The Changing Face of NGOs: Structure and Communitas In Conservation And Development In Madagascar
Author(s)
Gezon, Lisa L.
Abstract
An analogy between Victor Turner’s dichotomy between structure and communitas, and conservation and development activities in Madagascar provides a framework for considering how international NGOs alternate between two modes of envisioning what ought to be and implementing structures designed to carry out the plans. It also considers the roles of anthropologists in applied endeavors, arguing for the necessity of scholarly critiques and recommendations as aids to agenda-setting and planning, and for the value of anthropologists being directly involved in the implementation of structured projects. Evidence from conservation and development in Madagascar supports this argument, in an evaluation of some of the specific policy changes between the first (1991-1997) and second (1997-present) phases of funding of the environmental plan in Madagascar. It assesses the fall of the Integrated Conservation and Development Project and the adoption of a regional perspective.
