Legacies of Development in Intibucá, Honduras: An Analysis of State and Non-State Intervention
Social Sciences
LALS-193-01 Field Study and LALS-195B-11 Senior Thesis
PURPOSE: This thesis serves at a aper was written as a conclusion to field research.
ABSTRACT: As the only way to "seguir adelante", to “push forward”, from moderate and extreme poverty, I trace the legacies of development in Intibucá, Honduras. ‘Development’ is used here to refer to perceptions of modernity, dependency, and development intervention (which I focus on), as opposed to actual inter-generational mobility as denoted by improved educational attainment, realization of aspirations, more equitable gender roles and more fruitful livelihoods. Employing a mixed-methods approach (interviews, observations and time allocation samples respectively), I selected four communities for study —El Tablón, El Cerrón, San Fernando and Chogola—that lie in the northwest department of Intibucá, Honduras to illustrate the implications of development intervention as imposed from state and non-state agents. I argue that changes in individual mobility are a direct response to intervention and new aspirations to ‘un-under-develop.’ In this transition toward ‘development,’ I argue that individuals become units of consumption, production and need—adopting capitalism’s ideals and economy, arguably, further entrenching themselves in condition of ‘under-development’. I find that the study sample showed a delayed response to development intervention due to state policies, slow market transformations, and a remote geographic location that prolonged their relations with said agents.
KEYWORDS: Honduras, livelihoods, gender, seguir adelante, development theory and discourse.
