Discussion Of Development Research Articles

Why inclusive learning shouldn't always be fun

A recent blog post on the SEDA educational development forum led to a stimulating discussion about whether learning should be fun (Saunders, 2022). As learning developers, it makes sense to make learning activities enjoyable for students where we can. However, this lightning talk contended that some aspects of learning are unlikely to - and perhaps even cannot - be fun. Indeed, we may limit the inclusiveness of our approach if we fail to address this idea in our work. As such, it is important for learning developers to be clear with students that some aspects of their learning experience may involve struggle and discomfort. Whilst it is pleasant for us when students end interactions with learning developers feeling reassured and with a smile on their face, it may at times be more helpful to see them leave with a look of grim determination. For example, threshold concepts scholarship identifies dimensions of learning that may require transformation not only of one’s understanding but also elements of one’s identity. Wrangling with troublesome knowledge within often uncomfortable liminal states of ‘in-betweenness’ is therefore necessary for students to progress in their understanding or ability (Land et al., 2008). Drawing on recent educational and learning development discourse, in this talk White argued that recognising that learning cannot always be fun is important in creating an inclusive learning experience for students. Indeed, students can take comfort, confidence, and even a sense of belonging from understanding that their peers and lecturers struggle with some aspects of learning. At times, we may need to ‘suffer now’ to gain satisfaction and achievement in the longer term. We need to be up front about this in our interactions with students.

The Role of Boundary Spanner in Maintaining the Sustainability of Padang City Branding

The lack focus on brand positioning and brand identity in Indonesia, especially in creative industries based on local uniqueness, reflects a lack of development and competitiveness. This research critically evaluates the sustainable development of Padang City city branding with a focus on the role of leaders as boundary spanners in maintaining the sustainability of city branding and building brand awareness. Although required to create uniqueness, Padang City Branding is still influenced by the previous city branding development discourse, causing a lack of specifications and similarities with other cities in West Sumatra. Although the majority of the population is Muslim, the concept of halal tourism has not been created well. This study aims to understand the role of leaders in each institution as boundary spanners in maintaining the sustainability of city branding. As boundary spanners, leaders in each institution are considered central in maintaining the existence of city branding and building efficient policy networks. Observation-participating research methods using the Internet assist researchers in interacting with boundary spanners and understanding culture from the perspectives of its members. This research yields in-depth insights into the leader's key role as a boundary spanner in the context of Padang City city branding.

A Land Use Planning Literature Review: Literature Path, Planning Contexts, Optimization Methods, and Bibliometric Methods

Land use planning studies are accumulating in unprecedented quantities, and have created a wide space for an extensive summary, the synthesis of fundamental developments, a sharpening of the focus of future study issues, and the dissemination of concise information among the academic community and the policy making environment. Nonetheless, the publication rate and content coverage of land use planning literature reviews have been relatively low. This study aims to contribute to the field by first assessing the effectiveness of the bibliometric method as a literature study method. It then summarizes the developments in the land use planning literature in general path building process, the planning context, and the development of methods. The study findings highlight that the bibliometric method tends to reward information carriage papers rather than original contributors. More than 85% of the time, published articles are cited for general information rather than their core research contribution, suggesting the incomprehensiveness of the bibliometric method in studying real knowledge development. In terms of the land use planning context, significant gaps are observed, particularly in urban land use, including the detachment of the general goal-oriented objective formulations from basic land use allocation theories and conceptual models. A serious concern also arises that the formulations of certain urban land use optimization objectives appear to contradict the original concept of a sustainable city. To address these gaps, this paper suggests several key research frontiers, including linking the basic land use allocation and utility theories to land use optimization, and a need to shift current urban land use planning/optimization approaches from spatial optimization, which changes land uses to meet flow resources, towards optimizing the flow of resources to fit the resilient nature of existing spatial configurations and physical establishments in the built environment. Additionally, evaluating the existing built environment for optimality should be prioritized rather than solely focusing on new developments. In terms of method development, the study suggests that advancing current loosely coupled methods into more integrated systems may be a promising frontier. In general, the paper strongly suggests the possible reiteration of the land use planning study landscape to make sustainable development discourse more concrete and to make the method development stage involve more integrated systems. Immediate research interventions may be the standardizing of land use planning studies through the development of protocols and standard benchmark problems.

Sustainable development discourse and development aid in Germany: tracking the changes from environmental protectionism towards private sector opportunities

ABSTRACT ‘Sustainable Development’ can be understood as a widely used discourse that has become even more prominent since the publication of the UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development in 2015. In this paper we analyze the way sustainable development discourse unfolds within the context of development aid in Germany by undertaking a discourse analysis of reports on development policy published 1973–2017 by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Our analysis reveals that the sustainable development discourse is characterized by distinct components and storylines that change over time. We detect, in general, a shift away from a focus on environmental protection toward an emphasis on the role of the private sector in leading sustainable development. We argue, therefore, that although development is now only legitimate if it is ‘sustainable’, the discourse apparently facilitates the uneven allocation of development aid. The concern that arises here is that although Agenda 2030 pledges to take “bold and transformative steps’ to secure the planet and to leave ‘no one behind” the least developed states who cannot provide ‘private sector opportunities’ or fulfil ‘national self-responsibilities’ for sustainable development are indeed being ‘left behind’.

Legitimising (Note 1) Alternative Voices in Sustainable Development (SD) Discourse: The Case of Scientist Rebellion (SR)

This paper investigates the language of legitimation considering a number of open letters published by the pressure group Scientist Rebellion (SR) to address sustainability issues. The questions this paper seeks to address include the following: Which legitimation strategies did the authors of the open letters examined make use of to buttress their arguments? Did these resources serve a legitimatory function, a delegitimising function against adversaries, or both? Are the open letters under investigation characterized by legitimising mechanisms that are specific to this genre? Using van Leeuwen’s theoretical framework, a number of legitimation strategies are identified, which were put in place by SR representatives to raise awareness of questions concerning sustainable development (SD) and to seek public consent in relation to their proposals.

Renegotiating the Islam and Development-Nexus in Indonesia: Fikih Peradaban as a Middle Ground between Local and Global Development Paradigms

I n 2015, the United Nations introduced the that aims at globally achieving concrete Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Today, sustainable development has become the dominant development narrative in 2030 Agenda, a new development paradigm international cooperation discourse, despite criticism of its top-down approach and secular bias. This explorative article discusses the potential of Indonesian Islamic concepts, such as Nahdlatul Ulama’s Islam Nusantara and Fikih Peradaban, to contribute to the sustainable development discourse from an Islamic perspective. By mapping the current intellectual debate on Fikih Peradaban, I demonstrate that Fikih Peradaban is a particularly suited approach as epistemologically and conceptually it occupies a middle ground position that mediates between local and global development paradigms. I further argue that Fikih Peradaban’s focus on the concepts of humanism, humanist Islam (or Islamic humanism), and Islamic legal reasoning in the service of all people regardless of religious affiliation may contribute to its global appeal and effectiveness. The article draws on notes taken at a conference on “Islam Nusantara and World Peace” (February 5, 2023) in Surabaya as well as notes taken at the first Fikih Peradaban conference (February 6, 2023) in Surabaya. It is also based on a close reading of official material that accompanied the latter conference. Furthermore, I embed the discussion on the nexus between Indonesian Islamic concepts and sustainable development into the broader academic and policy debate on the role of religion within sustainable development. Hence, this article is connected to the research project “Freedom and Development? Religious Actors, Freedom of Religion and Belief, and Sustainable Development” conducted by the German Institute for Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, from 2020 to 2023.
 Keywords: Indonesia, Fikih Peradaban, humanist Islam, sustainable development

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT THROUGH SOCIAL ASSISTANCE IN THE DISTRICT. MEDAN DENAI, MEDAN CITY

Community development, which seeks to increase participation and a sense of participation and belonging together in the program to be implemented, must also contain elements of community empowerment. Empowerment refers to the ability of people, especially vulnerable or weak groups, to have access to productive sources that enable them to increase their income and obtain the goods and services they need and then participate in the development process and decisions that affect their environment. or themselves. In reality, this process often does not appear automatically, but rather grows and develops based on the interaction of local communities with external parties or social workers who work based on charitable encouragement or a professional perspective. These social workers act as social assistants. Who is present as an agent of change who is involved in helping solve the problems they face. Social assistance can be interpreted as a dynamic interaction between poor groups and social workers to jointly face various or various challenges. Community development is also interpreted as a strategy of choice in the context of alternative development, while the concept of alternative development in development discourse is then a reaction to the weaknesses of the development model, also overcoming the problem of poverty, preserving the environment and solving strange social problems that oppress society.

THE IMPORTANCE OF MULTIDIMENSIONAL VULNERABILITY ANALYSIS IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The contemporary development discourse is largely concerned with mitigating vulnerabilities, building resilience, and achieving sustainability. The interconnection of the various factors involved in vulnerability, sustainability assessments, and resilience building necessitates a comprehensive analysis. However, bringing together these factors for a multidimensional analysis of vulnerability or sustainability poses significant challenges. Thus, it is imperative to establish a framework that combines multidimensional vulnerability and sustainability analysis to overcome vulnerabilities and achieve sustainable development. This article presents a framework integrating sustainability into multidimensional vulnerability analysis to establish sustainable intervention. Firstly, we review the key concepts and multidimensional frameworks of vulnerability analysis. Secondly, we discuss the various domains and drivers of vulnerabilities and the role of sustainability in analysing the impact of multidimensional vulnerability and framing sustainable intervention strategies. Lastly, we argue that mitigating vulnerability drivers is central to the preliminary framework, which can be achieved by aligning sustainable intervention strategies with the sustainability goals (SDGs).

Questioning development from Black feminisms in Ecuador and moving towards a Black feminist political ecology in the Americas

This article critically explores tensions concerning development from contemporary feminist thought and praxis in Latin America. In Ecuador, development is seen as an outdated and irrelevant theoretical framework from a variety of feminist perspectives, including feminist political ecology and decolonial feminisms. Nevertheless, development discourse and practices persist and are central to public policy with a gender focus throughout the country. This results in tensions between governmental and autonomous feminist perspectives that are present in local spaces, such as the province of Esmeraldas in Northern Ecuador. Drawing on research conducted with Afro-Ecuadorian peer researchers, including interviews, oral histories and social-cartography methods, this article will demonstrate how Afro-Ecuadorian women are challenging dominant ideas and practices of development from the emerging ideas of Black feminism in Ecuador and moving towards a Black feminist political ecology in the Americas.

How can aid be decolonized and localized in the Pacific? Yielding and wielding power

AbstractMotivationThe colonial legacies of aid and development in the Pacific continue to be at the centre of policy debate. The ideal is to decolonize and localize the practice of aid and development. However, decolonization and localization have become highly contested in their definition and proposed practical approaches. We call decolonization and localization “decolocalization.”PurposeThis article aims to explore perspectives and proposals for decolocalization in the Pacific Islands.Methods and approachWe talked to five key informants, all local to their islands, all with considerable development experience; we held a focus group; and we combined these insights and learnings with our own experience as Pacific Islanders engaged with development. Our analysis is reflexive.FindingsDevelopment practice in the Pacific Islands typically overvalues external Euro‐centric knowledge and undervalues local knowledge. Most aid and development discourse has stressed financial figures, charts, and statistical assertions overwhelmingly from a donor perspective; Pacific non‐statistical, human, and embodied contextual realities are overlooked or discounted. Hierarchies are created that privilege outsiders and discriminate against islanders.A practical operationalization of decolocalization can begin with the recognition and practice of outsiders yielding and insiders wielding power.Policy implicationsWe recommend decolocalization as a framework for studying and analysing colonial vestiges in Pacific aid and development. Decolocalization can be practised by outsiders yielding and insiders wielding power in aid and development.Decolocalization is not an ultimate solution to a highly complex issue, but it offers a conceptual position; one that allows Pacific Islander scholars, thought leaders, and aid and development practitioners to further unpack the nuances and issues around aid and development from a Pacific Islander perspective.

Enacting the blue economy in the Western Indian Ocean: A ‘collaborative blue economy governmentality’

The blue economy represents a new development paradigm, being promoted through multilateral institutions. I examine its emerging nature in the context of the Western Indian Ocean region of Africa. I situate the blue economy within the global sustainable development discourse and argue that it represents a form of global governmentality. I note its utopian nature and argue that discourses of utopian thought and risk act to ‘responsibilise’ States to collaborate in regional sea management in pursuit of human and environmental security goals – which I call a ‘collaborative blue economy governmentality’. I draw attention to multiple sites of resistance (‘counter conducts’) to this governmentality. These counter conducts are diverse, encompassing community resistance to development priorities, insufficient technical capacities and resources, and the material character of ocean and coastal ecosystems. I therefore characterise the blue economy as an immature governmentality, necessitating State and multilateral intervention to put in place or strengthen the governmental capacities needed to enact it. I conclude that the BE governmentality is largely of a neoliberal character, but with hints of an emergent post-neoliberal regime.

Disrupting learning and evaluation practices in philanthropy from a feminist lens

ABSTRACT Patriarchal, imperialist, and colonial forces have long attempted to delegitimise global South epistemologies and elevate Western modes of thinking, knowing, and therefore being. In particular, within development discourse, the principles and practice of mainstream Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (popularly known as MEL) continue to legitimise these forms of knowledge construction, production, and dissemination. Traditional MEL is based on the assumption that grantees must provide ‘accountability’ to donors and ‘evidence’ to establish value for money based on predefined indicators and logframes. This approach to MEL has worked to erase the voices of girls, women, indigenous people, LGBTQI+, and others from the history of social change and to disconnect activists, collectives, and movements from a deep well of knowledge and learning. A collective reimagining of MEL is needed. Although there have been a number of alternative approaches and frameworks proposed, these remain on the periphery with most funders continuing to require grantees to fulfil multiple regimental reporting requirements to justify being funded. In this article, through a collective conversation, we document our shared learning. We showcase three diverse cases in which we as feminist practitioners and the movements we support are attempting to disrupt oppressive MEL structures, tools, and language, and funder practices as profound acts of resistance.

Urban Environmental Imaginaries and Aesthetic Sensibilities in Mumbai, India

Urban environmental aesthetics form a cornerstone in neoliberal development discourse in Mumbai, India. Formulated primarily on visual metrics, such as those of green lawns and modern architecture, these aesthetic sensibilities set up the horizon of what is seeable and sayable, serving to legitimize planning schemes while obscuring their social and environmental harms. This is evident in the city’s elite Hiranandani Gardens township, a project heavily contested on legal, humanistic, and environmental grounds. Beginning from “waste,” or spaces and perspectives that lack value in dominant discourses, I analyze how the production of developmentalist “value” relies on environmental aesthetics as well as the limits of such formulations. By way of three frames—empty buildings, an abandoned quarry, and remembered wilderness—I illustrate power structures that facilitate the conversion of waste into value, the contradictions and limits in dominant sustainability discourses, and the messy terrain of contestations that they face. The article contributes to critical development scholarship by emphasizing the significance of aesthetics in unveiling power relations entrained in the making of urban landscapes. I also extend creative engagements in geography by incorporating sensory engagements beyond the visual to interrupt dominant aesthetic sensibilities and open critical and creative ways of knowing urban nature.

The Making of Two Intellectuals: Caste, Epistemology and the Question of Dissent

Caste has an unspeakable presence in the ‘Kerala model’ development discourse. Over the years, Dalits have countered the upper-caste imagination of Kerala. The discontent with the popular imagination of Kerala started to gain momentum in the 1980s and 1990s. By then, the less privileged groups, such as women and Dalits, found reasons to contest the false promises of a modern secular society and the principles of socialist ideology. The study focuses on the intellectual engagements of two Dalit intellectuals from Kerala. K. K. Kochu and M. Kunjaman trace their epistemological framework through dissent and disagreement. Their discontent creates a rift in the hegemonic discourses produced by upper castes, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Kerala and other power structures. K. K. Kochu’s Dalithan (Dalit) and M. Kunjaman’s Ethiru (Dissent) are two autobiographical accounts that map out the intellectual life of these two prominent public figures.

Determinants of Social Inclusion of Agricultural Labourers in Rural Haryana, India

In the discourse of the sustainable development goals, the idea of ‘leave no one behind’ has a critical role. Social inclusion is an important dimension in the discourse of sustainable development. This dimension ensures inclusiveness at various levels of society. In the Indian context, this concept is highly useful to understand the multi-layered problem of agricultural labour. The study’s objectives were to understand the status of social inclusion and evaluate the influence of socio-economic factors on social inclusion. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and the ordered regression analysis method. The study was conducted in Haryana, and the total sample size was 401. Study found that agricultural labourers live in deplorable conditions and face significant social exclusion in society. They experience exclusion in the labour market, on the financial front, and on the social relations front. Furthermore, the study revealed that socio-economic characteristics play a central role in determining the social inclusion. Based on the findings, the study advocates that the multi-layered problem of agriculture can be understood by using the multi-dimensional concept. Government assistance at multi-level to agricultural labour force can ratify their empowerment and inclusion.

From slow food festival to fine dining table: politicized foodscape, gastronomy, and social sustainability in eastern Taiwan

ABSTRACT This article examines how and why Taitung’s slow foodscape, a process and outcome of simultaneously bottom-up and top-down governance, has provided opportunities for residents to reinvent foodways. Based on my ethnographic fieldwork in Taitung’s indigenous community and food network, this article shows a farmer’s case study to examine the emergence of the gastronomic network of fine dining chefs, gastronomic and local food intermediates, and farmers. Considering factors of ethnic/local identities, alternative food politics, and marketing/branding of smallholders’ products, I analyze how the slow foodscape celebrates and interacts with indigenous foodways, which become hybridized and are included in Taiwan’s glocalized culinary art, agri-food branding, and gastronomic tourism. I argue that the residents’ reinvention highlights their multiple identities and practices; it also empowers Taitung, widely regarded as “a less developed and socially unsustainable county,” to embrace cultural diversity, livability, and hence more feasible social sustainability, to respond to the mainstream development discourse and practice of Taiwan and global capitalism.

Subtracting Development through the Production of Il/legality of Young Refugees in Jordan and Lebanon

Abstract This article analyses the production of legality and illegality of refugees and how it is experienced, negotiated, and shape young Palestinian and Syrian refugees’ possibilities for development in Jordan and Lebanon. In the two countries, refugees’ legal and illegal statuses are produced in the interaction between national and international security- and economic interests. This article discusses the meanings of development associated with protracted displacement. Despite increased emphasis on moving from a humanitarian approach towards development in long-term refugee situations, the experiences of young refugees in Lebanon and Jordan show that the production of legal status hampers the potential for development. This article analyses young people’s experience of their legal status by addressing the labour of staying legal, the experience of moving in and out of legality and its impact on education and employment. The analysis shows how the production of (il)legality is a subtracting process that leads to debilitation and constrained agency rather than development. In conclusion, this article thus reflects on the problem of using the development discourse with a humanitarian lens and the need for more critical discussion on the meaning of development in protracted displacement.

Diaconia and Development: The Study of Religious Social Practice as Lead Discipline in the Religion and Development Debate

In this article, I argue that the research field of religion and development and diaconal studies, the study of Christian social practice, share a common subject of inquiry: the social impact of religion. The field of religion and development investigates this mainly with a focus on the Global South and within the discursive framework of the concept of development, while diaconal studies has thus far taken a Christian perspective and a historic focus on the Global North. Recent paradigm shifts in the development discourse (post-development critique, 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as a global framework, critique of the secularist approach) put the field of religion and development under pressure to broaden its scope. Moreover, there is no clear lead discipline in the religion and development debate yet, raising questions about its disciplinary location in academic institutions and curricula. The field of diaconal studies is challenged by increasing religious pluralism and under pressure to consider perspectives from the Global South. Impulses from the recent advances in the conceptualisation of ecumenical diaconia as a new paradigm of Christian social service push the field to move beyond its historic focus on assistance and care. The aim of this article is to juxtapose these two fields of academic study and to bring them into mutual dialogue. The article reflects on both fields and their respective advantages and disadvantages and highlights areas of overlap. It goes on to propose a broadened discipline of diaconal studies, reshaped as the Study of Religious Social Practice, as a new academic field. The focus of this field would be the impact of religion on society in global perspective, across religious traditions and geographic contexts.

The trade-sustainability nexus: the evolution of the European Commission’s trade and sustainable development discourse from 1993 to 2022

ABSTRACT This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the European Commission’s trade and sustainable development discourse from 1993 to 2022. By employing a discursive institutionalist framework and examining a comprehensive corpus of over 1,400 press documents, this study traces the discursive process that has created both significant changes to, and persistent elements in, the Commission’s trade-sustainability agenda. The analysis reveals noteworthy shifts within the discourse, notably a transition from a primary concern with labour and human rights during the 1990s to an increased focus on economic development and poverty reduction in the early 2000s. This was followed by a discernible move towards more stringent differentiation among developing countries and an amplified emphasis on reciprocity. In recent years, we are witnessing a strong focus on environmental and climate protection, labour rights, and enforceability. The findings underscore the enduring presence of trade-sustainability ideas within EU trade policy and their gradual evolution over time, while contributing to the literature on the role of ideas in shaping the Union’s external policies.

Development and Peace in Africa

Development is not often regarded as a function of peace in both developmenttheory and development discourse. In the context of post-colonial Africa, bothinternal security and external security should be crucial considerations in thepursuit of development alternatives. The reason for considering developmentand security is that part of Africa’s development impasse can be attributed tointernal political terror since the Cold War. While development theory anddiscourse from modernisation theory to global neo-liberalism have dominated‘development’ strategies in Africa and produced an Africa bereft of development,political terror has systematically undermined both development andsecurity. Political terror, as sponsored by foreign forces and signified by collateraldamage, not only produced extensive fear and destabilisation, it hit at thevery core of development – human resources, political establishments and economicorder. The end of the Cold War has not seen an end to political terror inAfrica, but it has features that need to be considered for Africa’s developmentalternatives. Some of the features are the reduction in Africa’s foreign aid, disarmament,and the re-invention of the philosophical foundations of the statein Africa. This calls for a transition from a military state towards a developmentalstate with citizens participating to curb internal conflict and face the externalchallenges of the new post-Cold War global system.