%0 Journal Article
%T Bringing relational comparison into development studies: Global health volunteers¡¯ experiences of Sierra Leone
%A Andrew Brooks
%A Clare Herrick
%J Progress in Development Studies
%@ 1477-027X
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/1464993418822857
%X Global health volunteering is premised on a comparative understanding of development: hospitals in developing countries are ¡®behind¡¯ modern institutions in developed nations, and sharing volunteers¡¯ skills will enable the latter to ¡®catch-up¡¯. We argue for a ¡®relational comparison¡¯ in development studies, which draws upon a geographical conception of inequality premised on understanding places in relation to one another rather than reifying differences between countries. We place a particular hospital within a dialectical totality of combined and uneven development. Health workers¡¯ experiences of volunteering in Sierra Leone demonstrate that local problems, including staff shortages and corruption, are enveloped within global processes
%K Geography
%K global health
%K relational comparison
%K Sierra Leone
%K uneven development
%K volunteering
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1464993418822857