The Term Development in the Thesauri of International Organisations

Francesca Severino

The European Journal of Development Research, 2007, vol. 19, issue 2, 327-351

Abstract: This paper analyses the use of the term development in five online thesauri of international organisations: AGROVOC (Food and Agriculture Organisation), EUROVOC (European Union), OECD MACROTHESAURUS (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), UNBIS (United Nations) and UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation). The main objective of this work is to stimulate thoughts about the cultural value placed on terminology in a multicultural environment. By applying conceptual tools based on philosophical and anthropological knowledge we wish to elucidate the peculiarity of the tool thesaurus in terms of culture. The results we have obtained show that the use of the term development is strictly related to a precise modality of knowledge's arrangement, based on regulating codes that are the results of a historical period and cultural pattern rather than a single definitive assertion. Dans le présent travail, nous nous proposons d'analyser le sens du terme de développement dans cinq thesauri mis en ligne par des organisations internationales, AGROVOC (FAO), EUROVOC (Union européenne), MACROTHESAURUS de l'OCDE (Organisation de coopération et de développement économique), UNBIS (Nations unies) et UNESCO (Organisations des nations unies pour l'éducation, la science et la culture). Notre principal objectif est de stimuler la réflexion sur la valeur culturelle d'une terminologie dans un environnement multiculturel. En utilisant des outils conceptuels mis au point à partir de notions philosophiques et anthropologiques, nous essayons de caractériser la dimension culturelle de l'outil «thesaurus». Nos résultats montrent que l'utilisation du terme de développement est étroitement liée à un mode d'articulation précis des connaissances sous forme de codes de régulation qui relèvent plutôt d'une période historique et d'un modèle culturel donnés que d'une définition universelle et définitive.

Date: 2007
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:eurjdr:v:19:y:2007:i:2:p:327-351

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DOI: 10.1080/09578810701289261

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