The Promises and Pitfalls of Using Cultural Explanations to Explain Local Development

Abstract

Culture and local context are important not only for explaining the behaviour and goals of beneficiaries but also for explaining those of the donor community. James C. Scott (1998) argues that external interventions wreak havoc on local communities because culture and local knowledge are left out of the donor's administrative categories. Tfierefore, donors need to take culture and local context into account. 1) how culture and local context are to be established; 2) what the pitfalls are; and 3) what research strategies are useful for overcoming these pitfalls. These issues are explored in this paper.