The History Department at Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication launched the new History@Erasmus series. This series aims to invite leading researchers and professors from across the world to discuss their work with students and staff. For the first session of this new series, we were joined by Professor David Engerman from Yale University, who presented his latest book called Apostles of Development.
In his talk, Professor Engerman explained how six South Asian economists, whom he called “the Apostles” shaped the history of international development. These economists of his research include Manmohan Singh, Rehman Sobhan, Lal Jayawardena, Mahbub ul Haq, Jagdish Bhagwati, and Amartya Sen. They all studied at Cambridge University in the 1950s, where they were members of the prestigious Cambridge Apostles society (hence the name of the “Apostles). As Engerman explained during the talk, these six men had a significant influence on the economic policies and development trajectories of their respective countries, specifically Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. In doing so, they fundamentally transformed the way economists think about international development, demonstrating that the development of these southern economies should be viewed as a process driven by the Global South, rather than only by the Global North.
After the talk, there was a discussion with Dr. Vineet Thakur, who teaches international relations at Leiden University, and Eleanor Carey, a policy analyst at the OECD. The event was moderated by our very own history professor, Alanna O’Malley, who is currently teaching the second-year bachelor’s course Emerging Economies, for which this talk was a perfect complement. The discussion focused on themes such as postcolonial nation building, the future of development aid, the leading role of the Global South in development, the way women formed part of influencing the economic ideas of the six Apostles, and the role of the OECD in international development. Bachelor and master students from our history program also asked intriguing questions about the successes, but also the challenges toards the future of international development.
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