From development, to post-development and prosperity: A conceptual critique of rural development and entrepreneurship from the perspective of Aram Ziai's skeptical post-development

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to theorize and conceptualize rural entrepreneurship and development from the deconstructive perspective and discourse analysis techniques embedded in Post-Development School. Drawing on the skeptical post-development idea of Aram Ziai, a pioneer in the Post-Development School, it aims to provide a brief rethinking of rural development and entrepreneurship discourse and practice. From Ziai's perspective, the main features of skeptical post-development, in contrast to New-Populist post-development, are: first, criticizing one’s own culture and tradition; second, appropriating modernity based on local dimensions; third, shifting theoretically and practically from ideology to the nature; fourth, analyzing the culture as a social construct rather than as a fundamental and rigid essence or reality; and fifth, focusing on both the internal relations of social power and the international relations of power embedded in structures and organizations of multi-national corporations. Considering the new and multilayered conceptualization of Post-Development School and also owing to its critical essence, the main argument of the paper is that with employing the skeptical post-development components it is possible to transform the traditional strategies. For instance, ‘rural entrepreneurship’ could be replaced with ʽrural prosperityʼ which results in opening new gates to the conceptualization of (rural) development. Embracing and analyzing the new elements of tradition/modernity dichotomy, linguistic aspects, agency, emotions, the notion of power, embodiment, and nature, rural prosperity will be more comprehensive, humanistic, and sustainable than the rural entrepreneurship.