Book review: developing cultural industries: learning from the palimpsest of practice by Christiaan De Beukelaer

What role have culture and the creative industries come to play as ‘tools’ for social and economic development? In Developing Cultural Industries: Learning from the Palimpsest of Practice, Christiaan De Beukelaer examines the implementation of culturally focused development policies in Ghana and Burkina Faso. Although it could more directly challenge the vested powers of Western agencies and NGOs that have institutionalised ‘development’ as a global industry, the book nonetheless offers critical insight into the under-researched emergence of culture as a major strand of development discourse, writes Jonathan Vickery. Developing Cultural Industries: Learning from the Palimpsest of Practice. Christiaan De Beukelaer. European Cultural Foundation. 2015.