Review
Toward “De-brainization” of Development Studies: A Comparative Study of Two World Development Reports
2015 Volume 24 Issue 2 Pages 7-20
Details
2015 Volume 24 Issue 2 Pages 7-20
This paper argues that two types of brainization (Newtonian mind-oriented rational/mechanical/objective way of being, thinking and behaving) in Development Studies (DS) hinder us from truly understanding poor people's realities as they are, with respecting context specificity and diversity, which is a fundamental ethical conduct of DS. The author also discusses that such brainization also functions as an apparatus of paradigm maintenance of the developed countries through regenerating value systems and behavior patterns of the WEIRD (White, Educated, Industrial, Rich and Democratic) through development policies, programs and projects.
First, from the literature review, the author explains that there are two types of brainization: 1) which perpetuates objectification and mis-representation of the poor people in developing countries as “problematic opposite others” and 2) which accelerates standardization of mind-oriented way of thinking and behaving as the universal default setting of “appropriate” human-being and societies.
Second, to examine the assumption, the author conducts a comparative review (art works, project team, overview, frequently used words, and report structures) of the two World Development Reports (WDR): 2000/2001 (“Attacking Poverty”) and 2015 (“Mind, Society, and Behavior”). The analysis reveals that the first type of brainization is observed in WDR2000/2001, while the second type of brainization is clearly observed in WDR2015. The paper also argues that in the both reports, whatever methodologies are adopted, the life and realities of people in developing countries are kept understood intentionally partial or problematic for paradigm maintenances of DS.
Finally, the author seeks for some scenarios for de-brainization of DS through learning from human body and its fundamental features and analogies, for truly understanding poor people's realities as they are, which should also be a pathway for reconstructing DS itself.
