Conclusion 2.0

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Conclusion:

I had the struggle this past year of trying

to explain to Grandmothers, friends, old teachers, peers, parents and siblings

what precisely Global Development Studies entails. This may have been because development itself is such a difficult

concept to understand, one you could even say is constantly being negated and

challenged.

Development is Colonization and Imperialism,

the burden of the white man.

Development is Modernization Theory,

Dependency Theory, African Renaissance Theory, Absolute Advantage Theory,

Needs-based Theory, Marxist Theory, Feminist Theory, and a way of interpreting

the world’s circumstances.

Development is post-Colonialism,

Postcolonialism, Neo-Colonialism, Globalization and an insight into cultural

hegemony itself.

Development is the Human Development Index,

Gender Inequality Index, Gender Development Index, literacy rate, income index,

health index, Multidimensional Poverty Index, population rates and national

GDP, a system of measuring the circumstances of our world.

Development is the Truth and Reconciliation

Commission, Canadian International Development Agency, a process, and a way of

moving forward from our past.

Development is governance, economic

advantage, capitalism, NGOs, RNGOs, sustainability, a national pursuit, a

neo-liberal tool, the NIDL, a global market and an outlet for political,

economic and social subordination or growth.

Development is First World, Third World,

Developed, Industrializing, Underdeveloped, Core, Periphery, and the names we

give ourselves.

Development is the Millennium Development

Goals, targets, grass-roots initiatives, worldwide initiatives,

the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and a ‘universal’ project.

Development is a health issue, an outbreak, a

health stabilizer, a barrier, a poverty generator and destroyer, a circumstance

of both birth and social position.

Development is a culture, many cultures,

representation, a pursuit for empowerment, a gender inequality, a tool for

women, a tool for men, and a pathway to freedom.

Development is change.

Development is a little undecided on how

exactly it wants to impact, change, interact with, influence and be expressed

in this world; however development at least is constructing a history of its

past, understanding the circumstances of its own reality and creating a vision

for moving forward in he future. And it has given me insight into my own

ability to be like development, because I too am a process and product of development.