ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a series of case studies: law courts, markets, administration, and development projects in schemes and villages, each concerning an aspect of culture in the context of social change in the Blue Nile Province. It examines the accounts of development for failing to take into account particular situations, not just the issues of importance in a locality but the ways in which localities are tied to development agencies, donor nations and national, regional bureaucracies, markets, and courts. The development of agricultural land began to take shape at the turn of the century, initially in the eastern and northern parts, where water and land were abundant. The major part of the development effort is centrally funded though ideally it is locally coordinated. There is a tendency to set up autonomous development authorities; scheme-based corporations that bypass the local administration. Complications emerge most clearly in the way development projects appear on the ground in the Blue Nile Province.
