Insights from Zambian miners for rethinking development policy and the environment
Author(s)
Parsons, Elizabeth CEditor(s)
Eade, DeborahPublication date
2008-06-01Subject
Approach and methodologyCountry
Zambia
Metadata
Show full item recordJournal
Development in PracticeDocument type
Journal articleLanguage
EnglishDescription
The world is at a critical point as humanity contemplates how its own activity is contributing to changes in the earth and atmosphere. Formidable challenges require raising fundamental questions and learning from unlikely sources. Drawing on field research conducted on the Zambian Copperbelt, this article explores how public conversations concerning differing views of reality can inform development-related thinking about the environment. Enumerating practical examples where words and images both conveyed and shaped conflicting viewpoints in the industrial mine setting, the article asserts that much can be learned from the experiential viewpoints of underground miners. Policy making could benefit, for instance, from lessening its dependence on dominant economic thinking and increasingly drawing upon historical, cultural, philosophical, and theological insights when devising policies, projects, and procedures. Questions of power, control, and humanity's self-conception in relation to the physical world are also explored.<p>This article is hosted by our co-publisher Taylor & Francis.</p>Pages
8ISSN
0961-4524EISSN
1364-9213ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1080/09614520802030516