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Navigating development: the case of the non-profit documentary production company STEPS
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the Global South that work in development are said to operate autonomously from their governments yet their very existence depends largely on dominant bureaucratic bodies - mostly Northern influencers. Indeed, many Southern NGOs are dissatisfied with the sect...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Department of Sociology
2017
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| _version_ | 1867613343120883713 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Carter, Patrice |
| author2 | Fuh, Divine |
| author_browse | Carter, Patrice Fuh, Divine |
| author_facet | Fuh, Divine Carter, Patrice |
| author_sort | Carter, Patrice |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the Global South that work in development are said to operate autonomously from their governments yet their very existence depends largely on dominant bureaucratic bodies - mostly Northern influencers. Indeed, many Southern NGOs are dissatisfied with the sector due to these structural and institutional forces that can be exclusionary, dominating and restricting to their autonomy, affecting the organization's sustainability as leaders within their civil societies. I have ventured to explore how one Southern NGO contends with such an environment. Through conducting an ethnography on Social Transformation and Empowerment Projects (STEPS), a nonprofit documentary production company based in Cape Town, South Africa, I have explored how they navigate within these confines. I have investigated what tacit rules they adhere to in order to remain operational in the sector while also exploring what other rules they attempt to subvert in order to emancipate themselves from these structural forces. This dissertation investigates power struggles in line with Foucault's (1980) theoretical framing on how power exists everywhere and in everything. This study also employs Bourdieu's (1977) concept of habitus and Vigh's (2009) utilization of the concept of navigation as ways to gain a deeper introspection into how these particular practitioners negotiate their positionality within development. Overall, I argue that central to how STEPS navigate the terrain of a contentious development field rest primarily in key decision-makers within the organization. The nature of these practitioners as informed by their life histories has created dispositions that not only inform their agency as individuals but also transfer to their organization (culture, structure, vision, ideologies, ambition). Despite external structures that can also act as roadblocks or allies in actions, choices and agency, the habitus of these prominent figures within the organization are key to actions of the collective when presented with negative or positive structural forces. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/23759 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:34:38.153Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publishDateRange | 2017 |
| publishDateSort | 2017 |
| publisher | Department of Sociology |
| publisherStr | Department of Sociology |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/23759 Navigating development: the case of the non-profit documentary production company STEPS Carter, Patrice Fuh, Divine Development Studies Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the Global South that work in development are said to operate autonomously from their governments yet their very existence depends largely on dominant bureaucratic bodies - mostly Northern influencers. Indeed, many Southern NGOs are dissatisfied with the sector due to these structural and institutional forces that can be exclusionary, dominating and restricting to their autonomy, affecting the organization's sustainability as leaders within their civil societies. I have ventured to explore how one Southern NGO contends with such an environment. Through conducting an ethnography on Social Transformation and Empowerment Projects (STEPS), a nonprofit documentary production company based in Cape Town, South Africa, I have explored how they navigate within these confines. I have investigated what tacit rules they adhere to in order to remain operational in the sector while also exploring what other rules they attempt to subvert in order to emancipate themselves from these structural forces. This dissertation investigates power struggles in line with Foucault's (1980) theoretical framing on how power exists everywhere and in everything. This study also employs Bourdieu's (1977) concept of habitus and Vigh's (2009) utilization of the concept of navigation as ways to gain a deeper introspection into how these particular practitioners negotiate their positionality within development. Overall, I argue that central to how STEPS navigate the terrain of a contentious development field rest primarily in key decision-makers within the organization. The nature of these practitioners as informed by their life histories has created dispositions that not only inform their agency as individuals but also transfer to their organization (culture, structure, vision, ideologies, ambition). Despite external structures that can also act as roadblocks or allies in actions, choices and agency, the habitus of these prominent figures within the organization are key to actions of the collective when presented with negative or positive structural forces. 2017-01-31T08:02:13Z 2017-01-31T08:02:13Z 2016 Master Thesis Masters MPhil http://hdl.handle.net/11427/23759 eng application/pdf Department of Sociology Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Development Studies Carter, Patrice Navigating development: the case of the non-profit documentary production company STEPS |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Navigating development: the case of the non-profit documentary production company STEPS |
| title_full | Navigating development: the case of the non-profit documentary production company STEPS |
| title_fullStr | Navigating development: the case of the non-profit documentary production company STEPS |
| title_full_unstemmed | Navigating development: the case of the non-profit documentary production company STEPS |
| title_short | Navigating development: the case of the non-profit documentary production company STEPS |
| title_sort | navigating development the case of the non profit documentary production company steps |
| topic | Development Studies |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/23759 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT carterpatrice navigatingdevelopmentthecaseofthenonprofitdocumentaryproductioncompanysteps |