Lothar Smith

"Tales of Development: People, Power and Space" has been written to mark forty years of commitment to the field of development geography by Ton van Naerssen.

With 19 essays,  this book reflects on a number of important themes such as the role of critical theory in public debate; the interrelationship between governance and development; the implications of changing identities in the articulation of space; the role of globalization on lives and livelihoods; and the significance of migration.

Contents:

Acknowledgements
Introduction - Paul Hebinck, Sef Slootweg and Lothar Smith

Themes and Motives
1 Tales of Development: Ton van Naerssen in perspective through themes and motives - Ernst Spaan

Critical Geography and Social Space
2 Critical geography in post-modern times - Huib Ernste
3 Land reform, scripts and social space: emergent properties in rural South Africa - Paul Hebinck
4 Livelihoods and the articulation of space - Leo J. de Haan
5 Revisiting peripheral capitalism in Zambia - Ton Dietz, Annemieke van Haastrecht and Rudolf Scheffer
6 Knowledge development, SNV’s impact on world history - Sef Slootweg

Migration Trajectories
7 Return migration and development: a complicated marriage - Tine Davids and Ruerd Ruben
8 People, borders, and trajectories - Martin van der Velde
9 Remittances versus migrants: disjointed flows in a globalizing world - Joris Schapendonk and Lothar Smith
10 Door-to-door cargo agents: cultivating and expanding Filipino transnational space - Marisha Maas

Acting on Globalisation
11 African art and the Dutch art world – a reflective practitioners’ view - Ankie van de Camp and Ben Janssen
12 Rocks and hard places: development research between neoliberal globalism and global neoliberalism - Frans J. Schuurman
13 Global governance, NGOs and the politics of scale - Bas Arts
14 A tale of two countries: perspectives from the South on the coherence of EU policies - Paul Hoebink
15 The geopolitisation of natural resources in an era of global transition: the EU response - Cor van Beuningen

Redefining Regions and Identities
16 Walking the middle path: contested democracy in Thailand - Luuk Knippenberg en Saskia van Bruchem
17 Associationalist regionalism: from ‘powers of association’ to ‘associations of power’ - Bas Hendrikx and Arnoud Lagendijk
18 Urban governance for development. recent trends in Latin America - Paul van Lindert
19 Environment and health in an urbanizing world - Françoise Barten and Geert Tom Heinekens

This policy brief argues for the need and a modality, using existing methods of recognition of qualifications and competences of so-called third country nationals (from outside the European Union), to ensure that their uptake in the domestic labour market is more efficient, and in cognition of their actual capacities.

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This book provides an in-depth exploration of how transnational relationships of urban dwellers with migrants influence economic activities in Accra, the capital of Ghana. These transnational relationships enable urban people to avoid - or else overcome - crises, and help them ...

Migrants are increasingly leading transnational lives, impacting the institutions that shape local economies both in their place of residence and in their home communities. One example of this is the institution of funerals in developing countries. Funerals are becoming multi-sited events as migrants from developing countries play important roles in the organization, financing and practice of funeral ceremonies in their home countries. Funerals thus give rise to flows of money, goods and people across national borders, ultimately affecting different economies around the world. This article uses a multi-sited research design to follow the flows associated with a funeral held in a village in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Detailed data were collected simultaneously in four locations involved in the funeral, and a multiplier analysis was used to trace funeral spending in different locations and sectors. The analysis shows that funeral spending supports various economic sectors in Ghana and across the globe, reinforcing the nature of funerals as (partly) economic events, which should be included in economic analyses of remittances and migration. Funeral practices are modified in various ways to accommodate transnational elements. At the same time, funerals continue to act, even in a transnational context, as occasions for reaffirming ties and a sense of belonging; they form a way for home communities, both rural and urban, to keep migrants interested in them.

Studies around the world have shown the interest of migrants to invest in houses in their countries of origin. Yet scholarly and political debates have mainly focused on the productivity of these investments, arguing that the money spent might have found more productive uses. We argue that this is too limited a view, as it fails to take into consideration two dimensions: Why do investments in houses take place, a question that is not only economic but also social and cultural in nature. Second, how do transnational investments in houses take place? This is important given that migrants are seldom able to construct their own homes, instead depending on actors in their country of origin. This paper shows the importance of unravelling the transnational relationships involved with migrant investments in houses in order to understand the meaning of these investments.

Key words: Transnationalism, migrants, urban actors, remittances, reciprocal investments, Ghana