IUAES2015 panel session #9
17 July 2015, 11.00 – 12.30 hrs.
Peter CASE
College of Business, Law & Governance, James Cook University
contact: peter.case@jcu.edu.au
John G CONNELL
James Cook University
contact: john.connell@jcu.edu.au
Michael JONES
James Cook University
contact: umalemusan@gmail.com
Abstract
This paper reflects on matters of cultural difference and interface as they relate to an Australian donor-funded research project aimed at improving management and delivery systems for agriculture extension services to smallholder farmers in Lao People’s Democratic Republic. A series of representative ethnographic anecdotes drawn from three years of cooperative research with central and local authorities are used to explore cross-cultural dynamics arising from research project interventions. Processes by which local actors adapt, resist, and/or accept Western management principles and techniques are the main focus of interest. The anecdotes relate the experience of applying simple principles—evidence based decision-making, and results-oriented planning and reporting—in situations with pre-existing practices, priorities, and assignments. These stories point to a need for situating any expectations for local reception, interpretation, and modification within a sensitive understanding of historically-embedded cultural and organizational practices. The concepts of ‘taking culture’, mandala state structure, patron-client relationships, and ‘subsistence ethics’ prove particularly useful to explaining observed patterns of resistance, adaptation, and ownership.