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Communicating Development with Communities

Linje Manyozo author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd

Published:13th Jun '17

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Communicating Development with Communities cover

This book offers a critical examination of development practices, emphasizing the importance of participatory approaches and local knowledge. It advocates for a pedagogy of listening to foster collaborative community engagement.

Communicating Development with Communities examines the often oversimplified teaching of development theory and practice, which frequently lacks historical context and overlooks alternative perspectives. This approach hinders students from gaining a comprehensive understanding of global dynamics, leaving many unprepared for real-world engagement in development practices. The book emphasizes the importance of considering participatory development not just in theoretical discussions but also in practical applications within communities.

Drawing from the insights of Robert Chambers and Arturo Escobar, the text critically analyzes how the development industry conceptualizes and implements initiatives at the grassroots level. It challenges prevailing narratives by advocating for relational and indigenous models that honor local knowledge, spirituality, and community solidarity. The author explores the dynamics of power and voice, highlighting how well-intentioned experts can inadvertently perpetuate oppression and marginalization of subaltern groups.

Additionally, the book promotes a pedagogy of listening as a means to foster collaboration and genuine engagement with communities. By creating spaces for dialogue and mutual understanding, it encourages diverse stakeholders to work together in shaping meaningful development initiatives. This resource is particularly beneficial for academics and practitioners in various fields, including Development Studies, Communication for Development, and Public Policy, offering valuable insights into fostering more inclusive and effective development practices.

"In Communicating Development with Communities, Linje Manyozo offers a critique of development theory and practice, unpacking the dominant development paradigm and the power dynamics that are inherent within it. Building on the work of Escobar (1995) and Chambers (2005), Manyozo joins the call for alternative conceptualizations of development practice and teaching, positioning a pedagogy of listening as an avenue for the realization of development alongside communities." -- Tait Brimacombe, for Community Development Journal. 2018

"Linje Manyozo has a very special talent. He achieves an insightful blending of the personal and the political, drawing upon a wide range of critical traditions in academic research and upon his own life experience. Alternative development pathways may be borne through speaking development with and alongside communities. For him, this is the route through which the subaltern perspective can be acquired and in a way that informs action. Manyozo’s proposals for theory and practice offer a pathway for a journey which, through experimentation, can create opportunities for deliberative development at the community level."– Robin Mansell, Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

"Linje Manyozo is one of the most exciting scholars writing in the field of media, communication and development today. He combines academic rigour and insights, his experience of working as a communication for development practitioner, and his own personal trajectory, to provide a searing contemporary critique of the field and its problems and possibilities. This book is a wonderfully colourful account of the importance of speaking, listening and deliberative development." – Jo Tacchi, Institute for Media and Creative Industries, Loughborough University in London, UK

"Linje Manyozo is back in academia after years in development practice, and with his most important book to date. This is a very well written, strong critique of development theory and practice. It is a thorough deconstruction of the spectacle of development, and a solid suggestion for a reconstruction of deliberative development. Provocative in his style, thoughtful in essence and novel in his perspectives, Manyozo’s voice is fundamental." – Thomas Tufte, School of Media, Communication and Sociology, University of Leicester, UK

"Linje Manyozo brings to the fore refreshing analysis on one of the silent issues in development lexicon. Communicating Development with Communities is a truly timely contribution to fundamental principles of development practice. This is a call for the balance of power and respect for those on the "receiving" end of development." Jonathan Makuwira, Department of Development Studies, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa


"Linje Manyozo has a very special talent. He achieves an insightful blending of the personal and the political, drawing upon a wide range of critical traditions in academic research and upon his own life experience. Alternative development pathways may be borne through speaking development with and alongside communities. For him, this is the route through which the subaltern perspective can be acquired and in a way that informs action. Manyozo’s proposals for theory and practice offer a pathway for a journey which, through experimentation, can create opportunities for deliberative development at the community level."– Robin Mansell, Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

"Linje Manyozo is one of the most exciting scholars writing in the field of media, communication and development today. He combines academic rigour and insights, his experience of working as a communication for development practitioner, and his own personal trajectory, to provide a searing contemporary critique of the field and its problems and possibilities. This book is a wonderfully colourful account of the importance of speaking, listening and deliberative development." – Jo Tacchi, Institute for Media and Creative Industries, Loughborough University in London, UK

"Linje Manyozo is back in academia after years in development practice, and with his most important book to date. This is a very well written, strong critique of development theory and practice. It is a thorough deconstruction of the spectacle of development, and a solid suggestion for a reconstruction of deliberative development. Provocative in his style, thoughtful in essence and novel in his perspectives, Manyozo’s voice is fundamental." – Thomas Tufte, Department of Media and Communication, Leicester University, UK

"Linje Manyozo brings to the fore refreshing analysis on one of the silent issues in development lexicon. Communicating Development with Communities is a truly timely contribution to fundamental principles of development practice. This is a call for the balance of power and respect for those on the "receiving" end of development." – Jonathan Makuwira, Department of Development Studies, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa

ISBN: 9781138746046

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 292g

166 pages