Anthropologists, development, and situated truth

This commentary critiques aspects of recently described alternatives to development, focusing on the stance taken by Arturo Escobar, an anthropologist engaged in deconstructing development. The author concurs with many of Escobar's assertions, including his view that the discourse of development functions as a politically constructed tool for controlling and expropriating from the Third World. She also rejects along with Escobar, received wisdom about the First World's exclusive access to objective reality, superior knowledge, and singular truth. However, Escobar pays scant attention to the potentially disastrous situation of politically voiceless and powerless groups and makes a vitriolic attack on development anthropologists that trivializes their commitments and accomplishments, and deprecates their intelligence and morality. Concludes by suggesting avenues for improving anthropologists' support of grassroots efforts to achieve a transformative political voice.