Towards a ‘Development Humanities’: widening the multi-disciplinary field of development studies

Abstract

This paper proposes a new sub-field of Development Humanities (DH) that aims to extend the multidisciplinary base of Development Studies (DS) via a distinctive set of themes, analytical tools and data sources. This would contribute further to ‘epistemological pluralism’, while equipping DS with additional tools to engage with today’s urgent and complex issues. These include subjective aspects of how ‘development’ is experienced, imagining better development futures, and finding new ways to communicate ideas. Aiming for ‘radical interdisciplinarity’, DH would seek to critically challenge mainstream ideas and encourage the co-production of new research questions, as well as building new pedagogies and equipping practitioners with useful skills. Comparable fields such as Environmental Humanities and Medical Humanities offer potentially useful lessons, as well as highlighting possible risks.

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