Indigenous populations in a cultural perspective - The paradox of development in southeast Asia

Few development workers are genuinely convinced that the brave new world has much to learn from minor material cultures, apart from museum exhibitions, exotic dances, and folk performances. The idea of learning from "the other" appears outdated and is seldom founded on a notion of mutual exchange. Development implicitly pursues a process of homogenisation. Negotiation with "beneficiaries" is stipulated as a courtesy. The fashionable idea of "putting people first" does not fit well with prevailing socioeconomic imperatives, in spite of such concepts as participation and empowerment which give the false impression that development is in people's own hands.