Bread or Chainsaws? Paths to Mobilizing Household Labor for Cooperative Rural Development in a Oaxacan Village (Mexico)
Author(s)
Mutersbaugh, Tad
Abstract
A central theme in contemporary grassroots development literature is negative issue of participation (Moore 1995; Macdonald 1997; Tendler 1988). Whether civil society is to be democratized or rural development promoted, participation is understood to be a linchpin of success. Macdonald (1997) contends that the allure of participation stems in part from a series of ideas created specifically for various development constituencies: neo-conservatives find nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) better suited than states to administer structural adjustment policies and distribute basic needs (Macdonald 1997, 4; Bebbington and Thiele 1993, 51); liberal-pluralists like the idea that participation strengthens (bourgeois) democracy; post-Marxists find that participation builds revolutionary place-based movements. Participation has been depoliticized, and the question “participation to what end?” has been silenced. Macdonald (1995) argues that the concept of participation is better reclaimed – that is, repoliticized – than rejected. While repoliticization is crucial given development realpolitik, this article argues that politics must encompass local gender and cultural economies as well.
