Three Models of Development: Community Ophthalmology NGOs and the Appropriate Technology Movement
In: Perspectives on Global Development and TechnologySearch for other papers by Logan D. A. Williams in
Current site
Google Scholar
Abstract
This paper describes a new shift in the appropriate technology movement in less economically developed countries as seen in a multi-sited ethnography of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the scientific field of ophthalmology. This research reveals how Aravind Eye Care System in southern India and Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology in Nepal are addressing “undone science” for avoidable blindness. They are creating the requisite local hospital and personnel infrastructure while conducting “civil society research.” They are also providing high quality modern care to low-income patients of the global south while charging reduced or no fees. This paper argues that they represent a third model in the appropriate technology movement—contextually appropriate local production of high technology. This third model focuses on socially responsible innovation for purposes of social improvement; it is rooted in nonprofit, social enterprise organizations to include the following four aspects: (1) scientific innovation or the “appropriation” of new science; (2) organizational innovation, including changes in operations management for self-sufficiency through multiple revenue streams; (3) technological innovation or the creation of new products and artifacts; and (4) an underlying ideological orientation that is based on local philosophy (and challenges hegemonic understandings of postcolonial dependency or neoliberalism).
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
Abou-Gareeb Iman , Lewallen Susan , Bassett Ken & Courtright Paul “Gender and Blindness: A Meta-analysis of Population-based Prevalence Surveys.” Ophthalmic Epidemiology 2001 8 (1) 39 56
-
Adas Michael Dominance by Design: Technological Imperatives and America’s Civilizing Mission 2006 Cambridge, MA Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
-
Anonymous “IOL Pricing: Close Look Shows It’s Clearly Flat.” Hospital Materials Management 2009 34
-
Bath Patricia & Higginbotham Eve “Conversation Between Patricia Bath, MD and Eve Higginbotham, MD Orlando FL.” Oral History Collection. The Foundation of the American Academy of Ophthalmology Museum of Vision & Ophthalmic Heritage 2011 October 23 San Francisco C. Retrieved February 8, 2013 (http://museumofvision.org/dynamic/files/uploaded_files_filename_179.pdf ).
-
Bath Patricia Personal Communication 2011
-
Bath Patricia E. “Rationale for a Program in Community Ophthalmology.” Journal of the National Medical Association 1979 71 2 145
-
Brown Jacob “The Indian Car Market is the Next Big Thing - Automotive News.” Automotive News 2012 Retrieved March 26, 2013 (http://blogs.automotive.com/the-indian-car-market-is-the-next-big-thing-72779.html)
-
Bryden Kenneth Mark “Engineering, Poverty, and Preparing Our Students for the Real World.” Lecture 2011 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
-
Chakrabarti A. & Singh S. “Phacoemulsification in Eyes with White Cataract.” Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery, 2000 26 1041 1047
-
Chang David. F. “Tackling the Greatest Challenge in Cataract Surgery.” British Journal of Ophthalmology 2005a 89 1073 1077
-
Chang David “A 5-Minute, $15 Cure for Blindness: Tackling Cataract Blindness in the LEDC.” Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today 2005b October 49 51
-
Eglash Ron Eglash Ron , Croissant Jennifer L. , Di Chiro Giovanna & Fouche Rayvon “Appropriating Technology: An Introduction.” Appropriating Technology: Vernacular Science and Social Power 2004 Minneapolis University of Minnesota Press vii xxi
-
Engineers Without Borders - USA “How We Work: EWB-USA Eases Poverty by Empowering.” 2011 Retrieved January 14, 2011 (http://www.ewb-usa.org/how_we_work.php)
-
Escobar Arturo Encountering Development 1994 Princeton, NJ Princeton University Press
-
Farmer Paul E. & Kim J. “Surgery and Global Health: A View from Beyond the OR.” World Journal of Surgery 2008 32 533 536
-
Frick Kevin D & Foster Allen “The Magnitude and Cost of Global Blindness: an Increasing Problem that can be Alleviated.” American Journal of Ophthalmology 2003 135 4 471 476
-
Frickel Scott & Moore K. The New Political Sociology of Science: Institutions, Networks, and Power 2006 Madison University of Wisconsin Press
-
Frickel Scott et al. “Undone Science: Charting Social Movement and Civil Society Challenges to Research Agenda Setting.” Science, Technology & Human Values 2010 35 444 473
-
Gurung Reeta 2009 Interview of Dr. Reeta Gurung by Logan D. A. Williams
-
Harding Sandra G. Sciences from Below: Feminisms, Postcolonialities, and Modernities. 2008 Durham, NC Duke University Press
-
Harvey David A Brief History of Neoliberalism 2005 Oxford Oxford University Press
-
Hearn Julie “The ‘NGO-isation’ of Kenyan society: USAID—& the restructuring of health care.” Review of African Political Economy 1998 25 75 89
-
Hess David J. “To Tell The Truth: On Scientific Counterpublics.” Public Understanding of Science 2011 20 5 627 641
-
Hess David J. “The Potentials and Limitations of Civil Society Research: Getting Undone Science Done.” Sociological Inquiry 2009 79 306 327
-
Hess David J. Alternative Pathways in Science and Industry: Activism, Innovation, and the Environment in an Era of Globalization 2007 Cambridge, MA The MIT Press
-
Hess David J. “The Problem of Undone Science: Values, Interests and the Selection of Research Programs.” Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science 1998 Halifax Nova Scotia
-
Hess David J. Science and Technology in a Multicultural World: The Cultural Politics of Facts and Artifacts 1995 New York Columbia University Press
-
The Himalayan Times “U.S. Military Team Treats Nepali Patients - Detail News: Nepal News Portal.” The Himalayan Times 2009 September 17 Retrieved April 22, 2011 (http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=U.S.+military+team+treats+Nepali+patients&NewsID=258084)
-
Kamat Sangeeta Development Hegemony: NGOs and the State in India 2002 Oxford Oxford University Press
-
Lewallen Susan & Courtright Paul “Gender and Use of Cataract Surgical Cervices in Developing Countries.” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2002 80 4 300 303
-
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine “Allen Foster OBE MB ChB DO FRCS FRCOphth ILT Professor of International Eye Health.” 2012 Retrieved March 26, 2013 (http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/aboutus/people/foster.allen)
-
Mahadevan A. “Miracles by the Thousands.” Reader’s Digest 2007 January
-
Malkin Robert A. “Design of Health Care Technologies for the Developing World.” Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering 2007 9 1 567
-
McMichael P. D. Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective, 2000 2nd edition Thousand Oaks, CA Pine Forge Press
-
Mehta Pavithra K. & Shenoy Suchitra Infinite Vision: How Aravind Became the World’s Greatest Business Case for Compassion 2011 Berrett-Koehler Publishers
-
Metcalfe James S. , James A. & Mina A. “Emergent Innovation Systems and the Delivery of Clinical Services: The Case of Intraocular Lenses.” Research Policy 2005 34 1283 1304
-
Mitlin Diana , Hickey Sam & Bebbington Anthony “Reclaiming Development? NGOs and the Challenge of Alternatives.” World Development 2007 35 10 1699 1720
-
Moore Kelly , Kleinman Daniel L. , Hess David & Frickel Scott “Science and Neoliberal Globalization: A Political Sociological Approach.” Theory and Society 2011 1 28
-
Ojha Arvind “The Journey of Indian Civil Society: From the Gandhian Movement to Contemporary NGOs.” 2013 Lecture. College of Humanities and Social Sciences, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC.
-
Orbis. n.d “ORBIS - Flying Eye Hospital.” Retrieved March 21, 2013 (http://www.orbis.org/Default.aspx?cid=4825-4855)
-
Oregon Public Broadcasting The New Heroes: Their Bottom Line Is Lives. 2005 Oregon Public Broadcasting
-
Ozgediz D. & Riviello R. “The ‘Other’ Neglected Diseases in Global Public Health: Surgical Conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa.” PLoS Med 2008 5 e121
-
Pieterse Jan Nederveen “Dilemmas of Development Discourse: The Crisis of Developmentalism and the Comparative Method.” Development and Change 1991 22 1 5 29
-
Pigg Stacy L. “Inventing Social Categories through Place: Social Representations and Development in Nepal.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 1992 34 491 513
-
Prahalad C. K. The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profits 2005 Upper Saddle River, NJ Wharton School Pub
-
Ravindran Ravilla D. et al. “Incidence of Post-cataract Endophthalmitis at Aravind Eye Hospital: Outcomes of More Than 42000 Consecutive Cases Using Standardized Sterilization and Prophylaxis Protocols.” Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery 2009 35 629 636
-
Reddy A. K. N. “Alternative Technology: A Viewpoint from India.” Social Studies of Science 1975 5 331 342
-
Ritzer George “The McDonaldization Thesis: Is Expansion Inevitable?” International Sociology 1996 11 3 291 308
-
Rubin Harriet “The Perfect Vision of Dr. V.” Fast Company 2007 December 19
-
Ruit Sanduk et al. “An Innovation in Developing World Cataract Surgery: Sutureless Extracapsular Cataract Extraction with Intraocular Lens Implantation.” Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology 2000 28 274 279
-
Sachs W. The Development Dictionary: A Guide to Knowledge as Power. 1992 London Zed Books
-
Schumacher E. F. Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered 1973 Blond & Briggs
-
Seely Bruce Edsall “Historical Patterns in the Scholarship of Technology Transfer.” Comparative Technology Transfer and Society 2003 1 1 7 48
-
Tielsch J. M. “Appropriate Technology for Cataract Surgery.” The Lancet 1998 352 754 755
-
Townsend Janet G. , Porter Gina & Mawdsley Emma “Creating Spaces of Resistance: Development NGOs and Their Clients in Ghana, India and Mexico.” Antipode 2004 36 5 871 889
-
Vaidya Arun “‘The Visionary - Dr. V.’ Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother.” 2008 Retrieved April 1, 2013 (http://integralyoga-auroville.com/articles/27-authors/arun-vaidya/68-the-visionary-dr-v)
-
Venkataswamy Govindappa Daniel Missy “Spiritual Consciousness and Healing: An Interview with Govindappa Venkataswamy.” Second Opinion 1992 18 1 68 81
-
Williams Logan D. A. “Contesting Avoidable Blindness.” 2013 Ph.D. Dissertation, Department of Science and Technology Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY.
-
Williams Logan D. A. “Cosmopolitan Appropriation: White Cataracts and the Innovative User as Producer.” Paper presented in the session “Knowledge from the Margins, Innovation and Institutional Change: Part III Challenging Regulatory Frameworks” Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science 2011 November 2-5 Cleveland, Ohio
-
Williams Logan D. A. “Medical Technology Transfer for Sustainable Development: A Case Study of Intraocular Lens Replacement to Correct Cataracts.” Technology in Society 2008 30 2 170 183
-
Williams Logan D. A. & Woodson Thomas S. “The Future of Innovation Studies in Less Economically Developed Countries.” Special 50th anniversary issue, “An Agenda for Science and Technology Policy Studies? Emerging Themes from the Work of Young Scholars.” Minerva 2012 50 2 221 237
-
Willoughby Kelvin W. Technology Choice: A Critique of the Appropriate Technology Movement 1990 Boulder, CO Westview Press
-
Woodhouse Edward , Hess David J. , Breyman Steve & Martin B. “Science Studies and Activism: Possibilities and Problems for Reconstructivist Agendas.” Social Studies of Science 2002 32 297 319
-
Woodhouse Edward Personal Communication 2009
-
Wormald R. , Evans J. & Foster A. “Appropriate Technology for Cataract Surgery.” The Lancet 1998 352 1630 1631
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 850 | 84 | 7 |
| Full Text Views | 140 | 4 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 52 | 8 | 0 |
Three Models of Development: Community Ophthalmology NGOs and the Appropriate Technology Movement
In: Perspectives on Global Development and TechnologySearch for other papers by Logan D. A. Williams in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
This paper describes a new shift in the appropriate technology movement in less economically developed countries as seen in a multi-sited ethnography of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the scientific field of ophthalmology. This research reveals how Aravind Eye Care System in southern India and Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology in Nepal are addressing “undone science” for avoidable blindness. They are creating the requisite local hospital and personnel infrastructure while conducting “civil society research.” They are also providing high quality modern care to low-income patients of the global south while charging reduced or no fees. This paper argues that they represent a third model in the appropriate technology movement—contextually appropriate local production of high technology. This third model focuses on socially responsible innovation for purposes of social improvement; it is rooted in nonprofit, social enterprise organizations to include the following four aspects: (1) scientific innovation or the “appropriation” of new science; (2) organizational innovation, including changes in operations management for self-sufficiency through multiple revenue streams; (3) technological innovation or the creation of new products and artifacts; and (4) an underlying ideological orientation that is based on local philosophy (and challenges hegemonic understandings of postcolonial dependency or neoliberalism).
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 850 | 84 | 7 |
| Full Text Views | 140 | 4 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 52 | 8 | 0 |