Carolyn M. Rouse

In the process of writing Uncertain Suffering, I watched the television show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The show intrigues me because the producers rely on standard narratives of suffering and redemption in order to tear at the audience’s heartstrings. While doing research in health care, I grew increasing skeptical of discourses of suffering because they similarly cast people or systems as innocent or evil; ideal types that do not really exist. More importantly, the producers seem to argue that a remodeled house can produce dispositions that lead to jobs and higher incomes. Given the explosion of non-governmental organizations engaged in charitable projects, I decided that my next project would focus on what is wrong with the presumption that individual behavior, rather than structural change, is key to well-being. In addition, turning houses in poor neighborhoods into half-million dollar mansions might lead to social alienation. Put simply the show is based on the assumption that any charity is good charity. My project is built on the assumption that turning someone’s double-wide trailer into a McMansion may not be a good thing, but raising the standard of living for an entire community might reduce violence and improve quality of life.

At the same time that I critique development discourses and practices, and reject the notion that charity is a form of social justice, I do believe that being human involves connecting with others and engaging in projects to make the world a better place. I do not think, in other words, that engaging with the "third world" is qualitatively different from engaging with one’s immediate community. The difference is that in our neighborhood we understand the extant culture, histories, and value hierarchies. Importantly, we understand what is at stake socially and economically. As an anthropologist, what I find missing in most development projects is an appreciation for how culture matters, or more importantly the role of power.

In 2006, I met with a community outside Accra. I asked them, "If I could do something for your community what would it be?" They said that they needed a high school so that their children would not have to become fishermen. Development Hubris chronicles the adventures and misadventures of this global project.

In September of 2010, Pan African Global Academy (PAGA) opened! We have a class of twenty-five first year high school students. For the next three years we will add another first year class until the school full. Two phenomenal teachers run PAGA. My lead teacher was trained in chemical engineering at Ghana's premiere technical university, KNUST.

The school is designed to reduce the knowledge asymetries that are leading to the alienation of people from their family lands in Greater Accra. Through the teaching of history and politics, which require basic literacy and critical thinking skills, we hope the students acquire legal literacy.

We also want students to apply their newly acquired math, accounting, and integrated science skills to raise their families' income and/​or reduce household expenses. The science and engineering focused curriculum is designed to lead the community in the redesign and redevelopment of public and private spaces. To that end, the students immediately use what they learn in the classroom to local development projects. This curriculum model has been termed, "Curriculum Led Development."

This is the most exciting and difficult project I have ever undertaken. But the rewards are hard to overstate. We are collecting longitudinal data and hope in five years to report that the school has been responsible for reducing levels of violence, reducing freehold land sales, increasing household incomes, and increasing college matriculation rates.

We are now in the process of trying to get funding to redesign the community marketplace. PAGA will have a business in the marketplace and the proceeds from the business will go towards funding the school.

I am excited by the discourses and practices of social entrepreneurs who are working with states to create socially and economically sustainable markets. It's capitalism with a little c, and these businesses sink or swim depending on whether the products and services are in demand.

Working with the state remains an important part of our project. Government accountability cannot happen unless people at the local level engage with elected and appointed state representatives. The Minister of the Environment, Science, and Technology donated seedlings for our students' rural development project. This represents exactly the type of public-private partnership I hoped for.