One size (doesn’t) fit all: new metaphors for and practices of scaling from indigenous peoples of the Northwest Amazon
Ten years of field research and collaborative development of programs for early childhood in the Upper Rio Negro region of the Amazon provide the authors with new metaphors for achieving wider social impact and new frames to add to the international debate on ‘scaling’ social change initiatives. Usi...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2023-06-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Public Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1166134/full |
| _version_ | 1797793661328556032 |
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| author | Kurt Shaw Rita de Cacia Oenning da Silva |
| author_facet | Kurt Shaw Rita de Cacia Oenning da Silva |
| author_sort | Kurt Shaw |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Ten years of field research and collaborative development of programs for early childhood in the Upper Rio Negro region of the Amazon provide the authors with new metaphors for achieving wider social impact and new frames to add to the international debate on ‘scaling’ social change initiatives. Using anthropology and ethno-ontology to think questions of universal and particular, center and periphery, the article reflects on the dangers of monolithic scaling to cultural diversity and future innovation. Instead of the metaphor of scaling — adopted in the discourse of public policy and international development from the Fordist or Taylorist efficiency of the economy of scale — indigenous people speak of exchange, sharing, and transformation. These ideas seek to connect local and decolonized models and value the diversity of local knowledges, epistemologies, and practices around early childhood development. Based on the expansion of the CanalCanoa project among diverse indigenous communities, the paper proposes a flexible and bottom-up model of achieving impact at scale through empowering local actors to teach each other and establish local criteria of learning and evaluation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T02:50:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-86fb04ba374047c39678cb3215bb4b5e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-2565 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T02:50:34Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Public Health |
| spelling | doaj.art-86fb04ba374047c39678cb3215bb4b5e2023-06-28T12:05:47ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Public Health2296-25652023-06-011110.3389/fpubh.2023.11661341166134One size (doesn’t) fit all: new metaphors for and practices of scaling from indigenous peoples of the Northwest AmazonKurt ShawRita de Cacia Oenning da SilvaTen years of field research and collaborative development of programs for early childhood in the Upper Rio Negro region of the Amazon provide the authors with new metaphors for achieving wider social impact and new frames to add to the international debate on ‘scaling’ social change initiatives. Using anthropology and ethno-ontology to think questions of universal and particular, center and periphery, the article reflects on the dangers of monolithic scaling to cultural diversity and future innovation. Instead of the metaphor of scaling — adopted in the discourse of public policy and international development from the Fordist or Taylorist efficiency of the economy of scale — indigenous people speak of exchange, sharing, and transformation. These ideas seek to connect local and decolonized models and value the diversity of local knowledges, epistemologies, and practices around early childhood development. Based on the expansion of the CanalCanoa project among diverse indigenous communities, the paper proposes a flexible and bottom-up model of achieving impact at scale through empowering local actors to teach each other and establish local criteria of learning and evaluation.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1166134/fullearly childhoodAmazon (Brazil)indigenous knowledgescalinganthropology |
| spellingShingle | Kurt Shaw Rita de Cacia Oenning da Silva One size (doesn’t) fit all: new metaphors for and practices of scaling from indigenous peoples of the Northwest Amazon Frontiers in Public Health early childhood Amazon (Brazil) indigenous knowledge scaling anthropology |
| title | One size (doesn’t) fit all: new metaphors for and practices of scaling from indigenous peoples of the Northwest Amazon |
| title_full | One size (doesn’t) fit all: new metaphors for and practices of scaling from indigenous peoples of the Northwest Amazon |
| title_fullStr | One size (doesn’t) fit all: new metaphors for and practices of scaling from indigenous peoples of the Northwest Amazon |
| title_full_unstemmed | One size (doesn’t) fit all: new metaphors for and practices of scaling from indigenous peoples of the Northwest Amazon |
| title_short | One size (doesn’t) fit all: new metaphors for and practices of scaling from indigenous peoples of the Northwest Amazon |
| title_sort | one size doesn t fit all new metaphors for and practices of scaling from indigenous peoples of the northwest amazon |
| topic | early childhood Amazon (Brazil) indigenous knowledge scaling anthropology |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1166134/full |
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