Bebbington draws attention to a trend in the agendas of NGOs, churches, the state and Indian federations that challenges conventional views on alternative versus orthodox agricultural development strategies for rural indigenous people. Focusing on the Chimborazo province in the central Andes of Ecuador, the author argues that the 'alternative' option of promoting traditional agroecological practices is not necessarily an effective route towards successful rural development, and that other expressions of culture are more important for indigenous groups that seek to improve their livelihoods while protecting their indigenous identity.

In modern times, the region has seen traditional agricultural practices become obsolete due to land reform's effect on the environment. This failure of a formerly viable system has led to increased emigration, a phenomenon that indigenous people themselves see as more threatening to their cultural survival than the adoption of Green Revolution-style agricultural technology. The various institutional agents of development in the study site have chosen differing agricultural strategies as appropriate technologies, and the article describes that promoted by each group.

Examples are provided showing that current agricultural strategies favored by locals involve a mixture of indigenous and imported elements. When driven by local decision making, incorporation of some Green Revolution agricultural practices and training in administrative, financial and marketing skills provide opportunities for locals to increase their incomes while still retaining important aspects of their culture. Indigenous technical knowledge alone cannot adequately confront the wider social, economic and political contexts in which indigenous actors are situated.

In this way, Bebbington shows how culture is not static but adaptable and that “modernization, far from being a cause of cultural erosion, is explicitly seen as a means of cultural survival” (p. 287). He explains the rationale of progressive development strategies that do not resist modernization, but seek to control it and take advantage of it through selective grassroots processes as facilitated by institutions. While it is thought that such hybridized development constitutes a fresh and sound theoretical approach, it remains to be seen whether it will yield true economic advancement and stem the cultural fragmentation resulting from emigration. It is proposed that economic mechanisms must be created that facilitate diversified rural livelihoods to produce surpluses, thereby giving rise to a new economic tier that would alleviate poverty through regional commerce in locally produced non-agrarian products.

Prepared by Megan Glore