The Imperialism of Categories: Concepts and Contexts in Communication for Social Change

Abstract

This article is a critique of communication and social change (CSC) theory. It makes a case for re-centring context in theory and practice and for appropriate uses of categories and concepts to the making sense of of situations in the developing world. Based on fieldwork with an indigenous community in South India, the Irulas, the article explores their very specific context on the margins of globalising India and their experience with access to and use of laptops provided by the State government. It argues that David Harvey’s concept ‘Accumulation by Dispossession’ (ABD) ‘travels well’ and can be used to make sense of the contexts of the precariat and in particular, communities such as the Irulas. Based on conversations with theory in CSC it makes a strong case for the need for textured understandings of cultural and social contexts as the basis for CSC interventions.