Session Title:

Roundtable conversations: Personal “development” paradigms

Session Affiliation:

Developing Areas Research Group

Session Organiser(s):

Dorothea Kleine (Royal Holloway, University of London)

Session 1 Chair:

Dorothea Kleine (Royal Holloway, University of London)

Session Abstract:

As the global economic situation reminds us very firmly how dependent our societies have become on economic growth, this session will be an open invitation to academics and practitioners to have a conversation about our different views of “development”. As social, economic, physical, cultural, development geographers, as academics and practitioners, what are the explicit and implicit development paradigms that we apply in our work? Typical candidates include: basic needs, economic growth, social justice, freedom, equal opportunities, health, community cohesion, democracy, education, empowerment, choice, human rights or combinations of these. Have they always been the same? What has shaped our thinking in this regard? Were there world events, authors read, colleagues we listened to, research findings, personal encounters, experiences of other contexts, that influenced our thinking? Is our thinking still changing? What do we do with these personal development paradigms? Do they shape our work? Do they influence our research? Do we discuss them with students? Do we need to make them explicit in our writing?

This session will be in an alternative format, designed to be an informal and unrushed conversation. Everyone is welcome to attend and participate on the day. There will be three short impulse pieces to kick us off, then everybody is invited to contribute. Please feel free to bring along key books, other texts, newspaper cuttings or photographs.

Session Participants:

Elsbeth Robson (Brunel University and University of Malawi), David Simon (Royal Holloway, University of London) and Harsha Liyanage (Sri Lankan NGO Sarvodaya)