From the critique of development to the strengthening of alternatives

Abstract

This article analyzes the binomial development/underdevelopment as a power dispositive. It shows how the development imperative gained hegemony in the second half of the XXth century and how the symbolic and direct violence associated with it has displayed. Based on the Latin American debates about civilizational crisis and alternatives to development, which have gained momentum at the beginning of the progressive cycle, the text deconstructs the dominant notions of wealth, poverty and wellbeing. On the basis of the alternative paradigm of Buen Vivir, it explores the importance of other modes of living, which have subsisted at the margins of modern/ capitalist relations, as well as some practical alternatives to development in rural and urban contexts.

Keywords: Development, Latin America, Good Living, alternatives, wellbeing, ways of life.