Arturo Escobar (anthropologist)

Arturo Escobar (born in Manizales, Colombia) is a Colombian-American anthropologist primarily known for his contribution to postdevelopment theory and political ecology.

Anthropological Approach

Escobar's approach to anthropology is largely informed by the poststructuralist and postcolonialist traditions and centered around two recent developments: subaltern studies and the idea of a World Anthropologies Network (WAN). Escobar is Kenan Distinguished Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research interests are related to political ecology; the anthropology of development, social movements; Latin American development and politics. Escobar's research uses critical techniques in his provocative analysis of development discourse and practice in general. He also explores possibilities for alternative visions for a postdevelopment era. He is a major figure in the post-development academic discourse, and a serious critic of development practices championed by western industrialized societies. According to Escobar,the problem with the development is that it is external,based on the model of the industrialized world,and what is needed instead are more"endogenous discourses".(Pieterse,2010)

Bibliography

• co-edited with Walter Mignolo. 2010. Globalization and the Decolonial Option London: Routledge.

• 2008. Territories of Difference: Place, Movements, Life, Redes. Durham: Duke University Press.

• Co-edited with Gustavo Lins Ribeiro. 2006. World Anthropologies: Disciplinary Transformations in Contexts of Power. Oxford: Berg.

• Escobar A and Harcourt W. (eds) 2005 Women and the Politics of Place. Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press.

• Co-edited with Jai Sen, Anita Anand, and Peter Waterman. 2004. The World Social Forum: Challenging Empires. Delhi: Viveka. German edition: Eine andere Welt Das Weltsozialfoum. Berlin: Karl Dietz Verlag, 2004.

• Co-edited with Sonia Alvarez and Evelina Dagnino 2000. Cultures of Politics/Politics of Cultures: Revisioning Latin American Social Movements. Boulder: Westview Press. (Also published in Portuguese and Spanish). Portuguese edition: Cultura e Política nos Movimentos Sociais Latino-Americanos. Belo Horizonte: Editoria UFMG, 2000.

• 1995. Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World (1995). Princeton: Princeton University Press. Best Book Award, New England Council of Latin American Studies, 1996. (In Spanish)1998. La invención del tercer mundo: Construcción y Deconstrucción del Desarrollo . Bogotá [Colombia]: Norma.

• Co-edited with Sonia Alvarez. 1992. The Making of Social Movements in Latin America: Identity, Strategy, and Democracy. . Boulder: Westview Press.

See also

• International Development
• Development anthropology
• Development criticism
• Critical Theory
• Postdevelopment Theory
• Alter-globalization
• Dependency theory

External links

• Arturo Escobar's website
• Batterbury, S.P.J and J.L. Fernando. 2004. Arturo Escobar. In P. Hubbard, R. Kitchin and G. Valentine (eds.) Key thinkers on space and place. London: Sage. 113-120.