Published in honour of emeritus Professor Ashwani Saith, Reclaiming Development Studies: Essays for Ashwani Saith was launched on 22 October during an informal hybrid event at the International Institute of Social Studies.
Part of the Anthem Frontiers of Political Economy and Development series, Reclaiming Development Studies aims to reclaim the mission, relevance and intellectual orientation of development studies – something that is increasingly challenged from different directions. Confronted by the status quoist enterprise of randomized control trials ( RCTs) on the one hand and the radical endeavour to decolonize dominant knowledge systems (decoloniality) on the other, the study of development as an enduring societal ambition needs urgent revival.
The essays featured in this book build on the contributions of Ashwani Saith – an ardent critic of development orthodoxy and who at the same time is not ready to give up on the emancipatory potential of the development project.
Written by leading scholars in the field, the essays touch upon many of the key questions of development studies centred around structural change, labour and poverty and inequality. They also highlight the continued necessity to ground the study of development processes in a critical political economy approach while interrogating the quick-fixes touted by the mainstream discourse on development.
Reclaiming Development Studies: Essays for Ashwani Saith edited by Murat Arsel, Anirban Desgupta and Servass Storm. Anthem Press.
