"Where Is the Village?" - Local Perceptions and Development Approaches in Kunduz Province

Abstract

Based on research in Kunduz, a province in northeast Afghanistan, this paper argues that the 'Western' notion of a 'village' cannot be automatically applied to local contexts in other regions of the world. The perception that villages are the only type of rural settlement that exists is a very modern one. It reflects the fact that a state apparatus has achieved the penetration, ordering and categorisation of its territory on a micro level. This is not a mere truism if we take a look at the apparent difficulties which development organisations, government agencies and national elites that are used to thinking in biased administrative terms face when they implement local-level projects in rural areas.