APAD’s new geographical focus

During its General Meeting on 19 November 2015 in Cotonou, APAD has decided to change its name to "Association for the Anthropology of Social Change and Development". At APAD’s birth, the name "Euro-African Association" meant that we wanted it to be an association formed by both European and African researchers, and not an association of western scholars studying development practices abroad. This ambition is clearly achieved: more than 40% of members of APAD have their mailing address in Africa (excluding African researchers and PhD students based in Europe). But from a scientific point of view, this geographical indication is meaningless. And, for people working on the same issues in other parts of the world, such a name was an obstacle for joining APAD or submitting papers. Studying the links between development interventions, effects of aid, social change in different part of the world allows to highlight that similar processes occur where development aid and projects take place.