Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Production of Knowledge in the Field of Development and Area Studies: From Systems of Ignorance to Mid-Range Concepts for Global Ethnography

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Area Studies at the Crossroads

  • 787 Accesses

Abstract

Given the long tradition of regional studies, local case studies and avoidance of transfer of eurocentric concepts in development research, fundamental methodological reconsidering seems in order within a process of globalizing social science. An interactive approach based on sociology of knowledge, ‘grounded theory’ and ‘global ethnography’ focuses on negotiation of global development visions at interfaces of global, regional, translocal and local institutions. Such mid-range conceptualizations include meanings or translation of visions and concepts in translocal social spaces, leaving behind agency/structure as well as micro/macro distinctions and thereby overcoming boundaries of knowledge production. Whereas methodologies can still be built on disciplinary and regional ground, such as global ethnography and certain forms of theory building based on regional traditions, classical distinctions of development, regional or world-system studies can be overcome through new forms of interdisciplinarity such as transnationalization and globalization studies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Albrow, M., & King, E. (Eds.). (1990). Globalization, Knowledge and Society: Readings from International Sociology. London: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Amponsem, G. (1996). Global Trading and Business Networks among Ghanaians: An Interface of the Local and the Global. PhD. Universität Bielefeld.

    Google Scholar 

  • Appadurai, A. (2000). Grassroots Globalization and the Research Imagination. Public Culture, 12(1), 1–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berger, P., & Luckmann, T. (1966). The Social Construction of Reality. New York: Anchor Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bierschenk, T. (2014). From the Anthropology of Development to the Anthropology of Global Engineering. Zeitschrift für Ethnologie, 139(1), 73–98.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burawoy, M. (2000a). Grounding Globalization. In M. Burawoy, Burawoy, M., Blum, J., George, S., Gille, Z., Gowan, T., Haney, L., Klawiter, M., Lopez, S., Ó Riain, S., & Thayer, M., Global Ethnography: Forces, Connections, and Imaginations in a Postmodern World (pp. 337–350). Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burawoy, M. (2000b). Introduction: Reaching for the Global. In Burawoy, M., Blum, J., George, S., Gille, Z., Gowan, T., Haney, L., et al., Global Ethnography: Forces, Connections, and Imaginations in a Postmodern World (pp. 1–40). Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burawoy, M., Blum, J., George, S., Gille, Z., Gowan, T., Haney, L., et al. (2000). Global Ethnography: Forces, Connections, and Imaginations in a Postmodern World. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dannecker, P. (2003). The Meaning and the Rationalities Underlying Labor Migration from Bangladesh to Malaysia. Bangi: IKMAS [Institute for Malaysian and International Studies/Institut Kajian Malaysia dan Antarabangsa] Working Paper.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ehlert, J. (2012). Beautiful Floods. Environmental Knowledge and Agrarian Change in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Berlin: Lit.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eisenstadt, S. (1999). Multiple Modernities in the Age of Globalization. In C. Honegger, S. Hradil, & F. Traxler (Eds.), Grenzenlose Gesellschaft? (pp. 37–50). Opladen: Leske und Budrich.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Evers, H.-D., & Schrader, H. (Eds.). (1994). The Moral Economy of Trade. Ethnicity and Developing Markets. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Faist, T. (1998). Transnational Social Spaces out of International Migration: Evolution, Significance and Future Prospects. Archives Européennes de Sociologie, 39(2), 213–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Faist, T., & Glick Schiller, N. (Eds.). (2010). Migration, Development, and Transnationalization. A Critical Stance. New York: Berghahn Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferguson, J. (2006). Global Shadows. Africa in the Neoliberal World Order. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gerharz, E. (2014). The Politics of Reconstruction and Development in Sri Lanka. Transnational Commitments to Social Change. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giddens, A. (1984). The Constitution of Society. Outline of the Theory of Structuration. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goetz, A. (1994). From Feminist Knowledge to Data for Development: The Bureaucratic Management of Information on Women and Development. IDS Bulletin, 25(2), 27–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granovetter, M. (1985). Economic Action and Social Structure—The Problem of Embeddedness. American Journal of Sociology, 91(3), 481–510.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hannerz, U. (2000). Transnational Research. In H. Russel Bernard (Ed.), Handbook of Methods in Cultural Anthropology (pp. 235–256). Walnut Creek: Altamira Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hornidge, A.-K. (2012). “Knowledge” in Development Discourse. A Critical Review. In A.-K. Hornidge & C. Antweiler (Eds.), Environmental Uncertainty and Local Knowledge. Southeast Asia as a Laboratory of Global Change. Bielefeld: transcript.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobart, M. (1993). Introduction: The Growth of Ignorance? In M. Hobart (Ed.), An Anthropological Critique of Development. The Growth of Ignorance (pp. 1–30). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hyden, G. (1990). The Changing Context of Institutional Development in Sub-Saharan Africa. In The World Bank (Ed.), The Long Term Perspective Study of Sub-Saharan Africa, Institutional and Sociopolitical Issues (Vol. 3, pp. 43–59). Washington DC: The World Bank Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaschuba, W. (2003). Anmerkungen zum Gesellschaftsvergleich aus ethnologischer Perspektive. In H. Kaelble & J. Schriewer (Eds.), Vergleich und Transfer. Komparatistik in den Sozial-, Geschichts- und Kulturwissenschaften (pp. 341–350). Frankfurt am Main: Campus.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klugman, J., Hanmer, L., Twigg, S., McCleary-Sills, J., Hasan, T., & Bonilla, J. (2014). Voice and Agency. Empowering Women and Girls for Shared Prosperity: Main Report (The World Bank Report). Washington DC: The World Bank Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laaser, M. (2001). Unternehmerinnen in Nairobi: Das Aushandeln alter und neuer Handlungsspielräume. In G. Lachenmann & P. Dannecker (Eds.), Die geschlechtsspezifische Einbettung der Ökonomie. Prozesse der Entwicklung und Transformation (pp. 159–178). Münster: Lit.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lachenmann, G. (1994). Systeme des Nichtwissens. Alltagsverstand und Expertenbewusstsein im Kulturvergleich. In R. Hitzler, A. Honer, & C. Maeder (Eds.), Expertenwissen. Die institutionalisierte Kompetenz zur Konstruktion von Wirklichkeit (pp. 285–305). Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lachenmann, G. (2004). Researching Local Knowledge for Development: Current Issues. In N. Schareika & T. Bierschenk (Eds.), Lokales Wissen—sozialwissenschaftliche Perspektiven (pp. 123–148). Münster: Lit.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lachenmann, G. (2008a). Researching Translocal Gendered Spaces: Methodological Challenges. In G. Lachenmann & P. Dannecker (Eds.), Negotiating Development in Muslim Societies: Gendered Spaces and Translocal Connections (pp. 13–36). Lanham: Lexington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lachenmann, G. (2008b). Transnationalisation, Translocal Spaces, Gender and Development—Methodological Challenges. In R. Anghel, E. Gerharz, G. Rescher, & M. Salzbrunn (Eds.), The Making of World Society. Perspectives from Transnational Research (pp. 51–75). Bielefeld: transcript.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lachenmann, G. (2009). Engendering Knowledge in Organisations. Negotiating Development in Local and Translocal Social Spaces. Working Papers in Development Sociology and Social Anthropology 362, University of Bielefeld.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lachenmann, G. (2010). Globalisation in the Making: Translocal Gendered Spaces in Muslim Societies. In U. Freitag & A. von Oppen (Eds.), Translocality. The Study of Globalising Processes from a Southern Perspective (pp. 335–367). Leiden: Brill.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lachenmann, G., & Dannecker, P. (Eds.). (2001). Die geschlechtsspezifische Einbettung der Ökonomie. Prozesse der Entwicklung und Transformation. Münster: Lit.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lachenmann, G., & Dannecker, P. (Eds.). (2008). Negotiating Development in Muslim Societies: Gendered Spaces and Translocal Connections. Lanham: Lexington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Long, N. (1992a). Conclusion. In N. Long & A. Long (Eds.), Battlefields of Knowledge. The Interlocking of Theory and Practice in Social Research and Development (pp. 268–277). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Long, N. (1992b). From Paradigm Lost to Paradigm Regained? The Case for an Actor-Oriented Sociology of Development. In N. Long & A. Long (Eds.), Battlefields of Knowledge. The Interlocking of Theory and Practice in Social Research and Development (pp. 16–46). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Long, N. (1992c). Introduction. In N. Long & A. Long (Eds.), Battlefields of Knowledge. The Interlocking of Theory and Practice in Social Research and Development (pp. 3–15). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Low, K. (2015). Remembering the Samsui Women. Migration and Social Memory in Singapore and China. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luckmann, T. (1995). Interaction Planning and Intersubjective Adjustment of Perspectives by Communicative Genres. In E. Goody (Ed.), Social Intelligence and Interaction. Expressions and Implications of the Social Bias in Human Intelligence (pp. 175–186). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Mackert, J. & Steinbicker, J. (2013). Zur Aktualität von Robert K. Merton. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marcus, G. (1998). Ethnography in/of the World System: The Emergence of Multi-Sited Ethnography. In G. Marcus (Ed.), Ethnography through Thick and Thin (pp. 79–104). Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mbembe, A. (1988). Etat, violence et accumulation, leçon d’Afrique noire. Foi et Développement,164/165, 1–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Merton, R. (1968). Social Theory and Social Structure. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mkandawire, T. (1998). Notes on Consultancy and Research in Africa. Centre for Development Research Working Paper 98.13, Copenhagen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mueller, C. (2005). Local Knowledge and Gender in Ghana. Bielefeld: transcript.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Nageeb, S. (2004). New Spaces and Old Frontiers, Women, Social Space and Islamization in Sudan. Lanham: Lexington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nageeb, S. (2008a). Diversified Development: Constituting Translocal Spaces through Agency. In G. Lachenmann & P. Dannecker (Eds.), Negotiating Development in Muslim Societies : Gendered Spaces and Translocal Connections (pp. 223–266). Lanham: Lexington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nageeb, S. (2008b). Negotiating Peace and Rights in Sudan: Networking for the Agenda of “Violence against Women.” In G. Lachenmann & P. Dannecker (Eds.), Negotiating Development in Muslim Societies: Gendered Spaces and Translocal Connections (pp. 193–222). Lanham: Lexington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nageeb, S. (2008c). Women’s Organisations and Their Agendas in Sudan. Interfaces in Different Arenas. In G. Lachenmann & P. Dannecker (Eds.), Negotiating Development in Muslim Societies : Gendered Spaces and Translocal Connection (pp. 93–122). Lanham: Lexington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nederveen Pieterse, J. (2001). Development Theory. Deconstructions/Reconstructions. London: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Othman, N. (1998). Islamization and Modernization in Malaysia: A Competing Cultural Reassertion and Women’s Identity in a Changing Society. In R. Wilford & R. Miller (Eds.), Women, Ethnicity and Nationalism (pp. 170–193). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Othman, N., & Petaling, J. (Eds.). (2005). Muslim Women and the Challenge of Islamic Extremism. Kuala Lumpur: Sisters in Islam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Padmanabhan, M. (2011). Women and Men as Conservers, Users, and Managers. A Feminist Social-Ecological Approach. Journal of Socio-Economics, 40(6), 968–976.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peleikis, A. (2003). Lebanese in Motion: Gender and the Making of Translocal Village. Bielefeld: transcript.

    Google Scholar 

  • Randeria, S. (2002). Entangled Histories of Uneven Modernities: Civil Society, Caste Solidarities and Legal Pluralism in Post-Colonial India. In Y. Elkana, Y. Krastev, E. Macamo, & S. Randeria (Eds.), Unraveling Ties: From Social Cohesion to New Practices of Connectedness (pp. 285–311). Frankfurt am Main: Campus.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saloma-Akpedonu, C. (2006). Possible Worlds in Impossible Spaces. Knowledge, Globality, Gender and Information Technology in the Philippines. Manila: Ateneo de Manila University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shiva, V. (1994). The Seed and the Earth: Biotechnology and the Colonisation of Regeneration. In V. Shiva (Ed.), Close to Home. Women Reconnect Ecology, Health and Development (pp. 128–143). London: Earthscan Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sieveking, N. (2008a). Negotiating Women’s Rights from Multiple Perspectives: The Campaign for the Reform of the Family Law in Senegal. In G. Lachenmann & P. Dannecker (Eds.), Negotiating Development in Muslim Societies: Gendered Spaces and Translocal Connections (pp. 145–170). Lanham: Lexington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sieveking, N. (2008b). Women’s Organisations Creating Social Space in Senegal. In G. Lachenmann & P. Dannecker (Eds.), Negotiating Development in Muslim Societies: Gendered Spaces and Translocal Connections (pp. 37–66). Lanham: Lexington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spiegel, A. (2008a). Negotiating Women’s Rights in a Translocal Space. Women’s Organisations and Networking in Malaysia. In G. Lachenmann & P. Dannecker (Eds.), Negotiating Development in Muslim Societies: Gendered Spaces and Translocal Connections (pp. 171–193). Lanham: Lexington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spiegel, A. (2008b). Women’s Organisations and Social Transformation in Malaysia. Between Social Work and Legal Reforms. In G. Lachenmann & P. Dannecker (Eds.), Negotiating Development in Muslim Societies : Gendered Spaces and Translocal Connections (pp. 67–92). Lanham: Lexington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spiegel, A. (2010). Contested Public Spheres. Female Activism and Identity Politics in Malaysia. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Strauss, A. (1987). Qualitative Analysis for Social Scientists. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Strulik, S. (2013). Politics Embedded. Women’s Quota and Local Democracy. Negotiating Gender Relations in North India. Berlin: Lit.

    Google Scholar 

  • van Schendel, W. (2002). Geographies of Knowing, Geographies of Ignorance: Jumping Scale in Southeast Asia. Environment and Planning: Society and Space, 20(6), 647–668.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wimmer, A., & Glick Schiller, N. (2003). Methodological Nationalism, the Social Sciences, and the Study of Migration: An Essay in Historical Epistemology. International Migration Review, 37(3), 576–610.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany

    Gudrun Lachenmann

Authors
  1. Gudrun Lachenmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC), Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

    Katja Mielke

  2. Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine, Research (ZMT) & University of Bremen Institute of Sociology, Bremen, Germany

    Anna-Katharina Hornidge

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Lachenmann, G. (2017). The Production of Knowledge in the Field of Development and Area Studies: From Systems of Ignorance to Mid-Range Concepts for Global Ethnography. In: Mielke, K., Hornidge, AK. (eds) Area Studies at the Crossroads. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59834-9_10

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation