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Colonial and Contemporary Ideologies of ‘Community Management’: The Case of Tank Irrigation Development in South India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 1999

David Mosse
David Mosse
Affiliation:
School of Oriental and African Studies, London
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Abstract

This is an essay in the sociology of knowledge. It aims to demonstrate, firstly, how development institutions construct rural society in terms of organizational imperatives, and secondly, how these ‘constructions’ come to be underpinned by social theory. The focus is on irrigation in south India and colonial and contemporary state policy initiatives to promote local institutions for the community management of decentralized resource systems. The essay presents the social and historical origin of an important and powerful set of contemporary policy ideas. The significance of this lies in the continuing misperception of local institutions of resource management, and in particular the systematic isolation of resource management from its particular social and historical context.

Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Asian Studies , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , April 1999 , pp. 303 - 338
Copyright
© 1999 Cambridge University Press

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