Reconsidering Sen’s “development as freedom” through a black existentialist lens

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The issue of development is both an economic and an ethical question, concerning what constitutes a good life. However, traditional economics has solely answered this question in terms of quantitative ideals measured by utilitarian metrics of capital. That is to say that what we mean when we say a country is developed has more to do with wealth than it does with the question of whether the people within that state are free to pursue different modes of being. Amartya Sen can largely be credited for this critique of traditional economics, and in his book Development as Freedom (1999), he sets out to broaden the traditional economic notion of well-being as wealth into one that encompasses the development of human potential. However, Sen’s expansion on the concept of well-being does not offer enough of a critical distance from traditional economic values to result in the kind of approach to development that can apply to the Global South. I propose a re-examination of Sen’s framework in Development as Freedom, using Black existentialism’s understanding of freedom as a critical lens. When applying this lens, I argue that the question of well-being and development must begin with an examination of the modes of being and becoming afforded to the Black subject in an anti-Black world, and subsequently, development ought to start from questions examining the conditions for possibilities for freedoms of the Black subject.

Grantor dc:publisher

Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University

Year dc:date.issued

2026

Author dc:creator

• Chasela, Praise

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Roodt, Vasti
• Du Toit, Louise

Language dc:language.iso

en

Repository record dc:identifier.uri

https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/135677

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/135677