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In Visions of Development in Central Asia: Revitalizing the Culture
Concept, Noor O'Neill Borbieva reflects on anthropology's
withdrawal from discussions about culture and the parallel rise of
the intellectually and politically problematic discourse of
"culture matters thinking," or CMT. CMT asserts that cultures are
homogeneous and that the dominant values of its culture determine a
state's socioeconomic and political trajectories. Drawing on
practice theory, ecological psychology, complexity science, and
poststructuralism, Borbieva urges anthropologists to revisit
debates about culture in order to counteract the influence of
simplistic formulations such as CMT. Through an examination of
ethnographic material from Kyrgyzstan, gathered during the years
she worked as a Peace Corps Volunteer and as an anthropologist,
Borbieva examines how debates about culture shaped the development
sector's agenda in Central Asia. She argues that mainstream
discussions of culture not only misunderstand the cultural basis of
human diversity but also threaten that diversity by promoting a
one-size-fits-all vision of well-being. Borbieva suggests an
alternative vision, one that recognizes the profound complexity of
human sociality and embraces the many forms of human thriving that
grow out of our cultural differences.
Visions of Development in Central Asia: Revitalizing the Culture
Concept reflects on the current anthropologic methods of theorizing
about culture. Noor O'Neill Borbieva focuses on the intellectually
and politically problematic discourse of "culture matters
thinking," or CMT. CMT asserts that cultures are homogeneous and
that the dominant values of a culture determine a state's
socioeconomic and political trajectories. Drawing on practice
theory, ecological psychology, complexity science, and
poststructuralism, Borbieva urges anthropologists to reconsider the
culture concept in order to combat the impact of simplistic
formulations such as CMT. Through an examination of ethnographic
material from Kyrgyzstan-and drawing on the many years she lived in
the region, first as a Peace Corps Volunteer and later as an
ethnographer-Borbieva creates a clear picture of what is at stake
if anthropologic debates about culture remain unchanged. She argues
that such narratives not only misunderstand the cultural basis of
human diversity, but also threaten that diversity by promoting a
one-size-fits-all vision of well-being. Borbieva suggests an
alternative vision, one that recognizes the profound complexity of
human sociality and that embraces the many forms of human thriving
that grow out of our cultural differences.
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