Writings

 

 

 

Ted shares his insights into the changing human conditions he has observed in Latin America, North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. He believes that social science writing should be precise, clear and enjoyable – a standard that he may not reach, but to which he strives. Much of his writings are available on this site. His more frequently read articles are marked with an ✘.

 


Recent

x Improving Post-relocation Support for People Resettled by Infrastructure Development, Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, Theodore E. Downing, Guoqing Shi, Mohammad Zaman & Carmen Garcia-Downing (2021). 39:5, 357-365.

Books

Development or Destruction: The conversion of Tropical Forest to Pastures. 1992. Downing, Theodore E., Susanna Hecht, Henry Pearson and Carmen Garcia-Downing (eds.). Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.

The Hidden Crisis in Development: Development Bureaucracies. 1988. Toho, Japan. United Nations University and Amsterdam. The University Press.

Human Rights and Anthropology. Cambridge, Mass. Cultural Survival Mexican Migration. 1988. Tucson: Bureau of Ethnic Reseach. University of Arizona.

Irrigation’s Impact on Society [free download- large file]. Theodore E. Downing and McGuire Gibson, eds. 1975. Tucson. University of Arizona Press.

Mexican Migration. Thomas Weaver and Theodore E Downing. 1976. Tucson: Bureau of Ethnic Research (now Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology), University of Arizona.

The Douglas Report: The community context of housing and social problems [US-Mexico border town]. 1975. Tucson: Bureau of Ethnic Research. University of Arizona.

Editorials by Ted

Publications

✘ Downing, Theodore E. Foreword to Global Implications of Development, Disasters and Climate Change  2016.  In Susanna Price and Jane Singer. Global Implications of Development, Disasters and Climate Change. Susanna Price and Jane Singer (Eds). London. Rouledge Press. 2016. – a quick introduction to Ted’s approach to forced displacement.

Jennifer Kalafut and Shivani Chaudhry and Theodore Downing. Key Issues for Upholding Housing, Land and Property Rights in the International Finance Corporation’s Review of the Environmental and Social Policy and Standards in the International Finance Corporation’s Review of Environmental and Social Policy Standards. Jan 2010. Habitat International Coalition.

✘✘ Downing, Theodore E. and Carmen Garcia-Downing. Routine and Dissonant Culture: A theory about the psycho-socio-cultural disruptions of involuntary displacement and ways to mitigate them without inflicting even more damage. In Anthony Oliver-Smith. In Development and Dispossession: The Anthropology of Displacement and Resettlement. Anthony Oliver-Smith (ed). Santa Fe: School for Advanced Research Press. 2009.  –

Ted is fact-finding for the World Bank’s Inspection Panel. His work is found in Chapters VII and VIII that examines the forced resettlement of people in Uganda at the Bujagali dam, see The Bujagali IP Investigation(Uganda). The Inspection Panel. The report includes Downing’s Bujagali Spirituality analysis is listed as Annex C, page 220. Investigation Report on the West African Gas Pipeline Project. – Sections on Social Issues and Resettlement in Nigeria. . Investigation Report of The Inspection Panel. Washington, The World Bank. Released 25 April 2008

Ted Downing with the Living Bujagali (Spiritual Leader) in Uganda

Downing, Theodore E. and Carmen Garcia-Downing. 2007. Development that Impoverishes is Not Development: Safeguards against the loss of social capital and other anti-democratic consequences that may result from development-induced displacement.  Paper presented to the Arab Reform Conference on Challenges and Concerns Facing Civil Society. March 2007.

✘ Downing, Theodore E. 2002a.Creating Poverty: The flawed economic logic of the World Bank’s revised involuntary resettlement policy. Creating Poverty: The flawed economic logic of the World Bank’s revised involuntary resettlement policy. Forced Migration Review. Vol.12 (Feb), pp.13-14.

✘ Downing, Theodore E. 2002b. Avoiding New Poverty: Mining-induced displacement and resettlement. London: International Institute for Environment and Development.

Downing, Theodore E., Jerry Moles, Ian McIntosh, and Carmen Garcia-Downing. 2002c. Indigenous Peoples and Mining Encounters: Strategies and Tactics. London: International Institute for Environment and Development. No. 57.

✘ Downing, Theodore, Carmen Garcia-Downing, Jerry Moles and Ian McIntosh. 2003. Mining and Indigenous Peoples: Stakeholder Strategies and Tactics Indigenous Peoples and Mining.  IN Finding Common Ground:Indigenous Peoples and their Association with the Mining Sector. World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the International Institute for Environment and Development (UK). P. 11-46.

✘ ✘ Downing, Theodore and Carmen Garcia-Downing. 2001a. Plan B Ted and Carmen Downing from Cultural Survival Cultural Survival Quarterly. Oct 31, Issue 25.3.

Downing, Theodore E. and Jerry Moles. 2001b. The World Bank Denies Indigenous Peoples their Right to Prior Informed Consent. Cultural Survival Quarterly. Winter.

Downing, Theodore E. 2001. On a Short Fuse: A revised World Bank Indigenous People’s Policy awaits public comment. Society for Applied Anthropology Newsletter. Fall.

Downing, Theodore E. (Co-author of panel report, Don L. Plucknett, Chair). 1999a. Report of the Fourth External Programme and Management Review of the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). Washington: Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. SDR/TAC/IAR/99/9.

Downing, Theodore E. 1999b. Comments on Chad-Carmeroon Pipeline Project’s Impact on Bakola Pygmy Indigenous People’s Plan of May 1999. Web-based report.

Downing, Theodore E. 1998a. New Social and Environmental Policies Emerging for the Private Sector from the World Bank Group. American Anthropological Association Newsletter. May.

Downing, Theodore E. 1998b. Protecting the Widow’s Mite- Lessons from the Alto Bio Bio of Chile and Beyond .  Presented to the Society for Applied Anthropology. San Juan, Puerto Rico. April.

✘ Downing, Theodore E. 1996. Mitigating Social Impoverishment when People are Involuntarily Displaced. In: Christopher McDowell. Understanding Impoverishment: The consequences of development-induced displacement. Oxford: Berghahn Books. Pp. 33-48. [note – theory updated in Downing 2009 above.]

Reviewing forced displacement in central China

Theodore E. Downing. 1996. A Participatory Interim Evaluation of the Pehuen Foundation (IFC 2067). [formerly secret report] Executive summary Full report Note: this report, prepared for the International Finance Corporation for who Ted was working as an independent evaluator, was held secret from n 1995-1997 and became the subject of international controversy.

Downing, Theodore E. Methodology for the Participatory Evaluation of the Pehuen Foundation (IFC2067). 1996

Downing, Theodore E., Susanna Hecht, Henry Pearson and Carmen Garcia-Downing (eds.). 1992. Development or Destruction: The Conversion of Tropical Forests to Pasture in Latin America. Boulder: Westview Press. Lead editor and contributor. 419 pages.

Downing, Theodore. 1992. An electronic seminar on Mexican Agrarian Culture . Culture and Agriculture. March 1992  https://doi.org/10.1525/cuag.1992.12.43.10

Protecting the Widow’s Mite- Lessons from the Alto Bio Bio of Chile and Beyond.

Downing, Theodore E., Susanna B. Hecht, and H.A. Pearson. 1989. Conversion of Tropical Forest to Pasture in Latin America. XVI International Grassland Congress. Edited by R. Jarrige. Nice, France: Association Française pour la Production Fourragère p. 1529-30.

✘ Downing, Theodore E., and Gilbert Kushner, (eds.). 1988. Human Rights and Anthropology. Boston: Cultural Survivals Inc. 250 pp. First printing sold out in 12 months. Now in its second printing.

van Ufford, Philip Quarles, Dirk Kruijt, and Theodore E. Downing (eds.). 1988. The Hidden Crisis in Development: Development Bureaucracies. Amsterdam: Raedarius Books/Free UniversityPress and Tokyo: United Nations University. Now into its second printing.

✘ Downing, Theodore E. Patterns in macro-organizational dynamics of the Mexican coffee industry, 1888- 1977. In: The Hidden Crisis in Development: Development Bureaucracies. Amsterdam: Raedarius Books/Free University Press and Tokyo: United Nations University. p. 175-193. van Ufford, Philip Quarles, Dirk Kruijt, and Theodore E. Downing (eds.). 1988.

Downing, Theodore E. Larry Schooley, Eileen Matz, Louis N. Nelson, and Raul Martinez.1988 Improving instructor/student interaction with electronic mail. Engineering Education : Jan. pp. 247-250.

Sutro, Levingston and Theodore E. Downing. 1988. A step toward a grammar of space in Zapotec villages. In: House and Household in the MesoAmerican Past. Richard R. Wilk and Wendy Ashmore (eds.). Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. pp. 29-48.

Downing, Theodore E. 1988. Suatu Analisis Organisasi Makro Dari Industri Kopi Meksiko 1888-1977. In:Krisis Tersembunyi Dalam Pembangunan:Birokrasi-Birokrasi Dalam pembangunan. Arief Budiman and Ph. Quarles van Ufford (eds.). Jakarta:Penerbit Pt Gramedia. pp. 225-256.

Alba, Carlos and Theodore Downing. 1988. Lahir Dan Hancurnya Proyek Lerma: Sebuah Lembaga Perencanaan Daerah Diksiko. In:Krisis Tersembunyi Dalam Pembangunan:Birokrasi-Birokrasi Dalam Pembangunan. Arief Budiman and Ph. Quarles van Ufford (eds.), Jakarta:Penerbit Pt Gramedia. pp. 257-292.

Downing, Theodore E., Larry Schooley, Eileen Matz, Louis N. Nelson, and Raul Martinez.1987. Improving instructor student interaction with electronic mail.pdf. American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference Proceedings . pp. 1342-1346.

Sutro, Levingston D. and Theodore E. Downing. 1986. Changes in the Use of Zapotec Domestic Space. MEXICON 4(8):73-76. (July).

Downing, Theodore E. 1985. A review of William Roseberry’s Coffee and Capitalism in the Venezuelan Andes. Ethnohistory 72(4):386-387.

Downing, Theodore E. 1985. The crisis in American Indian and non-Indian farming. Agriculture and Human Values, Summer, pp. 18-24

Downing, Theodore E. 1985. The future of human rights: theoretical and methodological problems. High Plains Applied Anthropologist 5(3):1-7.

Nolasco, Margarita and Theodore E. Downing, et al. 1985. Cafe y Sociedad en Mexico (Coffee and Society in Mexico).. Mexico City: Centro de Ecodesarrollo. 454 pp.

Downing, Theodore E. 1984. Los problemas de la riqueza dentro de las comunidades MesoAmericanas. (The problems of wealth distribution within MesoAmerican communities). In: Estratificacion etnica y relaciones interetnicas , Margarita Nolasco Armas (ed), Mexico: Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia. pp. 61-72.

1984 Developing Micro-Domestic Enterprises. A paper presented at Mainstreaming Women: Inclusive Economic Development in the Third World: USAID Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid Conference, Sept. 1984 (With Theodore E. Downing and Helen Henderson).

Downing, Theodore E. 1984. A review of agricultural sustainability in a changing world order. Agriculture and Human Values 1(2): 32-34.

Eighmy, Jeffrey L. and Theodore E. Downing.1983. Assessing human resources in Saudi Arabian rangeland development. In: Proceedings of the High Plains Regional Society for Applied Anthropology. Second Annual Meeting. Lawrence F. Van Horn and Peter W. Arsdale (eds.). HPRS: Boulder. pp. 15-17.

Downing, Theodore E. 1983. New Arab Social Order review: A Study of the Social Impact of Oil Wealth. Saad Eddin Ibrahrm, American Anthropologist 85 (4):994-5.

Downing, Theodore E. and Ivan Restrepo Fernandez. 1983. Contaminacion y Sociedad: Los problemas ocultos de la frontera norte. (Contamination and society: Hidden problems on the U.S./Mexico border). In: Ecology and Development of the Border Region. Stanley R. Ross (ed.). Mexico, DF: ANUIES/PROFMEX. pp. 203-232. And reprinted in Siempre, April 21, 1982. vol. 1504 pp I-VIII.

Downing, Theodore E. 1988. Human rights research: The challenge for anthropologists. In: Human Rights and Anthropology..

Downing, Theodore E. and G. Kushner (eds.). Boston: Cultural Survivals Inc. pp. 9 – 20. Translated and reprinted in 1989 as Investigacion en Derechos Humanos: Un reto para los antropologos. Anuario de Etnologia y Antropologia Social. Vol. 2, December 1989. pp. 41-54.

Downing, Theodore E. 1982. The internationalization of capital in agriculture. Human Organization 41 (3): 269-277.

Downing, Theodore E. and Jeffery Eighmy. 1982. Human Resources in Saudi Arabian Rangeland Development Research. Tucson and Jeddah, Consortium for International Development.

Downing, Theodore E. 1982. Socio-economic contributions to technological assessment: The TICS approach. Practicing Anthropology Fall Issue.

Downing, T. E. and P. Ffolliott.1981. The Social Dimensions of Rangeland Management. In: Wildlife and rangeland research needs in Northern`Mexico and Southwestern U.S.:Workshop Proceedings. U.S. Department of Agriculture. General Technical Report WO-36.

Schiffer, Michael B., Theodore E. Downing and Michael McCarthy.1981. Waste Not, Want Not: An ethnoarchaeological study of reuse in Tucson, Arizona. In:The archaeology of US: Studies in modern material culture, Academic Press: New York. pp. 57-86.

Downing, Theodore E. 1980. La penetracion de los sectores privado y publico en las zonas cafetaleras de Mexico. (The penetration of the public and private sectors in Mexican coffee zones.) In:Conflicto Entre Cuidad y Campo en America Latina. Ivan Restrepo (ed.). Mexico: Editorial Nueva Imagen. pp. 275-314.

Downing, Theodore E. and Ivan Restrepo, 1980. New technology and dry land agriculture. Culture and Agriculture 7:1-7.

Downing, Theodore E. 1979. The social consequences of Zapotec inheritance. In: Social, Political and Economic Life in Contemporary Oaxaca.Aubrey Williams (ed.). Nashville, Tennessee: University of Vanderbilt Anthropology Series, pp. 75-193.

Downing, Theodore E. 1979. Explaining migration in Mexico and elsewhere. In:Migration Across the Frontiers. Fernando Camara and Robert Van Kemper (eds.), Vol. 3 of Contribution of the Latin American Anthropology Group (American Anthropological Association). Albany, New York:S.U.N.Y.: Latin American Studies Association Special Publication, pp. 159-167.

Downing, Theodore E.1978. Ecodevelopment: An Alternative Future? Human Organization 32(2):213-218.

Downing, Theodore E. and Robert Sayers. 1978. Social Scientists Who Study Rangeland Peoples: A Directory. Washington, D.C.: Man and the Biosphere Program, UNESCO.

Downing, Theodore E. 1977. Partible inheritance and field fragmentation in a Oaxaca village. Human Organization 36(3):235-243, Fall.

Downing, Theodore E. 1977. Sociopolitical aspects of canal irrigation in the Valley of Oaxaca: A review of Susan Lee’s thesis. American Antiquity 42(2):304-307.

Downing, Theodore E. 1976. Man’s Past and future in arid lands: An anthropological perspective. Arid Lands Newsletter. No. 4.

Weaver, Thomas and Theodore E. Downing (eds.). 1976.  Mexican Migration Tucson, Arizona: Bureau of Ethnic Research, University of Arizona.

Wallat, Richard and Theodore E. Downing. 1976. Mexican migration: A computer simulation. In:Mexican Migration. Thomas Weaver and Theodore E. Downing (eds.), Tucson, Arizona: Bureau of Ethnic Research, University of Arizona.

Barnes, K., R. Altschul, T. Downing, H. Ingram, P. Jacoby, and B. Martin. 1975. The design of an agricultural/social/economic system for the medium potential lands of Kenya. Arid Lands Newsletter. No. 2, July. Tucson, Arizona: Office of Arid Lands, University of Arizona.

Weaver, Thomas and Theodore E. Downing (eds.). 1975. The Douglas Report: The community context of housing and social problems.  A Report to the U. S. Public Health Service on the Douglas, Arizona. Tucson, Arizona: Bureau of Ethnic Research, University of Arizona.

Hernandez, Jose, Lilia Hernandez and Theodore E. Downing. 1975. Population. In: The Douglas report: The community context of housing and social problems . T. Weaver and T. E. Downing (eds.). Tucson, Arizona: Bureau of Ethnic Research, University of Arizona.

✘ Downing, Theodore E.1975. Friendship. In: The Douglas report: The community context of housing and social problems. T. Weaver and T. E. Downing (eds.). Tucson, Arizona: Bureau of Ethnic Research, University of Arizona.

Downing, Theodore E. and Olivia A. Villegas. 1975. Housing and neighborhood conditions. In:The Douglas report: The community context of housing and social problems . T. Weaver and T. E. Downing (eds). Tucson, Arizona: Bureau of Ethnic Research, University of Arizona.

Downing, Theodore E. and McGuire Gibson (eds.). 1974. Irrigation’s Impact on Society. Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press.

✘ Downing, Theodore E. 1974. Irrigation and Moisture Sensitive Periods: A Zapotec Case. In:Irrigation’s impact on society. Theodore E. Downing and McGuire Gibson (eds.).Tucson, Arizona: University of Arizona Press.

Spicer, Edward and Theodore E. Downing.1974. Training for non-academic employment in anthropology: Major issues. In:Non-academic employment in anthropology. E leanor Leacock, Nancy Gonzalez, and Gilbert Kushner (eds.). Washington, D.C.: American Anthropological Association Special Publication, Fall.

Weaver, Thomas, Theodore E. Downing, et al. 1974. The tribal management procedures study. Report of the seven reservations project. Tucson, Arizona: Bureau of Ethnic Research, University of Arizona.

Weaver, Thomas and Theodore E. Downing. 1974. Office procedures manual for seven Arizona indian reservations. In:The tribal management procedures study. T. Weaver and T. Down ing (eds) . Tucson: Bureau of Ethnic Research, University of Arizona.

Weaver, Thomas, Theodore E. Downing, and Sanford C. Newmark. 1974. Summary of the tribal management procedures study. In:The Tribal Management Procedures Study. T. Weaver and T. Downing (eds.). Tucson: Bureau of Ethnic Research, University of Arizona.

Downing, Theodore E. 1973. The Social Future of Arid Lands. In: Science and man in the Americas: deserts and arid lands. Harold Dregne and Fernando Leal (eds.). Washington, D.C.: American Association for the Advancement of Science audiotape 154M-73.

Downing, Theodore E. 1973. Zapotec Inheritance. Ph.D. dissertation, Stanford University. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Microfilms. [Land inheritance in a Oaxaca village, including a computer simulation model of wealth distribution.]

Roefs, Theodore, Russell Gum, Theodore E. Downing, Wayne Everett, Harvey Dove and Mike Judge. 1972. A test of a planning inquiry system: water and waste management in Pima and Suffix county. Tutorial Report No. 1, CDQP, University of Arizona and Subprogram Report to Technical Committee for Development of Techniques for Estimating the Potential of Water Resource Development in Achieving National and Regional Social Goals. Washington, D.C.: Water Resources Research Council.

Downing, Theodore E. 1968. Agriculture in a Zapotec community. Stanford University: The Oaxaca Archives.

Downing, Theodore E. 1967. A Test for Market Area Endogamy in the Gulbarga District of South Central India. M. A. thesis, Stanford University.

Downing, Theodore E. and Jean Matteson Langdon. 1965. Squatters: A form of spontaneous colonization and Migration in Costa Rica. A monograph. Limited distribution to libraries of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest. See Rural Land Tenure: Land Squatters in Costa Rica given at in 1966.

Carmen Garcia-Downing’s Writings

Improving Post-relocation Support for People Resettled by Infrastructure Development, Impact Assessment and Project Appraisal, Theodore E. Downing, Guoqing Shi, Mohammad Zaman & Carmen Garcia-Downing (2021). 39:5, 357-365.

Development or Destruction: The conversion of Tropical Forest to Pastures. 1992. Downing, Theodore E., Susanna Hecht, Henry Pearson and Carmen Garcia-Downing (eds.). Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.

Downing, Theodore E.  and Carmen Garcia-Downing. Routine and Dissonant Cultures: A theory about the psycho-socio-cultural disruptions of involuntary displacement and wasy to mitigate them without inflicting even more damage. To appear in Anthony Oliver-Smith. In Development and Dispossession:  The Anthropology of Displacement and Resettlement. Anthony Oliver-Smith (ed). Santa Fe: School for Advanced Research Press. 2009.

Carmen Garcia-Downing and Theodore E Downing.  Paper presented to the Arab Reform Conference on Challenges and Concerns Facing Civil Society. March 2007.

Downing, Theodore E., Jerry Moles, Ian McIntosh, and Carmen Garcia-Downing. 2002c.  Indigenous Peoples and Mining Encounters: Strategies and Tactics.  London: International Institute for Environment and Development.  No. 57.

Downing, Theodore, Carmen Garcia-Downing, Jerry Moles and Ian McIntosh. 2003. Mining and Indigenous Peoples: Stakeholder Strategies and Tactics. IN Finding Common Ground:Indigenous Peoples and their Association with the Mining Sector.  World Business Council for Sustainable Development and the International Institute for Environment and Development (UK). P. 11-46.

Downing, Theodore and Carmen Garcia-Downing. 2001a. Plan B: What Is Going To Happen To My People? Cultural Survival Quarterly. Oct 31, Issue 25.3.

Downing, Carmen Garcia, 1989. Common resource use in a Zapotec community. Thesis (M.Sc.-Renewable Natural Resources). University of Arizona.

Downing, Theodore E., Susanna Hecht, Henry Pearson and Carmen Garcia-Downing (eds.). 1992. Development or Destruction: The Conversion of Tropical Forests to Pasture in Latin America. Boulder: Westview Press.  Lead editor and contributor. 419 pages.