Abstract

GERAD, Middendorf. Making the case: an actor-network approach to rhetoric in agricultural development. Investig. desarro. [online]. 2013, vol.21, n.2, pp.513-543. ISSN 2011-7574.

This paper examines the shifts in language associated with the rise and decline of dominant development models. It draws on Bruno Latour's approach to rhetoric to analyze how actors in development policy networks use language strategically in order to persuade other actors that their development narrative is the most plausible narrative possible. This study focuses on a particular time period - the 1980s-1990s - in which we saw the transition to the neoliberal model. First, the annual reports of the Inter-American Development Bank and other key actors are systematically analyzed to understand the shift in language associated with development models. Then, analysis of interview data shows how individual actors interpret and translate policy change in everyday language. What emerges is a circulation process, in which development language is appropriated by actors in policy networks and refashioned to help each actor "make the case" in order to advance their interests. A strength of the Latourian approach is that it helps us to reveal the strategic discursive practices of authors (scientists, policy makers, researchers). The paper attempts to extend actor-network analysis beyond science studies, where it has been most fully developed, into development studies where it has thus far received relatively less attention.

Keywords : Development; language of development; Latour.

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