""Inside the Everyday Lives of Development Workers: The Challenges
and Futures of Aidland", edited by Anne-Meike Fechter and Heather
Hindman and published by Kumarian Press, is an ethnographic
exploration of the people who make up Aidland. Any book that helps
us aid workers and do-gooders cultivate the sophistication needed
to find our way among the great responsibility, privilege and
burden of Aidland is welcome."
"Rich with insight into the daily lives and entanglements, the
dilemmas and reflections, of the people who work on the front lines
of development in a period when roles such as altruistic hero, or
technical expert, or even professional or employee are fragile, and
the entire enterprise of development invites cynicism and critique.
By opening the black box on development work, the authors offer
glimpses of soul-searching and pragmatism in equal measure, as
workers struggle to find meaning in their work, or simply to get
their work done. It is an overdue topic, subjected here to
searching analysis."
"The international aid industry is now a significant sector
employing a vast array of specialized professionals,
administrators, field workers and volunteers. Understanding the
work that is undertaken by the people who live and work within this
increasingly powerful yet diverse world has long been neglected in
the study of international aid. Drawing on up-to-date ethnographic
work by leading academic researchers, this timely book provides a
fascinating set of insights into their public and private
lives."
"This collection directs us to think about the labor of aid work
and the study of aid work from a fresh perspective. The issues
raised are crucial for courses that deal with development
anthropology, intercultural dynamics of international conflict
management, management of nonprofits, organization studies,
political anthropology, anthropology of work, and even introductory
cultural anthropology courses. I imagine that people in aidemia,
like Peace Corps volunteers and NGO workers, as well as readers
within academia, would find it useful, if not also eye
opening."
This is a superb book, and should be read by a wide range of
people, not least those thinking of working in the field.
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