Local Histories of Development

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Building on the conference theme of “Nuestra America: Justice and Solidarity,” this panel analyzes local histories of development to explore unintended consequences and uses of development, such as the formation or revision of identity, the environmental impact, the politics inherent in development projects, and the negotiation of power between development practitioners and their intended recipients. Development did shape “Nuestra America” but not always in the manner that its practitioners imagined, and this panel unpacks the various layers of intentionality and meaning attributed to these projects. We explore the following questions: How is past development discourse related to present-day manifestations of neoliberalism? How did indigenous people hinder development projects? How did the environment play an active role in development? What was the daily negotiation of power like between development practitioners and their host communities? To address these questions, our individual papers present local histories of towns and regions in Guatemala, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Colombia, blending archival sources with oral histories. These histories of development demonstrate how efforts at justice and inclusion are complicated. Our panel’s objective is to analyze the lived experiences of these projects and how they shaped hemispheric solidarity.

Sub Track

• History and Historiography

Session Organizer

• Sarah Foss, Oklahoma State University

Chair

• Sarah Foss, Oklahoma State University

Discussant

• Eve E Buckley, University of Delaware

Individual Presentations

• "Here I was born, here I will die": The Failure of Development in 1976 Chinautla, Guatemala - Sarah Foss, Oklahoma State University

• Guns for the Poor: Economic and Military Assistance to Pre-revolutionary Nicaragua - Sarah L Sklaw, New York University

• Disaster and Development: The 1968 Río Grande Flood and the Future of Bolivia’s Frontier Colonization - Ben Nobbs-Thiessen

• Midcentury Development and the Early Lives of Neoliberal Practices - Amy C Offner, University of Pennsylvania