The lost 1990s? Personal reflections on a history of participatory technology development
- 1 August 2008
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in Development in Practice
- Vol. 18 (4-5), 489-505
- https://doi.org/10.1080/09614520802181228
Abstract
This article traces a history of agricultural participatory research, largely from the author's personal experience. Participatory research in the 1970s was mostly led by disciplinary scientists, and characterised by innovative activities and open academic debate, with some recognition that policy and development practice was a political process. The 1980s saw a shift to learning from past experience, and a participatory mainstream developed, seeking methods for scaling up. Meanwhile, others sought to understand and influence policy and institutional change in their political and cultural contexts, and to keep open the academic debates. The author considers the 1990s as ‘lost years’, during which mainstream participatory practitioners became inward-looking development generalists, not so interested in learning from others outside their paradigm. The late 2000s provide a chance to re-recognise the political and cultural embeddedness of science and technology; re-introduce strong, widely based disciplines; and learn from past activities that resulted in positive development outcomes (planned or unplanned).Keywords
This publication has 27 references indexed in Scilit:
- LEARNING FROM THE POSITIVE TO REDUCE RURAL POVERTY AND INCREASE SOCIAL JUSTICE: INSTITUTIONAL INNOVATIONS IN AGRICULTURAL AND NATURAL RESOURCES RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENTExperimental Agriculture, 2008
- Research, knowledge, and the art of ‘paradigm maintenance’: the World Bank's Development Economics Vice-Presidency (DEC)Review of International Political Economy, 2006
- Depoliticising development: The uses and abuses of participationDevelopment in Practice, 1996
- Farmer participatory research: A review of concepts and recent fieldworkAgricultural Administration and Extension, 1988
- Improved Livelihoods, Genetic Diversity and Farmer Participation: A Strategy for Rice Breeding in Rainfed Areas of IndiaExperimental Agriculture, 1988
- Agricultural research for resource-poor farmers Part I: Transfer-of-technology and farming systems researchAgricultural Administration and Extension, 1987
- The Exploitation of Indigenous Knowledge or the Indigenous Exploitation of Knowledge: Whose Use of What for What?The IDS Bulletin, 1979
- Impediments to Technical Progress on Small versus Large FarmsAmerican Journal of Agricultural Economics, 1976
- The Green Revolution: Generations of ProblemsAmerican Journal of Agricultural Economics, 1970
- Agricultural and Industrial Interrelationships in West PakistanJournal of Farm Economics, 1967