Abstract

POGODDA, Sandra. Cultures of Development and the Local in Timor-Leste. Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais [online]. 2014, n.104, pp.151-174. ISSN 2182-7435.  https://doi.org/10.4000/rccs.5733.

In a reversal of previous policies, development agencies are increasingly adjusting their interventions to local cultures. This paper analyses how Timorese culture has been interpreted, processed and factored into UN development programmes. Which types of concessions do agencies make? Where are the red lines in this hybridization process and does it entail a renegotiation of development approaches or just unilateral concessions? The paper argues that UN agencies’ efforts to become more culturally sensitive in their operations in Timor-Leste has clear limitations and fails to reflect local culture in its diversity. In this complex interplay of co-existing variations of local culture, power asymmetries and international orthodoxy, development agencies are both: always one step behind in understanding local culture, but one step ahead regarding their power to define the rules of engagement.

Keywords : cultural diversity; development policies; indigenous culture; Timor-Leste; United Nations Organization (UNO).

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