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Gender Dilemmas in International Development Studies

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Abstract

The article looks at how recent thinking on gender has led to discussions on how development itself is powerfully gendered, with important implications for international development studies. The essay is based on reflections from editing two handbooks for Palgrave and Oxford University Press. It describes how feminist critiques of gender can create dilemmas in international development studies and practices by examining five issues. These include the engagement of theory and practice-based knowledge, development as transformative politics, inter-sectionality issues and the inter-section with sustainability issues. The author concludes that radical theoretical agendas require new methodologies that bridge the divide between practice-based analysis and ‘global’ theory, on the basis of research in high-income countries. The challenge here is to learn from theory and research in the Global South, through those who are breaking new ground from the perspectives of living and working in the South.

Abstract

Cet article analyse comment les opinions récents en matière de genre (en anglais: gender) sont elles-mêmes fortement différencies en base à la sexualité, ce qui comporte des conséquences importantes pour les études en matière de développement international. Cet article est basé sur les réflexions de l’auteur autour de l’édition de deux livres pour Palgrave et Oxford University Press. Elle décrit comment les critiques féministes des sexes peuvent créer des dilemmes pour l’étude et la pratique du développement international, en examinant cinq points clés, parmi lesquels l’engagement du savoir fondé sur la théorie et la pratique; le développement comme une politique transformative; des questions d’inter-sectionalité, et leur intersection avec des problématiques de durabilité. L’auteur conclut que les agendas théorétiques radicaux nécessitent des nouvelles méthodologies, qui puissent rapprocher la division entre l’analyse basé sur la pratique, et la théorie ‘globale’, basé sur des études conduits en pays à revenus élevés. Le défis est d’apprendre de la théorie et des recherches conduites dans le Sud, à travers les perspectives des innovateurs qui habitent et travaillent dans le Sud globale.

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  1. International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Hague, The Netherlands

    Wendy Harcourt

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Harcourt, W. Gender Dilemmas in International Development Studies. Eur J Dev Res 28, 167–174 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2016.6

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