"'Tales of Development: People, Power and Space' has been written to mark forty years of commitment to the field of development geography by Ton van Naerssen.

I, for one, hold as basic belief […] that human geographers who occupy themselves with the developing countries are most interested and engaged in matters of poverty, exploitation and dependency, and their counterparts emancipation and ‘empowerment’. Ton van Naerssen in 1997 in the introduction of ‘The Diversity of Development’ (1997: xix).

Through 19 essays, all concomitant with Ton van Naerssen’s words by taking an engaged and academically critical perspective, this book reflects on a number of important themes. These include: the role of critical theory and taking position in public debate; the interrelationship between governance and development; the implications of changing identities and the articulation of space; the role of globalization on lives and livelihoods; and the significance of migration."