Development Paradigm Revisited: A Few Anthropological Considerations

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to ponder over the term, ‘development’, as a concept
with regard to the Third World countries, especially, in relation to Pakistan.
Traditionally and historically, the debate on ‘development’ has ignored local or
indigenous perspectives usually dubbed as ‘backward’, ‘traditional’, ‘obsolete’, and
‘out-dated.’ The authors are of the view that development as a concept has been
misused to subjugate as well as subordinate the third world nations in order to
extend colonial agenda. This was done deliberately to make local populations of
the third world countries, like Pakistan, to shun their indigenous intellectual
heritage. The paper is an attempt to generate a scholastic debate and exchange of
professional views upon the development direction as required by countries like
Pakistan. In addition, the paper builds an anthropological case to include the
socio-cultural factors in order to revisit the development paradigm to suit the
unique cultural perspective of the nation.