Week 7: The roads not taken: Alternatives to development

DVST 6901: The global politics of development (Semester 2, 2026)
September 14, 2026

Radical critics of development as growth have inspired the search for alternatives.

Readings: See Canvas.

What are things that are similar to La Via Campesina?

Use this Padlet to share information: https://padlet.com/sydney/similar-to-la-via-campesina-s023k6n0atp0305lzd2b

• Is there a larger category that all of these examples belong to? What is it?
• What would Escobar say that any of these examples, or the category they represent, mean? Why?
• Why does any of this matter? If this represents something bigger, how do you answer the “so what?” question?

Sharing search strategies and techniques

Use this Google Doc to share ideas: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MEcfjcm21FSXklfgldRRgPlZLn9coLfoNy3PsTzflL4/edit?usp=sharing

• What was the specific aim or question you wanted to answer?
• What was the first thing you did to make progress? (Even the most basic and mundane things are worth sharing. Don’t assume that what you did is simple or obvious.)
• What results did you get at first?
• What did you do next?
• How did you know you were on the right track?
• What would do differently next time, and what do you want to try next time?

A question for general discussion: Why did so many people in class find the same examples?

How to understand the economy as an anthropologist: Two ways

• The concept of an informal economy as a bridge

• The concept of a hidden realm of value beyond the market

Does this belong?

Corsican language activists want Corsican language used in schools.

Agence France-Presse. 2023. “Corsican Language Ban Stirs Protest on French Island.” World News. The Guardian, March 10. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/10/corsica-language-ban-stirs-protest-on-french-island.

“Nationalists Push to Keep Corsican Alive.” 2016. Deutsche Welle, March 9. Accessed September 14, 2026. https://www.dw.com/en/in-corsica-a-language-breeds-controversy/a-19524436.

Noubel, Filip. 2021. “The French Government’s U-Turn on Regional Languages.” Global Voices, July 26. https://globalvoices.org/2021/07/26/the-french-governments-u-turn-on-regional-languages/.

• What else can you find out about Corsican language in French schools on Corsica?
• What sources do you trust? Why?
• Does this belong in a larger category we have already discussed? Why or why not?

What is “sovereignty” in this context?

• Why food “sovereignty”?

• Who gets to be sovereign?

• Where else should sovereignty be applied as a principle?

  • Is homeschooling educational sovereignty?
  • Is vaccine refusal medical sovereignty?

• Does making that person or group a sovereign in a specific area solve any problems? Are their limits to giving self-determination to groups?

Notes for class

For this week we will explore the planned topic by using our collective research skills. The originally assigned articles are good starting points, but that’s all they are. Also, the object of their discussion Via Campesina and the concept of food sovereignty is different in that it is both a part of the political struggle in the field of development, but itself also part of a theory of development that emerges from social movements rather than formulated by scholars. Given that, this is an opportunity to do another kind of learning that is bottom up rather than top down.

For class on Monday, learn everything you can about Via Campesina and their idea of food sovereignty. Learn it from them, that is from primary sources and not secondary sources produced by scholars carrying out research on social movements or on development (or on food). There are two arms to this task: