Play and Power: a Ludic Design Proposal for ICTD

This paper puts forth a notion of ludic design, drawing from work in HCI by Phoebe Sengers and Bill Gaver, as an avenue through which ICTD can begin to contend with the historical discourse of the developmental enterprise. This discourse, which we term the “developmental optic,” is one that envisions […]

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Fragile memories: Indigenous knowledge and development

Abstract This paper examines the nature of knowledge with particular reference to so-called “indigenous knowledge” and its treatment within development interventions. It highlights some of the theoretical arguments and different sides of the debate concerning hierarchies of knowledge with development narratives and discourse. Much indigenous knowledge is contained in oral […]

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Hii Dunia

About Hii Dunia aims to give everyone with knowledge or experience in the Development sector the opportunity to share their work. This may be in the form of academic research, papers or dissertations. Hii Dunia would welcome submissions resulting from non-professional, semi-professional or wholly professional collaborations or projects. Submission Criteria […]

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Hii Dunia’s Development Directory

Development Blogosphere Blogs play an increasingly pivotal role in Development discourse. The ease with which they can be set up means that they have become a vital communicative tool for practitioners in the field, students, researchers and commentators alike. Please note that the ‘Archive’ category in this section refers to […]

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Lokavidya goes virtual? Indigenous knowledge in the Gatesian Age

Abstract This paper attempts to address the issue of virtualizability of lokavidya. Lokavidya has been conceptualized as the vidya (value-laden knowledge) possessed by the farmers, artisans, women and tribal societies the world over and as being inseparable from their world-view and value system. Lokavidya has also been described as inherently […]

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Discourse, ‘Development’ & the ‘Digital Divide’: ICT & the World Bank

Abstract Information and communication technology(ies) (ICT) is tipped to play an increasingly enabling role in the inclusion and exclusion of groups from participation in the discourse of ‘development’, with material consequences. In affecting how ‘development’ is framed, discussed and practised, the conception and use of such technologies itself thus becomes […]

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Book Review: Encountering Development by Arturo Escobar

Escobar’s Encountering Development evolves around the thesis that “the discourse and strategy of development produced its opposite: massive underdevelopment and impoverishment, untold exploitation and oppression.” He approaches this through a discursive analysis of the components and relationships of what he calls “the three axes that define development”: its forms of […]

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