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Reconsidering Sen’s “Development as Freedom” Through a Black Existentialist Lens
Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2026.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2026
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| _version_ | 1867613763512827904 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Chasela, Praise |
| author2 | Roodt, Vasti |
| author_browse | Chasela, Praise Roodt, Vasti |
| author_facet | Roodt, Vasti Chasela, Praise |
| author_sort | Chasela, Praise |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2026. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/135677 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:41:19.170Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/135677 Reconsidering Sen’s “Development as Freedom” Through a Black Existentialist Lens Chasela, Praise Roodt, Vasti Du Toit, Louise Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Philosophy. Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2026. Chasela, P. 2026. Reconsidering Sen’s “Development as Freedom” Through a Black Existentialist Lens. Unpublished masters thesis. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/14e41e1c-ab50-4bcb-9380-71a21a9dc729 The issue of development is both an economic and an ethical question, concerning what constitutes a good life. However, traditional economics has solely answered this question in terms of quantitative ideals measured by utilitarian metrics of capital. That is to say that what we mean when we say a country is developed has more to do with wealth than it does with the question of whether the people within that state are free to pursue different modes of being. Amartya Sen can largely be credited for this critique of traditional economics, and in his book Development as Freedom (1999), he sets out to broaden the traditional economic notion of well-being as wealth into one that encompasses the development of human potential. However, Sen’s expansion on the concept of well-being does not offer enough of a critical distance from traditional economic values to result in the kind of approach to development that can apply to the Global South. I propose a re-examination of Sen’s framework in Development as Freedom, using Black existentialism’s understanding of freedom as a critical lens. When applying this lens, I argue that the question of well-being and development must begin with an examination of the modes of being and becoming afforded to the Black subject in an anti-Black world, and subsequently, development ought to start from questions examining the conditions for possibilities for freedoms of the Black subject. Masters 2026-04-07T13:27:57Z 2026-04-07T13:27:57Z 2026-03 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/135677 en Stellenbosch University 90 pages application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Chasela, Praise Reconsidering Sen’s “Development as Freedom” Through a Black Existentialist Lens |
| title | Reconsidering Sen’s “Development as Freedom” Through a Black Existentialist Lens |
| title_full | Reconsidering Sen’s “Development as Freedom” Through a Black Existentialist Lens |
| title_fullStr | Reconsidering Sen’s “Development as Freedom” Through a Black Existentialist Lens |
| title_full_unstemmed | Reconsidering Sen’s “Development as Freedom” Through a Black Existentialist Lens |
| title_short | Reconsidering Sen’s “Development as Freedom” Through a Black Existentialist Lens |
| title_sort | reconsidering sen s development as freedom through a black existentialist lens |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/135677 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT chaselapraise reconsideringsensdevelopmentasfreedomthroughablackexistentialistlens |