TY - JOUR
T1 - Fixing rural development cooperation? Not in situations involving blurring and fluidity
AU - Umans, L.H.M.
AU - Arce, A.M.G.
N1 - onderzoek
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Rural development cooperation often took the form of a fix: external actors fixed a problem by introducing a fixed solution. Since the late 1980s the increased recognition of diversity, embeddedness and complexity, resulted in a shift from a ‘best fix’ approach to a ‘best fit’ approach. Context specificity replaced one-size-fits-all models. Yet in the specific case of forestry cooperation with the Yuracaré in Bolivia, it is argued no fit-in-context was found because of blurred phenomena and a confusing development situation. Moreover, the Yuracaré together with a Bolivian NGO blurred boundaries, reworked categorical divisions, and intermingled knowledge. This case sensitizes policy and rural development actors more generally to a novel conceptual and ontological perspective on such unstable situations, which revolve around fluidity. Fluid situations call for a rural development approach labelled ‘go-with-the-flow’. Recognizing the heterogeneity of development situations implies that any singular approach to realise rural development is at best partial
AB - Rural development cooperation often took the form of a fix: external actors fixed a problem by introducing a fixed solution. Since the late 1980s the increased recognition of diversity, embeddedness and complexity, resulted in a shift from a ‘best fix’ approach to a ‘best fit’ approach. Context specificity replaced one-size-fits-all models. Yet in the specific case of forestry cooperation with the Yuracaré in Bolivia, it is argued no fit-in-context was found because of blurred phenomena and a confusing development situation. Moreover, the Yuracaré together with a Bolivian NGO blurred boundaries, reworked categorical divisions, and intermingled knowledge. This case sensitizes policy and rural development actors more generally to a novel conceptual and ontological perspective on such unstable situations, which revolve around fluidity. Fluid situations call for a rural development approach labelled ‘go-with-the-flow’. Recognizing the heterogeneity of development situations implies that any singular approach to realise rural development is at best partial
KW - forest management
U2 - 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2014.03.004
DO - 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2014.03.004
M3 - Article
VL - 34
SP - 337
EP - 344
JO - Journal of Rural Studies
JF - Journal of Rural Studies
SN - 0743-0167
ER -