Re-connecting histories: modernity, managerialism and development

Area of Science:

• Health Management
• Critical Management Studies
• Critical Development Studies

Background:

• Health management is often viewed through a narrow lens.
• Existing approaches lack interdisciplinary perspectives.
• Modernity's influence on health management is under-examined.

Purpose of the Study:

• To connect health management with critical management and development studies.
• To foster a more interdisciplinary approach to understanding health organizations.
• To critique contemporary health management issues through the lens of modernity.

Main Methods:

• Theoretical critique integrating post-structural, critical management, and critical development approaches.
• Analysis of modernity's rhetorical tropes in health management.
• Historical examination of management and development definitions.

Main Results:

• Modernity's influence is often invisible in health management rhetoric.
• Health management can be understood as a cultural and social construction.
• This perspective enriches anthropological studies and critiques development sector health projects.

Conclusions:

• Conceptualizing health management as a cultural construct of modernity enables empirical studies.
• Critique encourages re-appraisal of taken-for-granted health management practices.
• Interdisciplinary connections can lead to more nuanced and appropriate health practices.