"ReSounding Poverty offers a microethnography of economic networks that impact the daily lives of Romani musicians on the borders of the former Soviet Union and the European Union. It argues that the development aid allotted to provide economic assistance to Romani communities, when analyzed from th ... e perspective of the performance arts, continues to marginalize the poorest among them. Through their structure and programming, NGOs choose which segments of the population are the most vulnerable and in the greatest need of assistance. Drawing on ethnographic research in development contexts, ReSounding Poverty asks who speaks for whom within the Romani rights movement today. Framing the critique of development aid in musical terms, it engages with Romani marginalization and economic deprivation through a closer listening to vocal inflections, physical vocalizations of health and disease, and emotional affect. ReSounding Poverty brings us into the back rooms of saman, mud and straw brick, houses not visited by media reporters and politicians, amplifying the cultural expressions of the Romani poor, silenced in the business of development." (Publisher description) more

"Right at the beginning of her book, the author makes it clear how complex and difficult it is to track down success factors for functioning development processes. Her research and case studies from Africa, Asia and Latin America, which focus on local processes and selected, in many cases state-run, ... social programs, took place before the "turn of the century: There is no mention of the consequences of the Ukraine war or the Corona crisis, but there is mention of the consequences of climate change. Tiwari devotes much space to examining factors such as collective knowledge and the traditional expertise of local communities in developing and implementing projects. Development processes, she argues, are only successful if they are consistently geared to the needs of the people involved and not to those of financially strong market players. Moreover, she emphasizes, sustainability can only be achieved through intergenerational cooperation and a strong presence of women in all decision-making processes. Tiwari identifies seven factors for successful local change processes in her book: the pressure of suffering, the recognition of opportunities for improvement, a local culture that allows change, security of access to land and resources, organizational and management skills, help from technology and methodological expertise - for example, in environmental management - as well as political support and legitimacy - in other words, the backing of the community even in the face of setbacks. Along the way, the author dispels concepts popular in development jargon, such as the "best practice" idea. For her, it's all about offering donors and taxpayers a profit, i.e. proving success from the donors' point of view - completely irrespective of whether the people involved on the ground might consider completely different aspects, such as a social status subjectively perceived as improved as smallholder families, to be much more important. For Meera Tiwari, the question of whether a change process is successful can never be judged by external evaluators, but only by the participants themselves." (https://www.welt-sichten.org, 24.1.2023) more

"This chapter explores the relationship between theatre and neoliberal policies in Tanzania. It analyses the consequences of neoliberalism for the Tanzanian theatre and exposes the challenges it faces as a simulacrum of people’s culture. I also present evidence on why it is important, when analyzi ... ng theatre in Tanzania just before and after independence in 1961, one should take into consideration the influence of internal and international political economies. Using the case of Theatre for Development (TfD), the chapter also deals with the assumption that neoliberal policies have pushed theatre to the periphery and created greater donor dependence." (Page 191) more