Development politics : the political uses of expert knowledge and participation of indigenous peoples in Mexico ; Le politique du développement : les usages politiques des savoirs experts et de la participation des populations indiennes au Mexique

A buzzword broadcasted by international agencies, the concept of “development with identity” refers to a willingness to take into account local and cultural specificities of indigenous peoples. It entails a promotion of the development approach, presented as both universal and apolitical. This thesis proposes to explore this contradiction. Focusing on the Mexican case, it aims to understand how development apparatuses function as instruments of knowledge, but also as performative instruments by their prescriptive inductions and the social uses they are made of. Finally, “development with identity” refers to an “art of government” of populations labeled as socially disqualified. It relies on two key components: the elaboration of a specific knowledge on these populations and the participation of indigenous individuals and groups in development apparatuses.This thesis proposes a sociological contribution to the analysis of development and works on indigenous issues. In order to study the circulation of development speeches, instruments and practices, this work is based on a political ethnography of three spaces in which the apparatuses of indigenous development in Mexico are elaborated, formulated and put into practice: the Office of the United Nations Development Program in Mexico, the national authority in charge of development public policy for indigenous peoples, and finally social groups in the region of Chiapas in which development apparatuses are developed and implemented ; Mot valise véhiculé par les agences internationales, la notion de « développement avec identité » traduit une volonté de prendre en compte les spécificités locales et culturelles des populations autochtones et la promotion d’une approche en terme de développement, présenté comme universel et apolitique. C’est cette contradiction que cette thèse propose d’explorer. À partir du cas mexicain, il s’agit de comprendre comment les dispositifs de développement fonctionnent comme des instruments de connaissance, mais également comme des ...