What challenges do Shrestha and Piot present for thinking about the problem of “arrested
development”?
Red= Shrestha
Green= Piot
The term arrested development refers to development reaching a ceiling, without the ability
for development to continue. Shrestha and Piot challenge the notion of arrested development,
which looks at development through Rostow’s lenses of a stage that has to be arrived at. The
main notion they challenge is that the end goal of development is often set by Western ideals
of what development should be. This paper presents Shrestha and Piot’s challenges to the
notion of arrested development, and what they state as the implications of such a worldview.
1. The intellectual starts to criticize his own national culture
Glamorous notion of development
Bikasis vs pakhe
Educated children look down on parents- ashamed of parents
New educated youngsters want to rule village- conflict- regard their own ways as
backward- want to bring what they have been taught development is
Feel ashamed of own ways- witchcraft
2. Colonized view of development
Foreign aid solidifies this
Culture of imperialism reproduced
Left physically- Still rule morally and intellectually
Address missionaries as sahib/sab- master/ boss- strengthened whites who feel
superior- justified them “saving the locals”
Bikas solidified colonial notion- unable to do things for themselves or by themselves
Locals categorized as inferior and poverty stricken in their worldview
“Adopting” African children to care for- Oprah’s children that she would save from
Africa
European dropping from the sky to save an African child
3. Western superiority- Western is developed
development”?
Red= Shrestha
Green= Piot
The term arrested development refers to development reaching a ceiling, without the ability
for development to continue. Shrestha and Piot challenge the notion of arrested development,
which looks at development through Rostow’s lenses of a stage that has to be arrived at. The
main notion they challenge is that the end goal of development is often set by Western ideals
of what development should be. This paper presents Shrestha and Piot’s challenges to the
notion of arrested development, and what they state as the implications of such a worldview.
1. The intellectual starts to criticize his own national culture
Glamorous notion of development
Bikasis vs pakhe
Educated children look down on parents- ashamed of parents
New educated youngsters want to rule village- conflict- regard their own ways as
backward- want to bring what they have been taught development is
Feel ashamed of own ways- witchcraft
2. Colonized view of development
Foreign aid solidifies this
Culture of imperialism reproduced
Left physically- Still rule morally and intellectually
Address missionaries as sahib/sab- master/ boss- strengthened whites who feel
superior- justified them “saving the locals”
Bikas solidified colonial notion- unable to do things for themselves or by themselves
Locals categorized as inferior and poverty stricken in their worldview
“Adopting” African children to care for- Oprah’s children that she would save from
Africa
European dropping from the sky to save an African child
3. Western superiority- Western is developed
