‘Three's a crowd’: knowledge, ignorance and power in the context of urban agriculture in Rwanda

Abstract

Opening ParagraphThe themes of knowledge and ignorance are explored in this article, as is their dialectic, in the light of the continuing failure of development efforts based on top-down procedures. My specific aim is to deliver a statement about the intricate relationship between knowledge, ignorance and power in the context of a Rwandan development project. I will demonstrate how ignorance is generated through agricultural extension and will argue that agronomic services rely on power structures reminiscent of the ‘old’ premise of social inequality (Maquet, 1961; for a summary of the debate on social inequality in Rwanda, see Reyntjens, 1985: 21–30). My concern will be to assess whether the project-induced creation of ignorance—such as the distorted portrayal of practices outside the project area—leads to the displacement of local knowledge and the adoption of new methods.