Studying international development? An alternative reading list.

I have been called many things since running Second Sight – a social worker (a favourite description in India), an anthropologist (because ‘you are curious about people and value variety in your hospital teams’), a ‘NGO-type (ouch!) and even an ‘international development expert’ (oh no, never).

I prefer the titles which took me so many years to earn – journalist and doctor.

However, I have dipped my toe into that world of International Development. Way back, when I first started Second Sight, I applied to the UK Department for International Development for funding. I was told that restoring sight to the blind was not ‘empowerment.’ Yes, truly. The gift of sight for a blind person living in abject poverty was not empowerment. The experts had spoken. So you can see why I don’t ever wish to be placed in this group!

On the other hand, I know so many intelligent, idealistic young people who want to make the world a fairer place. And as international development courses claim to be about poverty eradication and justice, they are inevitably drawn towards these. So I asked one of them, a friend of my daughter Leyla, if I could see one of her reading lists.

The publications were mostly by authors from institutions running ID courses and were grouped under the following categories: UNPICKING DEVELOPMENT & POVERTY/ COLONIALISM/ CULTURE & RECONSTRUCTION OF TRADITION /AID CORPORATIONS AND PHILANTHROCAPITALISM/ GENDER AND AID.

Covering some of the same topics but from an entirely different slant are my Five Top Reads:

1.     Lords of Poverty- The Power, Prestige, and Corruption of the International Aid Business by Graham Hancock. A riveting read. Given to me by an eye surgeon who has lived and worked on four continents.

2.     Banker to the Poor- by Muhammad Yunus. An economist humble enough to realise that Ivory Tower university economic theories had failed the poor in Bangla Desh and started all over again, getting a worm’s eye view of their lives. I love this book.

3.     We are poor but so many – the story of self-employed women in India by Ela Bhatt. Too often illiterate and uneducated women are seen be unable to change their lives and require the help of an educated elite. Ela knocks this fallacy on the head. This book resonates with me because via our work in India I have met so many wonderful uneducated but powerful rural women.

4.     Corona, Climate and Chronic Emergency by Andreas Malm. To remind you that the biggest global problem is still the Climate Emergency.

5.     Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand. A novel. Theories about discrimination are often flawed because approached with pity rather than empathy. Sometimes this is easier to demonstrate through a work of fiction.

Lucy Mathen

#internationaldevelopment #missedperspectives #lordsofpoverty #outgrowingthebig