Reviewing the contribution of discourse analysis in development studies, the paper first engages with the critique of the approach that has been voiced repeatedly. In this regard, it discusses the reproaches of losing sight of materiality, homogenizing different perspectives in development studies, denying the agency of subjects and being unable to provide political alternatives. By using different examples, the paper shows that these points of criticism are no inherent features of discourse analysis in development studies. Proceeding to systematically analyse the contribution of these approaches to the discipline, the paper then outlines six specific features of development discourse: its naturalizations, problematizations, legitimizations, hierarchizations, depoliticizations and appropriations. It concludes that discourse analysis successfully highlights relations of power so far unnoticed and is most convincing when combined with the analysis of institutional necessities and material interests.
@unpublished{doi:10.17170/kobra-202311209041,
author ={Ziai, Aram},
title ={The contribution of discourse analysis to development studies},
keywords ={320 and Diskursanalyse and Entwicklungsforschung and Kapitalismus and Postkolonialismus},
copyright ={http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/},
language ={en},
year ={2015}
}