This article examines the various ways in which the relationship between anthropology and development has been established in anthropological practice especially in the last few decades. The change in mainstream development theory towards the inclusion of social and cultural considerations paved the way, in the 1970s, for the increasing participation of social scientists in development, resulting in the emergence of ‘development anthropology’ within development institutions. In the 1980s, in the wake of post-structuralist critiques of culture and representation, another field — the ‘anthropology of development’ — came into existence. The article reviews the concepts, experience and predicaments of these two fields, taking their respective views of both anthropology and development as a point of departure. Today, it is argued, it is difficult to maintain the boundaries between the two fields; novel forms of engaging anthropology and development are, in fact, appearing. These emerging practices are analysed by focusing on the work of a handful of anthropologists who are crafting a new theory of practice and a new practice of theory at the intersection of anthropology and development. The article concludes with some thoughts for the future on the anthropology of globalization and postdevelopment.
