163
Lourdes Arizpe
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vi Running head verso
9. Culture,Poverty,and External Intervention185
Sabina Alkire
10. Participatory Development:Where Culture Creeps In210
Anita Abraham and Jean-Philippe Platteau
11. State Policies and Women’s Agency in China,
the Republic of Korea,and India,1950–2000:
Lessons from Contrasting Experiences 234
Monica Das Gupta, Sunhwa Lee, Patricia Uberoi,
Danning Wang, Lihong Wang, and Xiaodan Zhang
12. HIV/AIDS and Culture:Implications for Policy260
Carol Jenkins
13. Political Culture and Development281
Fernando Calderón and Alicia Szmukler
14. Relief and an Understanding of Local Knowledge:
The Case of Southern Sudan307
Simon Harragin
15. The Mayan Movement and National Culture
in Guatemala328
Shelton H. Davis
16. Conclusion:Implications of a Cultural Lens
for Public Policy and Development Thought359
Vijayendra Rao and Michael Walton
References 373
Index 415
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Preface
Some may find it incongruous that two economists who work for the
World Bank are editing a book about culture. It reflects an increasing
recognition of the centrality of cultural process to the reproduction of
inequality and human ill-being among development policy makers and
economists.However,we are well aware that economists are newcomers
to this field and that anthropology and sociology have made seminal con-
tributions to it for over two centuries.On the other hand,over the last
fifty years,economists have been engaged,for better or worse,much more
centrally with making policy than the other social sciences.It thus seems
obvious that policy would be better served by a cross-disciplinary dialogue
among the social sciences—on equal terms—on “why”and “how”culture
matters for development and the implications of this for public action.
This book is an effort in that direction.
We have targeted the book to a broad audience—anthropologists,
economists,political scientists,other academic social scientists,as well as
development practitioners and policy makers of all stripes.We are also
keen that the book be read by undergraduate and graduate students inter-
ested in development.To achieve this,all the contributors to this volume
have written their articles trying to stay clear of excessive jargon, and
assuming a minimum level of prerequisites.We realize that this may mean
that some disciplinary or practitioner perspectives may not be as ade-
quately represented as would be possible in a book targeted to a special-
ized audience.
Acknowledgments
We have been privileged to have had Amartya Sen as our guru and main
advisor through this process.His wisdom and critical guidance have played
a central role in shaping the book.We have also greatly benefited from
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viii Preface
Arjun Appadurai’s deep insights and cogent suggestions on both substance
and style.This project would have never been completed without the
unstinting support of Nick Stern,who served as chief economist of the
World Bank during the time when this book was being produced.Tia
Duer was a crucial ally in seeking funding and institutional support,and
we are grateful for her help. Much of this effort was sparked by World
Bank president James Wolfensohn’s vision for a more inclusive and cul-
turally sensitive development.
We would also like to acknowledge our gratitude to Mary Douglas for
agreeing to contribute to this volume despite several obstacles.Our con-
tributors were most responsive to pesky requests and policing,and many
also served as peer reviewers and commentators on other essays.For this,we
thank Anita Abraham,Sabina Alkire,Lourdes Arizpe,Fernando Calderon,
Monica Das Gupta, Shelton Davis, Simon Harragin, Carol Jenkins,Arjo
Klamer,Alicia Szmukler,Timur Kuran,Jean-Philippe Platteau,and Marco
Verweij.
The contributions in this volume served as the basis of a conference
held on June 30,2002,in Washington,D.C.Several distinguished scholars
and practitioners participated in that conference as commentators and dis-
cussants,and others provided their inputs as peer reviewers.Their insights
have contributed greatly to revisions of the chapters and the overall per-
spective on the book.For this,we express our gratitude to Yonas Admassu,
Kaushik Basu, Sarah Berry, Michael Cernea, Kamala Chandrakirana,
David Dollar, Andreas Eshete, Ian Goldin, Stephen Gudeman, Isabel
Guerrero,Jeffrey Hammer,Keith Hart,Karla Hoff,Michael Kremer,Peter
Lanjouw, Glenn Loury,Alexandre Marc, Deepa Narayan, Mieko Nishi-
mizu, Hnin Hnin Pyne, Mamphela Ramphele, Debraj Ray, Jo Ritzen,
Gayatri Reddy,Sita Reddy,Andrew Steer,and Michael Woolcock.
There is a Web site that accompanies this book where digital videos of
the conference proceedings,discussants’comments,and additional read-
ings and links can be obtained: http://www.cultureandpublicaction.org.
Caroline Archambault did a superb job as the main organizer of the
conference, and she and Jerry MacLean were primarily responsible for
the initial development of the Web site, along with Saumitra Jha and
Mattihias Vom Hau.We thank them all for their excellent work.The proj-
ect was funded by Dutch Trust Funds provided by the Netherlands gov-
ernment,and we are very grateful for their generous support.
Our colleagues at the World Bank provided input and support without
which this project would have never got off the ground.In particular,we
thank Martin Ravallion,Anis Dani,Emmanuel Jimenez,Karen Mason,and
Lynn Bennett.
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Preface ix
At Stanford Press,Patricia Katayama,our editor,was a cheerful,enthu-
siastic, and patient guide in moving this book through the publication
process,and we are indebted to her for her help.We are deeply grateful
for thoughtful and insightful comments provided by two reviewers for
the press—Keith Hart, and an economic theorist who chose to remain
anonymous.
Last,we acknowledge the role of our spouses,Isabel Guerrero and Sita
Reddy,whose insights,input,and moral support,as,respectively,a devel-
opment practitioner and economist,and a sociologist and museum stud-
ies practitioner,have contributed immeasurably to our work.
VR,MW
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