Abstract
This paper uses a cultural ecology of development approach to critique existing models of development. The critique identifies existing models as running counter to ecological and biological imperatives, placing an over-emphasis on growth as the solution to development, and resulting in considerable cultural wastage. An argument is made that many of the attempts to construct an alternative development paradigm can be grouped within the cultural ecology of development approach. Ten precepts that will enhance the long-term survivability of the earth are proposed. The final portion of the paper looks at how compatible current trends in thinking about development are with these ten precepts and assesses the prospects for adoption of these precepts in an alternative development paradigm.
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Billie R. DeWalt is Professor and Chair in the Department of Anthropology and holds joint appointments in the Department of Sociology and the Patterson School of Diplomacy at the University of Kentucky. Among his publications are the booksModernization in a Mexican Ejido: A Study in Economic Adaptation (Cambridge University Press) andMicro and Macro Levels of Analysis in Anthropology: Issues in Theory and Research (Westview Press), the latter co-edited with Pertti J. Pelto. He has done research on cultural ecology, agrarian issues and food systems in Mexico, Honduras, and Costa Rica. He is currently writing a book with the economist David Barkin on the political economy of food and agriculture in Mexico.
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DeWalt, B.R. The cultural ecology of development: Ten precepts for survival. Agric Hum Values 5, 112–123 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02217182
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02217182