CONTENDING DEVELOPMENTS: LOCAL NOTIONS OF DEVELOPMENT ON SIQUIJOR ISLAND, PHILIPPINES

Post‐development theorists have reminded us that ‘development’ is a cultural construct—a set of organising assumptions through which we order the world and understand our place in it. As such, notions of development are not singular but vary between different groups of people. This paper seeks to bring further nuance to these understandings. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork on Siquijor Island in the Philippines, it explores contending ideals of the good life—one based on material accumulation, the other on austerity—at once valued by most residents. It shows that notions of development vary not only between groups but that individuals can simultaneously hold multiple ideals of development. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.