Conceptions of Poverty and Development: in a Malawian Village Setting

This book is the result of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Phalombe District in Malawi, Southern Africa. The focus of this investigation is on perceptions and ideas of development co-operation and the meanings of poverty and development. Perceptions of development and poverty among villagers in Phalombe are compared to those of development agents working in the area. These perceptions are also compared to the definitions of development and poverty found throughout the development literature. Participatory development ideals and the structurally unequal donor-recipient relationships, at the core of the current development system, are also discussed. The research demonstrates, through examples from Phalombe District and elsewhere, how notions of poverty and development are relative, diverse and context-specific, and therefore not static and universally applicable. Further, the book illustrates how the common portrayal of development as an oppressive, disempowering industry, characterized by top-down interventions, does not always apply.

P?tur Waldorff is a PhD student in Anthropology at McGill University in Montreal. He grew up in Angola and has focused his anthropological research on issues of poverty and development in southern Africa, particularly Malawi and Angola.