Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
images, talk, codes of behaviour and the narrative structures organis-
ing these - which shapes every aspect of social life' (Frow and Morris,
1993: viii, in Schech and Haggis, 2000).
Alongside these shifts in thinking about culture, Radcliffe (2006a: 3)
argues that a range of other factors have influenced the increasing
prominence of culture in recent development agendas: the failure of
previous development paradigms; perceptions of globalization's threat
to cultural diversity; activism around social difference (gender, eth-
nicity, anti-racism); development success stories in East Asia, where
questions have been asked about the role of cultural values and work
ethics in achieving economic success; and a perceived need for social
cohesion.
Culture is increasingly used as a tool for development by mainstream
development actors and is often equated with terms such as social
capital. Neoliberal development policymakers, for example, view the
encouragement of a robust civil society and social trust as a key means
of fostering economic development and labour market participation
(Radcliffe, 2006a; see also Chapter 5.2). Perspectives that treat culture
as a catch-all term for all the different dimensions of social capital,
however, risk viewing social capital as separate from the power rela-
tions, inequalities and axes of social difference that contextualize it
(Radcliffe, 2006a).
This raises the question of whether culture, seen as a creative proc-
ess, can be mobilized to achieve social justice or whether culture is seen
more as a product or a tool of analysis to target interventions to
increase economic growth (McEwan, 2006). McEwan's (2006) case study
of the Amazwi Abesifazane memory cloths programme in KwaZulu-Natal,
South Africa, suggests that development projects that bring together
cultural and economic approaches have radical transformative poten-
tial. In this case the process of African women, who have experienced
economic and political discrimination and violence, participating in
cultural activities and collectively producing knowledge, helps to bring
about gender justice and can enhance their well-being and economic
empowerment - on both an individual and a collective basis. Although
neoliberal perspectives may adopt a more narrow understanding of
culture as a product or tool that helps to achieve economic growth,
McEwan argues that culture can be seen more holistically as an end in
itself and as a goal of development that has the potential to bring about
social justice.
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