140554 SE Engaging development research (2008S)

There is a long standing debate within development studies on the level of engagement with development policy and action: whether to maintain its critical, self-reflexive position or to orient its program towards more practical concerns. From a latter position, the course encourages the students to critically look at the various ways in which scientific knowledge has been put to practical use, from 'applied' to 'engaged' research and from 'trans-disciplinary' to 'intervention' science. These concepts are enriched by two case studies. The first is set in the Indian Himalayas among a pastoral nomadic community (Van Gujjars) who struggle to safeguard their forest home against a global discourse on environment and development that threatens their very survival as Van Gujjars. The other case reveals the paradox of humanitarian aid and disaster response for an island indigenous community (the Nicobarese) following the 2004 tsunami, that profoundly undermines much of what has survived the disaster itself, a phenomenon termed as 'complex disaster'. Both cases demonstrates a long-term engagement with science and scientists conveying a strong interplay between ethical responsibility, scientific objectivity and the power of development, setting the stage for a critical discourse on the role and limits of science.