The Making of a Periphery

Edited by Bertha Koda and Pekka Seppälä. What makes a periphery? The south-eastern corner of Tanzania is officially one of the poorest corners of the world and is always presented as a peripheral area. This volume presents a lively discussion on the making of a periphery. The contributors show the interaction between the perceptions of outsiders, the views of local people, and the actual development efforts. The authors perceive development as a negotiated and contested field. Culture is not considered a factor constraining development but is seen rather as an engine which, due to the plurality of local and outsider cultures, sets the parameters for the battle. A critical development studies contribution that refuses to treat poverty as a fixed condition and instead examines the social, political, and cultural processes through which a region becomes, and remains, peripheral to national development.