Publication

This article explores what constitute valid forms of development knowledge, focussing in particular on the relationship between fictional writing on development and more formal academic and policy-oriented representations of development issues. The authors challenge conventional notions about the nature of knowledge, narrative authority, and representational form, and explore these by comparing and contrasting selected works of fiction that touch on development issues with academic and policy oriented representations. They find that not only are certain works of fiction ‘better’ in representing central issues relating to development, they also frequently reach a wider audience and are therefore more influential.