Activities, Actants and Actors: Theoretical Perspectives on Development Practice and Practitioners

Abstract

This chapter falls into two parts. The first offers a theoretical overview of three actor perspectives on issues of development intervention: (a) activity theory, (b) actor-network theory and (c) actor-oriented interface analysis. The second provides an illustrated discussion of the usefulness of actor perspectives for understanding the encounters that take place between ‘development experts’ (local and foreign) and so-called ‘beneficiaries’. The argument draws upon ethnographic data relating to issues of development interface, actor identities, networks and discourse.

Citation

Long, N. (2015), "Activities, Actants and Actors: Theoretical Perspectives on Development Practice and Practitioners", Constructing a New Framework for Rural Development (Research in Rural Sociology and Development, Vol. 22), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 31-58. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1057-192220150000022002