The Routledge Handbook on Livelihoods in the Global South

This book addresses livelihoods and the creation and evolution of knowledge on livelihoods through the personhood of millions caught in complex interactions, confronting dynamic inequalities and norms of intellectual delegitimization. It helps researchers, students, practitioners and policy makers see how the latter is an outcome (though unintended) of the dominant development framing of livelihoods. The chapters in this volume equip them to pare given concepts and theories, and to construct their own analytical frameworks that make sense in the light of the multiple dimensions and complexity of livelihoods. For practitioners and researchers in the Global South geographically and heuristically, this book is a rich and timely input to enhance their cognition of power and diversity, democratic accountability and justice when problematizing livelihoods.

Dr. Rajeswari S. Raina,Professor, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Shiv Nadar University, India.

Across nearly 50 contributions, this Handbook offers a comprehensive survey of the many dimensions of livelihoods research and practice. Rather than separating by sectors, livelihoods perspectives start with what people do and how they live, offering an integrative, holistic approach to development. From concepts to methods to practices and policies, this Handbook offers an excellent overview of ideas as well as practical applications across a huge array of themes. It is an essential guide for anyone interested in livelihoods and development in the Global South, whether students, field practitioners or policymakers.

Ian Scoones,Professor, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK.

Development studies can be a fickle business: ‘buzzwords’ that promise to reframe theory and practice surge to prominence before going out of fashion, leaving proponents and projects stranded and the field in search of renewal from the next coming agenda. By insisting on the enduring relevance of livelihoods analysis to understanding and challenging problems of poverty and exclusion in the global South, this volume offers a welcome antidote to this endless cycle. The power of this move is in the simple assertion that development must be viewed – to a significant extent at least – as being primarily about people’s lived realities. The Handbook renders livelihoods analysis fit for purpose once more, over three decades after its arrival: scholarship from the global south is very well-represented and the strong focus on politics, via issues of democracy and accountability but also critical feminist perspectives and a strong engagement with power, is also very welcome. This is a deeply engaged Handbook, offering critical reflection but also clear practical guidance to those seeking to operationalise livelihoods research and analysis from a methodological perspective and to policy actors and practitioners aiming to support more relevant interventions on the ground.

Samuel Hickey,Professor of Politics and Development, Global Development Institute, University of Manchester, and President of the UK Development Studies Association.

This book addresses livelihoods and the creation and evolution of knowledge on livelihoods through the personhood of millions caught in complex interactions, confronting dynamic inequalities and norms of intellectual delegitimization. It helps researchers, students, practitioners and policy makers see how the latter is an outcome (though unintended) of the dominant development framing of livelihoods. The chapters in this volume equip them to pare given concepts and theories, and to construct their own analytical frameworks that make sense in the light of the multiple dimensions and complexity of livelihoods. For practitioners and researchers in the Global South geographically and heuristically, this book is a rich and timely input to enhance their cognition of power and diversity, democratic accountability and justice when problematizing livelihoods.

Dr. Rajeswari S. Raina,Professor, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Shiv Nadar University, India.

Across nearly 50 contributions, this Handbook offers a comprehensive survey of the many dimensions of livelihoods research and practice. Rather than separating by sectors, livelihoods perspectives start with what people do and how they live, offering an integrative, holistic approach to development. From concepts to methods to practices and policies, this Handbook offers an excellent overview of ideas as well as practical applications across a huge array of themes. It is an essential guide for anyone interested in livelihoods and development in the Global South, whether students, field practitioners or policymakers.

Ian Scoones,Professor, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK.

Development studies can be a fickle business: ‘buzzwords’ that promise to reframe theory and practice surge to prominence before going out of fashion, leaving proponents and projects stranded and the field in search of renewal from the next coming agenda. By insisting on the enduring relevance of livelihoods analysis to understanding and challenging problems of poverty and exclusion in the global South, this volume offers a welcome antidote to this endless cycle. The power of this move is in the simple assertion that development must be viewed – to a significant extent at least – as being primarily about people’s lived realities. The Handbook renders livelihoods analysis fit for purpose once more, over three decades after its arrival: scholarship from the global south is very well-represented and the strong focus on politics, via issues of democracy and accountability but also critical feminist perspectives and a strong engagement with power, is also very welcome. This is a deeply engaged Handbook, offering critical reflection but also clear practical guidance to those seeking to operationalise livelihoods research and analysis from a methodological perspective and to policy actors and practitioners aiming to support more relevant interventions on the ground.

Samuel Hickey,Professor of Politics and Development, Global Development Institute, University of Manchester, and President of the UK Development Studies Association.