| By Anthony Bebbington | Published in the Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers Yearbook, Vol 27 pp. 105-148 |
Introduction:
“Powerful,” “evocative,” “imprecise,” “debated”–all adjectives that might come to mind when we think of the word “development.” “Development” has been used to refer to modernization, economic growth, empowerment, the expansion of human capabilities, and change of various forms and guises. In Latin America, development projects have: built dams but also campesino- managed irrigation systems; replaced tropical forest with pasture, but also reforested; fostered education for critical consciousness and also improved formal education; promoted agroecology and Green Revolution techniques.
In other words, much has passed for development, and there have often been profound and perhaps irreconcilable differences between different types of development.