DISP: Rethinking Development's Archives

Afterword

This collection of works takes from many different countries and communities within the Middle East. These are only a select few pieces from the existing vast expanse of scholarship that I have chosen in hopes of enriching and challenging our understandings of what development can be. This search proved to be difficult yet rewarding. When I began, I used the syllabus for a class I had previously taken, ANTH 1911 Gender and Sexuality in the Middle East, as a takeoff point. I found myself going down rabbit holes at times but also finding certain diamonds in the rough. The term dignity stumped me for a while. It was more elusive than the other terms because its meaning can be so nuanced and subtle. Eventually, I found myself with a breadth of sources to choose from for this collection. I began to narrow them by term, pinpointing exceptional concepts and ideas that I was drawn to. I could have easily developed this same bibliography with entirely different sources, and it would have been just as valuable. In the end, I decided upon these select few texts because I felt they challenge dominant narratives of development and the Middle East in a fruitful way.

It is my hope that the texts that I have gathered here are only the beginning in reaching toward the broader goal of finding ways to "decolonize the curriculum" at Brown University, specifically in concentrations like International and Public Affairs. It is unacceptable that an Introduction to International Politics class can have a syllabus reading only white men. Despite knowing that I wanted to study International and Public Affairs when I intially came to Brown, I felt very disillusioned about the field when I finished my first semester. For the next three semesters, I explored taking courses in development studies, anthropology, sociology, history, environmental science, public health, and ethnic studies. I still feel that all of these courses contributed to my understanding of international affairs. Eventually, I circled back around to International and Public Affairs after coming to the conclusion that the introductory course need not define how I conceptualize the entire field of study. We need to expand our minds beyond the rigid canon that excludes so much rich thought from all over the world. And this needs to be done from the very beginning of our academic experience. Learning a narrow curriculum only to spend the next few years unlearning it seems counterproductive to me. Why not construct a new canon full of new voices and languages that challenge and critique the narrow scope that we have stuck to? -- Jamila Beesley' 22

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