What Does “Critical” Mean in Critical Area/Development Studies?Timo Duile

ASIEN – Nr. 168/169 (2023) pp. 173–78

In 2021, Martina Padmanaban, Samia Dinkelaker, Maraike Hoffmann, Dimas Laksama, Siti Maimunah, Elena Rudakova, Enid Still, and Friederike Trotier published a “minifesto” on Principles of Critical Development Studies in ASIEN 160/161. Unlike a manifesto, which would be based on a grand theory, the minifesto aimed at presenting “a collection of small but significant ideas” (Padmanaban et al. 2021: 210). In their minifesto, the authors invited others to join the discussion that they had started by discussing, writing, and publishing the minifesto. It is a discussion, among other things, of what it means to be critical in area- and development studies…