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Photo: Mi..chael.
Creative Commons BY-NC (cropped).
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Katariina Oivo (United Nations
University)
Many
development practitioners and social theorists have noted that any development
process has an important cultural component. Efforts to improve quality of life
or reduce inequality, for instance, are inherently tied to local customs,
values and social systems. Accordingly, research has found that culture can
foster development as well as hinder development outcomes. Thus it is important
that development planners take cultural considerations into account, as
benevolent interventions made without attention to cultural conditions and
factors may prove futile or even have unexpected adverse effects.
However,
to date, research has provided less insight on how culture in the sense of
visual, literary and performing arts can be linked to development. This
connection was picked up by John Clammer, Visiting Professor at the United
Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability
(UNU-IAS), who focuses on the sociology of development and the sociology of
culture as applied to development issues.
Clammer’s
recent book, Art, Culture and International Development: Humanizing Social Transformation, is the first to systematically explore the relationship between
art and development. Clammer argues that arts can contribute directly to
economic and social development, and that stimulating creativity may lay the
foundations for alternative development paths and sustainable forms of culture.
In
the following interview, I asked Clammer to expand on his groundbreaking work.
• ♦ •
Katariina Oivo (KO): What
inspired you to examine the relationship between art and development?
John
Clammer (JC): This was a mixture of my own personal interest in the arts — some
of which I have practiced! — and my commitment professionally to development
studies. For a long time these existed as two separate spheres, until I began
to think about how to bring them together. That was the genesis of my new book,
and once I started to think about and research the idea, there turned out to be
many links.
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A painter,
Atlanta, United States. Photo: C. Elle. Creative CommonsBY-NC-SA (cropped).
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KO: In the field of development,
art tends to be seen as a by-product of society or, at best, merely
instrumental for development processes. What potential do you think is missed
with this kind of view? What impact do you hope that this book will have on the
way art, culture and development are perceived?
JC:
It is sadly true that art is seen as a by-product, but with a little more thought
it becomes apparent that culture, including the arts, is the very medium in
which we live much of our daily lives.
I
am reminded of the wartime British minister, who when asked to cut spending on
the arts during the war years, asked the very relevant question: “Then what are
we fighting for?”. I think this is true for development, too. What are we
developing for? I hope that the book will illustrate some of the many ways in
which this question can be answered — the enriching of life, expressions of
identity, and many other things.
I
think that a genuinely holistic understanding of development has to give as
much attention to its cultural aspects as to its economic, political and
technological ones. Infrastructure is not much use if there is nowhere to go
with it!
KO: Alongside promoting culture and development,
you advocate for the development of culture. What does this entail?
And why is it important?
JC:
This is a key to the whole book. My concern was with many levels of
development: the instrumental and educative role of the arts, the fact that the
arts constitute much of the identity of a culture — its dance, architecture,
painting and so forth — its role as therapy and as a peacemaking mechanism, and
very much its role in empowerment, not only in relation to gender, but also for
youth, for minorities, for refugees, and for other marginalized groups.
In
particular I was interested in the ways in which creativity and imagination in
one area — in this case the arts — spill over into other areas of what I have
called “social creativity”: new thinking about issues such as environment,
social inequalities, new family arrangements and many other possible areas.
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Awa Odori
dancers, Japan. Photo: Agustin Rafael Reyes. Creative Commons BY-NC-SA (cropped).
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KO: You suggest that art can
promote social inclusion and empowerment, or create economic opportunities and
alleviate poverty, for example. Could you share some examples from the field of
innovative approaches experimenting with art and development that demonstrate
how culture can act as an agent of social change?
JC:
There are many examples. I myself have been involved with artists from Kolkata
working with tribal groups in remote areas of the state of Orissa. They have
been stimulating local craft production as a means of poverty alleviation and
as a way of addressing gender issues.
The
women who make the jewellery, which can be sold for a considerable profit in
the boutiques of Kolkata and other urban centres, get to keep their income and
devote it to their own activities and to supporting their children. The region
witnesses rather extreme alcohol consumption among the men, who tend to use any
extra income for their own purposes. But the craft promotion initiative brings
income to women, gives them a sense of self-esteem and maintains artistic
traditions within the community.
In
the book I talk about other examples such as the Ivuka Arts project (SEE VIDEO BELOW) in
Kigali, Rwanda, where art has proved to be a valuable form of social therapy in
a society deeply divided and traumatized by genocide.
The
same can be true for theatre. In India, for example, drama is used as a way of
communicating messages about social change, gender and caste problems, topics
such as HIV/AIDS, good agricultural practices like not wasting water, and many
other themes.
The
book is full of such examples, and the ones I have cited are only a small sampling.
I would have liked to include many more.
KO: Securing funds for
international development programmes can be extremely competitive and art and
culture programmes can be controversial funding recipients. How can art and
culture be promoted as a crucial component of development success?
JC:
This is a very real question. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has recently begun promoting the idea of the
“creative industries” as a mode of development; in other words actively
encouraging the stimulation of such activities as music, film, crafts, and so
on, as important economic activities in their own right. The problem is that
funding is rarely a priority for these areas. If there is a culture ministry at
all in a given country, it is usually seen as a relatively insignificant one
and is rarely well funded.
But
I think that the UNESCO initiative and others like it have had good effects.
They remind governments of the importance of culture — even if for instrumental
ends such as promoting tourism — and draw the attention of funding agencies to
the possibility of funding cultural projects as well as the more traditional
infrastructure ones.
The
economic argument for arts is of course an important one (artists need to
eat!), but it is also necessary, I think, to keep up promotion for the
intrinsic significance of the arts and for the fact that life is very
impoverished without arts. After all, what will we do in the evenings, once we
are “developed”? In any case, when you think about it, culture is everywhere,
including in what we eat and wear or how we decorate our houses. If we keep
alive the question of what are the ends of development, what is it for, it is
possible to introduce much more the idea that culture counts and is not just
some luxury or “extra” to be added when we have achieved “development” — which
of course we never really do attain.
Another
aspect is to look at development failures, of which there are many. Why may
apparently well intentioned policies not work out as planned or as hoped? The answer
is often because cultural and sociological aspects were ignored or underplayed.
This is especially the case in such areas as health or even agriculture, where
rituals may be as important to the locals as seeds.
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Professor
John Clammer. Photo: C. Christophersen/UNU.
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KO: How would you like to see an
understanding of “integral development”, with an emphasis on creative arts,
reflected in national and international development policy?
JC:
I would of course like for it to become mainstream! But in order for that to
happen the kinds of ideas discussed need to be much more widely accepted.
I
would like to think that this book on the arts and development, along with the
two that preceded it on culture and development (Culture, Development andSocial Theory: Towards an Integrated Social Development) and on the sociology
of the arts (Vision and Society: Towards a Sociology and Anthropology from Art),
might act as a catalyst in stimulating interest, in providing knowledge of some
very successful models, and in showing what a more integral or holistic
understanding of development might look like.
United Nations University
Katariina Oivo is a political sociologist working with global development issues, and is particularly interested in civil society, human rights, and social and environmental sustainability. She previously was a Junior Fellow at the United Nations University in Tokyo.
Originally published in OUR WORLD/UNU
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