The Master's programme in Cultures and Development Studies (CADES) at the K.U.Leuven aims at enhancing the multi-disciplinary and intercultural expertise and skills of professionals involved or interested in advisory, policy or educational assignments in the international and intercultural co-operation sectors. Current insights into the complex dynamics of the ongoing economic and informational globalisation, the resurgence of ethno-cultural assertiveness and the development of alternative modernities inform the programme's multifaceted approaches and methodologies for prospecting, guiding and evaluating sustainable development initiatives. Rooted in contemporary social and cultural anthropology, the programme draws on various disciplines and area studies and deploys a wealth of relevant viewpoints.

Anthropology

Anthropology entails the empirical and comparative study of the vast variety, in space and time, of inter-acting or interconnected societies and cultures. It adopts the research methods of fieldwork and participant observation in order to enhance our understanding of the rich diversity of knowledge systems, worldviews and modes of living. The anthropologist therefore avoids approaching a given socio-culture in the light of her or his own standards of knowledge, truth, values or technological development.

Development

Development is only sustainable when it fully acknowledges the culture-specific ways in which local societies or networks deal with often increasingly scarce life resources (land, food, water, air, energy) and manage processes of production, exchange or dwelling. Local communities often view change or 'development' as desirable only when it meaningfully blends with the cultural genius that inspires their heritages of knowledge, religion and art; their networks of communication, consultation and decision-making; or their notions of responsibility, parenthood, nourishment and health. Development is mediated by a community's non-reflective assumptions, common-sense knowledge and pragmatic motives, as well as by their more conscious, culture-specific concepts of fertility, gender, kinship, leadership, individual and collective identities and status, patronage, ethics, politics and justice.

An Integrated Approach

Following multi-sited research conducted at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, the programme counters the universalising Western master-narrative of modernisation. It refutes the biased conceptualisation of the relationship between centre and periphery, or between techno-science and endogenous knowledge or practice, and stimulates an integrated approach to development issues.

Local and Global

The programme seeks to offer a forum for the poly-logue of cultures in a pluri-centric world. It aims to elucidate for the student how local societies deal with the pervasive forces of globalisation (the media, dollarisation, technology, consumerism, human rights campaigns) and how subaltern groups respond to or resist them. It strives toward the ideal that technological progress would not mean the end of local cultures and endogenous knowledge systems but rather their reinforcement and emancipation. The programme seeks to mediate between the universal and culture-specific claims on knowledge, beauty and human fulfilment. Only a profoundly diverse intercultural and 'oiko-logical' understanding and engagement for sustainable development can open innovative avenues of equity.