Nicholas Jones
GEOG 370
Prof. Wilder
29 Jan 2014
Short Paper #1 Gustavo Esteva’s essay titled “The Invention of Underdevelopment”; he discusses the speech that President Truman used to create the term “underdevelopment” and the progression of the term through history to the present day definition, as well as the possible negative outcomes created by labeling a population or country underdeveloped. Esteva also points out the effects this “glass half empty” label can have on a country’s people and its development. This can be especially detrimental on global scale when considering that two thirds of the world is still living in poverty; despite efforts from the UN and other organizations to help these countries increase their GDP. As result of these efforts, poverty levels did not decrease. Bringing to light, that simply growing a countries economy is not the solution as once thought.
Another famous post-development anthropologist, Arturo Escobar, examines this aspect of word underdevelopment in his paper “The Invention of Development”. Arturo then begins to talk about the discourse of development and how poverty has been problematized by the First World through the formation of organizations and foundations. Although formed with good intentions, these organizations create a crutch for the country especially when they begin establishing themselves as an authoritarian figure.
While Arturo and Esteva are extremely similar in their viewpoints of development and the implications underdevelopment has had on the Third World, I believe Arturo Escobar provides a more persuading case in the evolution of development. Escobar believes that it’s a response to the problemization of poverty that occurred post-World War II, once awareness was brought to the extreme poverty in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Whereas, Esteva considers that development has been around from the time humans began establishing societies and questioning the world they’re living in. Both, Esteva and Escobar, do agree that use of the word underdevelopment has had negative affects in certain areas. They also overlap with their critiques on the First World’s actions toward solving poverty. While Arturo Escobar and Gustavo Esteva both offer extremely similar arguments, I still find Escobar’s more convincing because after living in the “First World” my entire life I can understand how the First World problematizes global issues and takes it upon itself to resolve them. Even though sometimes the correct solution might be to remain a spectator because it’s not certain whether the First World efforts will become a burden, further hindering the resolution of the issue.