Description
Book Synopsis Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have become ubiquitous in the development sector in Africa and attracting more academic attention. However, the fact that NGOs are an integral part of the everyday lives of men and women on the continent has been overlooked thus far. In Africa, NGOs are not remote, but familiar players, situated in the midst of cities and communities. By taking a radical empirical stance, this book studies NGOs as a vital part of the lifeworlds of Africans. Its contributions are immersed in the pasts, presents and futures of personal encounters, memories, decision-making and politics.
Trade Review “This is a high-quality work of scholarship that can make a contribution to African Studies, NGO Studies, and Development Studies.” • Victoria Bernal, University of California, Irvine
“I really liked the book and deeply enjoyed reading it… there is nothing quite like it out there. It’s a strong book that, surprisingly, coheres around a single overarching problem.” • Ebenezer Obadare, University of Kansas
Table of Contents List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Foreword: NGOs and Lifeworlds in Africa
Aram Ziai
Introduction: The Lifeworlds and Trajectories of NGOs in Africa
Melina C. Kalfelis and Kathrin Knodel
Part I: Engagements and Encounters
Chapter 1. An Association for Emerging Technologies and the Bases of Its Longevity. The Example of Yam Pukri in Burkina Faso
Sylvestre Ouédraogo
Chapter 2. ‘I Will Not Tell Anyone Until You Have Left’: The Ending of a Development Relationship Remembered
Karen Lauterbach
Chapter 3. Becoming an Expert and Negotiating Development: A Development Studies Programme in Germany
Ulrike Schultz
On Opportunities
Chapter 4. Alternatives to Consultancy and NGOing: Developing Anthropological Team Research in West Africa
Sten Hagberg
Part II: Politics and Donors
Chapter 5. Career Trajectories of Tanzanian Aid Workers: Structural Inequalities and New Management Practices in Public Foreign Aid
Molly Sundberg
Chapter 6. The Contribution of National NGOs to Development in Burkina Faso: Review and Prospects
Alain J. Sissao
Chapter 7. Artisanal Mining – a Necessary Evil: Narratives Legitimating Large-Scale Mining as a Pathway to Development
Bettina Engels
On Reciprocity (beyond Africa)
Chapter 8. The Price of Getting Donor Money: Gift Exchange in Aid Relations and the Depoliticization of NGOs
Beata Paragi
Part III: Memories and History
Chapter 9. Negotiating Tightropes: A Historical Appraisal of NGOs and their Adaptability in Nigeria’s Changing Political Space
Abimbola O. Adesoji
Chapter 10. From Development State to Non-State Development: Counterpart Careers, West German Aid and Asymmetrical Interdependence in Late Socialist Tanzania
Eric Burton
Chapter 11. Civil Society and the Challenge of Consolidating Democracy in Togo
Kokou Folly Lolowou Hetcheli
Chapter 12. The Custodians of Development Memory in Morocco: When Development Projects Create New Forms of Leadership for Policy-Making
Matthieu Brun
On Institutions
Chapter 13. On the Advantages of ‘Intentional Amnesia’: Some Preliminary Notes on a Cultural History of NGOs in Burkina Faso
Hans P. Hahn
Afterword: Ad Hoc NGOs, Structural Failure and the Politics of Silence: Stories about Development from a Village in Togo
Hubertus Büschel
Index
