“ethnos” means ‘People’, hence etno-Development is the approach that is concerned with the development of local people and indigenous culture. It implies that development should come from within the society not from outside, it must be participatory and community based. The initiative for development must be identified by the local people, who will involve themselves in designing and implementation of the development projects using principles and techniques suited to the local conditions.
Ethnodevelopment is a policy established In response to ethnocide, where indigenous cultures and ways of life are being lost due to large-scale development and exploitation. This large-scale development could include urban development in rural communities and exploitation of natural resources including building dams, mines, or clear-cutting forests. Typically self-led ethnodevelopment is favoured, where the indigenous peoples are involved in creating a plan for their future development and organization of communities in a way that follows their traditional beliefs and customs.
Key Aspects:
a) From economic growth to human development: The ‘Nation’ used to be the unit of Development now ‘local regions’ and ‘cultures’ have become the basic units. Now the development approaches are not relevant across the wider regions. These development approaches are related not only to growth but to what kind of growth, not simply to development but what kind of development. This has helped in emergence of approaches in diverse new directions which have come to be known as sustainable development, people-friendly growth, pro-poor growth, etc.
b) Sustainable development: Sustainable development puts stress on the participatory aspects of the local people in the decision-making process that affects their lives. The people for whom the development programme has been adopted must take part in planning and the execution of every aspect of the programme.
c) Culture consideration: Development earlier meant westernisation of colonised societies and culture. The process has established a strong trend in social transformation. But this approach and belief have started to decline along with the development of colony-free national culture. Culture has gradually become a part of development studies. Now culture is not considered as an obstacle to the development process, rather as an influential factor for the development of a society.
Example:
Andean Peru: the district of Combapata, Peru which is located in the southern Andes. The livelihood of People in this community depends on the Salcca River. They are basically involved in Agriculture and animal husbandry. The Peruvian government proposed to build a dam on Salcca, in order for generating hydroelectric power because of its high volume current being at high altitude.
The indegenious people rejected the idea, pointing out that it would drastically change their life economically as well as spiritually. The people used their ethinic identity to protect their way of life and ensure that development occurs in a way that coincides with their beliefs . they wish to develop in ways that respect their local concepts of morality and rieir relationship with nature. They were not opposed to “development” as it increased their capital, education, social order and organization. So this caused the community to push for organization and goal for self-led ethnodevelopment and compelled them to unify and develop their own ideological framework which protects their environment and their culture
source : wikipedia
More related articles:
- https://www.downtoearth.org.in/blog/health/how-adivasis-of-one-jharkhand-village-are-trying-to-preserve-ethnomedicine-74747
- https://thewire.in/environment/northeast-india-resource-frontier-ecology-politics