Another world is possible? A critical exploration of Escobar's ‘other worlds/worlds otherwise’

Abstract

This article is primarily a literature review that attempts to present and critically discuss, as clearly and concisely as possible, Arturo Escobar's position on ‘development’ as discourse, idea, and billion-dollar industry and the role of anthropology within this, as evidenced by the arguments extracted from his publications since 1991, the theorising of other scholars of similar persuasions, and published critiques of these views. I review Escobar's understanding of neo-liberal and developmentalist capitalist modernity and the ‘crisis of development’ and explore his radical, experimental, and exploratory alternatives to development. He tends to locate these alternatives in community and indigenous knowledge systems, in intentional alternative lifeways, as well as the civil society activities of organised social movements. While his model is severely limited, particularly in terms of its almost exclusive focus on discourse and the attendant absence of substantial, detailed ethnographic or other empirical data to support his arguments, its willingness to learn to listen in a different way, and to experiment with alternatives to the conventional wisdom is something each of us could integrate into our practice as anthropologists of the post-modern moment.