International Development Education

Abstract

From moralizing calls for its end (Esteva, 1992), to critiques of its discourses and practices (Samoff, 1999), to recent arguments for the potential necessity of its continuance (Ferguson, 2002), the effects and goodness of the fi eld of international development (education) has been debated for decades. Despite these critiques, it has witnessed a renaissance in the past 15 years. This chapter describes the history of the fi eld of international development education, examines current practices and trends, and discusses emerging questions for the fi eld. It concludes that there are both legitimate concerns about the effects of international development education practices and reason for cautious optimism about some current practices, particularly those that take account of past critiques and attempt to restructure the relations and activities undertaken in the name of development education. International development education continues, however, to rely primarily on out-of-date discourses, rationales for its existence, and ways of dividing up the world; without addressing these issues in an inclusive manner, international development education funding, policies, and programming will rarely support positive change, will in some cases make things worse, and will lose its relevance and widespread support. Before continuing, I briefl y discuss the terms “international,” “development,” and “education”.