Indigenous Peoples and Development Programmes

Abstract

Development assistance for indigenous peoples poses particular dilemmas. A recent book focuses on the forms these take in a development programme directed at the San people of Botswana. The author, Sidsel Saugestad, argues that the failure to identify the target group in terms of ethnicity means that the underlying causes of their marginalisation cannot be addressed. The analysis weaves together discussions of what indigenousness should mean in an African context; of the contradictions of positive discrimination; and the difficulties of recipient responsibility. While a few questions do arise from Saugestad's treatment of this complex subject matter, the book as a whole represents a successful example of applied anthropology, it is concluded.

Keywords:

• indigenous peoples
• development assistance
• Botswana
• recipient responsibility