Drawing from the insights of post-structuralism, the essay questions the ontology of underdevelopment existing prior to its representation and locates the idea of development within discourse. Since language constructs reality within a signifying system, the problem of underdevelopment is a product of particular cultural experiences and is not innocent of power. By weaving objective narratives of evolution and progress, development discourse successfully masquerades its relativism and creates a universal system of scientific knowledge. The essay also engages with postcolonial theory and argues that like the Orient and its savagery, the Third World and its poverty were invented to exercise discipline and control in non-Western territories. Understood thus, development can be a synonym for a civilizing mission. The development expert here appears not as a disinterested change agent but an ideologically driven disciplinarian, and it is for this reason that the emancipatory promise of development is highly suspect.

Gender studies in general, and Gender and Development (GAD) in particular, through their belief in a cultural conditioning of gender behaviour, use the idea of 'culture' in a restrictive sense which perpetuates a conceptual difference between men and women, and also between First World and Third World women. There is a tendency among gender experts to magnify the difference between men and women, and categorise them into two radically different realms. This article argues for a gender project based on the idea of culture as lived experience. It approaches gender not as a category of exclusion but as a problematic construct that is constantly restructuring itself.Quelle est la dimension 'genre' du genre et du développement ? Culture, masculinité, et différence entre les hommes et les femmes Les études de genre en général, et de genre et développement (GED) en particulier, de par leur croyance dans le conditionnement culturel des comportements sexospécifiques, utilisent la culture dans un sens restrictif, ce qui perpétue une différence conceptuelle entre les hommes et les femmes, et également entre les femmes des pays industrialisés et celles du Tiers Monde. Il existe une tendance parmi les experts du genre à amplifier la différence entre les hommes et les femmes et à les catégoriser dans deux domaines radicalement différents. Cet article soutient un projet de genre fondé sur l'idée de la culture comme une expérience vécue et aborde le genre non pas comme une catégorie d'exclusion mais comme une construction problématique qui ne cesse de se restructurer.Até que ponto Gênero e Desenvolvimento são influenciados pela questão de gênero? Cultura, masculinidade e diferença de gênero Os estudos de gênero em geral, e Gênero e Desenvolvimento (GAD) em particular, apesar de sua crença em um condicionamento cultural do comportamento de gênero, utilizam a cultura em um sentido restritivo que perpetua uma diferença conceitual entre homens e mulheres, e também entre mulheres do Primeiro Mundo e do Terceiro Mundo. Existe uma tendência entre os especialistas de gênero de exagerar a diferença entre homens e mulheres, e classificá-los em dois domínios radicalmente diferentes. Este artigo defende um projeto de gênero com base na ideia de cultura como experiência viva, e aborda a questão de gênero não como uma categoria de exclusão, mas sim uma construção problemática que está constantemente se reestruturando. VIEWPOINT Downloaded by [The UC Irvine Libraries] at 00:25 03 November 2014¿En qué medida los estudios sobre Género y Desarrollo están condicionados por el género? Cultura, masculinidad y diferencias de género En general los estudios sobre género, y sobre Género y Desarrollo en particular, utilizan la cultura en un sentido limitado debido a su convicción de que existe un condicionamiento cultural en el comportamiento de género. Este hecho perpetúa una diferencia conceptual entre hombres y mujeres, y entre mujeres del Primer Mundo y mujeres del Tercer Mundo. Las expertas en género tienen a incrementar la diferencia entre hombres ...

How does the discourse of indigeneity converse with the imperatives of economic and cultural globalization in a postcolonial state like India? The complexity of the question and the possibility of multi-layered responses become all the more intriguing when such a discourse is promoted by Ramdev, a yoga guru turned entrepreneur. Responding to the question, the article focuses on the role of tradition in normative development thought and its mainstreaming in a culture-conscious India, the postcolonial desire for Swadeshi (exemplified in Patanjali Ayurveda) and the possibility of a consumption pattern that goes beyond individual gratification. To begin with, the article draws from a recent controversy which brought into popular discussion the attitude of foreign companies vis-à-vis cultural sentiments. It addresses the question of tradition in Western development theory and how that theorization is interrogated in contemporary development practices. Then it traces the evolution of Swadeshi as an attempt at epistemic and economic autonomy and how such thinking is co-opted by Ramdev in advancing the fortunes of Patanjali. This deployment of Swadeshi vocabulary is then combined with the practice of consumption that is loaded with associations of indigeneity and nationalism. In the process, the article offers a template for reworking some of the common sensical assumptions about tradition, development and consumption.

Contemporary India’s tryst with development continues to revolve around cities, and the latter remain the locus of India’s development narrative. But instead of seeing the city as already constituted or as a backdrop for economic activities, the present article proposes to implicate the city as a producer and product of social relations as well as a site of resistance and conformity. While doing so, it moves away from conventional modernist paradigms of imagining the city as the highest rung of development geography or the Marxist/subaltern studies formula of reading the city as a space of unredeemable inequality leading to the insurgency of the marginalised. What is proposed here is that the idea of city is emergent which expresses itself neither through its official representations nor through the radicalism of dissent but through multiple unstructured articulations of everyday life as well as the contingency of power and resistance. This is corroborated by drawing upon the experience of Thyagaraya Nagar (T. Nagar) which provides a representative Indian urban experience and where social and political relations spill out of institutional planning templates.

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