The Innocent Developer: Ethics and Ox-Cultivation

A Case-Study from the Southern Sudan

This sheds light on ethical issues connected to development aid by presenting a concrete case-study, namely the introduction of ox-cultivation to the pastoral Toposa region in southern Sudan. Technically, the case concerns the introduction of a simple mechanical item: the ox-plough. Ethically, it concerns the considerations taken by development experts when they were advocating for the adoption of the plough. The author sees the demolition of core social structures and institutions, as well as the increasingly fragile relationship between a society and its physical environment as possible consequences of the adoption of new technologies.

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