Rethinking Development: Knowledge and Power

In this second event of the series Rethinking Development, we ask the question of who is heard as an expert, and who is seen only as a case, a beneficiary or someone affected? The second evening takes up a question the first one left open: how knowledge about development is produced, and who is permitted to produce it?

Development projects are usually justified through expertise: studies, impact assessments, planning documents. The knowledge that communities build by living in a territory and defending it, meanwhile, is treated as anecdote rather than evidence in the rooms where decisions are made. This evening addresses that asymmetry directly. It looks at power relations inside the production of knowledge, and at forms of knowledge grounded in lived resistance rather than in credentials.

Two invited guests, to be announced shortly, will present their work. Participants then continue in working groups, and the evening closes with a collective discussion. Total duration is two hours. The event is held in German and English with simultaneous interpretation.

It is addressed to people working in development cooperation, urban planning, education, environmental and human rights work, to students in these fields, and to anyone who has been on the receiving end of a projects designed by others. No prior knowledge is required.

If you would like to participate, please register via contato@agenteev.org.

Entwicklung anders denken – Rethinking Development is a three-session series asking:

Why does one model of development continue to prevail? 
Who defines and upholds it? 
Whose perspectives are left out of decisions made “for everyone”?

Each evening brings together two guests from fields including urban development, architecture, human rights, environmental protection and democracy, followed by working groups and collective discussion.

Organised by a Gente e.V.