Paper short abstract:

To facilitate a better understanding of the contribution of Culture for Development processes, this paper depicts the entangled career of the concept for Africa. Hence, relational political fields such as ownership and post-colonial identities will question explanatory models of development theory.

Paper long abstract:

Depending on how culture enters the debate of development theory and practice, different trajectories for theorization and policymaking, what for, are promoted: for participation, for success of development initiatives, economic growth and the contribution of culture for non-economic goals of development. Together, all underscore the key challenge of rethinking development´s objectives and, respectively, the interdisciplinary re-conceptualisation of the concept of culture. Despite, the missing methodological precision endows culture as a residual notion.

Development is a normative concept that defines the direction of economic and social transition depending on space, time and history. At a time when "not many years have passed since the existence of a culture belonging to the "primitive tribes" or "savages' of Africa was commonly acknowledged" (Kossou 1982: 209), phenomenal discussions such as the African and Asian difference in 'cultural characteristics' or 'mentalities', which are conducive to the economic capitalist model , indicate that both, culture and development, imply a shared history and relational political fields. Taking into account that the idea of Western progressive culture and traditional regressive culture basically gave the framework for modernization theory, this paper carefully examines careers of the single notions: culture and development. I argue that development and cultural policies demand broader reflections on entangled implications such as identity politics, ownership but also discrimination and post-colonialism. The explicit connection with 'Africa' facilitates operative definitions.

The argument of the paper derived from an empirical study on a cultural centre in Malawi.