ABSTRACT
The philosopher Nelson Goodman’s insights into the ways in which words make worlds resonates with the contributions that Robert Chambers has made to development’s project of world-making through his creative and prolific contributions to development’s lexicon. Goodman puts forward an argument that is deeply dissonant with the epistemological orthodoxy in development studies: that the existence of the world is dependent on conceptions of it. This chapter looks at some of the concepts that Robert has been involved in elucidating and popularizing. It looks at the linguistic strategies that Robert identifies in his own writings, and identifies a series of tactics that he has used in relation to particular words and phrases in development. The chapter explores some of the implications of Robert’s engagement with word-making and world-making for the ways in which we conceive of development.
