Development Perspectives from the Antipodes

Development discourses and academic development knowledge reflect to a large extent the interests of the ‘North’. The Antipodes – Australia and New Zealand - share an ambivalent location as countries of the ‘North' in wealth, development and dominant intellectual genealogies but ‘South' in latitude and history. Approaches to development have been shaped by the colonial dispossession of indigenous peoples, paternalist development relationships with impoverished and marginalised neighbours, and concerns with national security. In the 21st century they find themselves located at the edge of a major reconfiguration of global economic power – ‘Asia rising’. This innovative book is the first to explore the approaches to development produced by the Antipodes’ geopolitical positioning. The chapters focus on new development actors - faith-based organisations, local communities, indigenous people, security personnel and social entrepreneurs. A range of detailed case studies provide insights into how development at the edge creates spaces for alternative development pathways and for alternatives to development.

This book was published as a special issue of Third World Quarterly.

Susanne Schech is Associate Professor in the School of International Studies where she heads the Centre for Development Studies. She has published on culture and development, gender and poverty, race and whiteness, migration and refugees, and currently leads a collaborative research project on the impacts of international development volunteering.