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The Role of Personal Identity in Human Development

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Abstract

Contributing to the capability and human development literature, this article suggests that personal identity—defined as a person’s recognition of her value—is the crucial element for local actors’ agency. We report the results of a qualitative study in Kampala, Uganda, which examines the experience of a grassroots development organisation in promoting health and wellbeing among vulnerable people. Findings show that personal identity has served to catalyse local actors’ agency, becoming the basis for a constructive and lasting transformation of the study group’s socioeconomic circumstances. In light of these findings, we discuss the potential for the experience to be translated across other development contexts.

Résumé

En contribuant à la réflexion sur les capacités et le développement humains, cet article suggère comment l’identité personnelle – pouvant être définie comme la reconnaissance par une personne de sa propre valeur – est l’élément crucial dans l’action des acteurs locaux. Nous présentons les résultats d’une recherche qualitative, réalisée à Kampala (Ouganda), qui examine l’expérience d’une organisation locale d’aide au développement, active dans la promotion de la santé et du bien-être de personnes vulnérables. Les résultats montrent que l’identité personnelle a servi de catalyseur à la capacité des acteurs locaux, devenant la base d’une transformation constructive et durable de la situation socio-économique du groupe étudié. Au vu de ces résultats, nous discutons de la possibilité de transposer l’expérience dans d’autres contextes de développement.

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Notes

  1. Meeting Point International reports on the population it serves. http://meetingpoint-int.org/our-numbers-2/.

  2. For Sen (1985, p. 206, 1999a, pp. 75, 87), agency is defined by ‘what a person is free to do and achieve in pursuit of whatever goals or values he or she regards as important.’ Sen (1999a, p. 75) identified that agency can be understood and evaluated in light of capabilities, or one’s real freedoms to enjoy functionings, or valuable states of ‘being’ or ‘doing.’

  3. While much of the literature regarding identity in development treats the issue of gender, our paper addresses more the subjective aspects of identity given their relevance to the dynamics of personal agency.

  4. MPI administers anti-retroviral drugs to 950 women and men and to 60 children.

  5. Although MPI welcomes both men and women, the overwhelming majority of those who participate in MPI activities are women. Busingye explains that men are less likely to openly seek the assistance of MPI because of stigma, which relates to patriarchal cultural norms regarding the role of men in Ugandan society.

  6. MPI currently supports 35 adult literacy learners.

  7. MPI provides day care for over 50 children awaiting primary school.

  8. See ‘Stories of Hope.’ MPI website: http://meetingpoint-int.org/stories/.

  9. Busingye identifies the starting point for her work as an encounter with an Italian priest Fr. Luigi Giussani, the founder of the Roman Catholic ecclesial movement Communion and Liberation. She recalls Fr. Giussani saying to her: ‘you have an infinite value,’ which inspired and transformed the way she worked with the women of Kireka. MPI: http://meetingpoint-int.org/who-we-are/.

  10. http://www.avsi-usa.org/component/content/article/318.html.

  11. MPI: http://meetingpoint-int.org/category/news/.

  12. As reported in the documentary Greater: Defeating Aids, produced by Emmanuel Exitu (2009). Awarded the Babelgum Documentary Award, Cannes 2008.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the constructive feedback of Ted Beatty, Simona Beretta, Paolo Carozza, Séverine Deneulin, Robert Dowd, Georges Enderle, and Clemens Sedmak, and thank Rose Busingye and the MPI and LGHS communities for permission to conduct this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kellogg Institute for International Studies, University of Notre Dame, 1130 Jenkins Hall, Notre Dame, IN, 46556, USA

    Ilaria Schnyder von Wartensee & Elizabeth Hlabse

  2. Department of Economics and Management, University of Trento, Trento, Italy

    Gabriella Berloffa & Giuseppe Folloni

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  1. Ilaria Schnyder von Wartensee
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  4. Giuseppe Folloni
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Correspondence to Ilaria Schnyder von Wartensee.

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Schnyder von Wartensee, I., Hlabse, E., Berloffa, G. et al. The Role of Personal Identity in Human Development. Eur J Dev Res 31, 461–479 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41287-018-0163-2

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