ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses upon two distinctive subfields of development—communication for development and information and communication technology for development. It explores differences between the two subfields within anthropology’s broader critique of development, taking us from digital divide agendas to notions of a participatory culture. Democracy is the language of militarily imposed change, neoliberal market forces and international development agendas. Participation is considered to be a cornerstone of democracy and of international development—a building block of reform and progress. As James Ferguson demonstrates in The Anti-Politics Machine, development is a central organizing concept of our time that frames our thinking about much of the world.
