i Patrick W. Staib Anthropology This dissertation is approved, and it ...

field visits. By the time I returned to Nicaragua that summer, my friend Matt had been
replaced by another ex-U.S. Peace Corps volunteer, Shane McCarthy. Shane invited me
to visit the main CLUSA-Nicaragua office in Managua and meet the executive staff. He
had arrived in Nicaragua as part of the Crisis Corps, a branch of the Peace Corps, to aid
in reconstruction efforts following Hurricane Mitch in October of 1998. Shane has vast
experience in international development through his work with the Peace Corps. He and
the executive director, Stanley Keene, were the only U.S. citizens employed at CLUSA-
Nicaragua.
Shane and I had already corresponded via email messages. On my first day at the
CLUSA office he filled me in on the details of CLUSA’s efforts. According to Shane,
CLUSA’s approach to development was one that helped communities be more cost-
effective in their productive activity, while sustaining populations and resources over the
long term. CLUSA was housed in a large, single-story building that resembled a strip
mall, with storefront windows lining the sidewalk and in the parking lot a fleet of Ford
Ranger pickup trucks with USAID decals on their rear windows. There was a guard
shack and gate at the entrance of the parking lot and an auto mechanic shop in the back.
On my initial visits, I rode with CLUSA technicians to their field offices, bunked
with them in a variety of accommodations, and purchased meals in town. CLUSA
workers were provided a per diem for living expenses in addition to their salary. Most
were assigned vehicles: Ford Ranger pickups, Ford Explorers, Ford F-150 Heavy Duty
pickups, or dirt/road hybrid Yamaha 300 cc motorcycles. CLUSA technicians operated as
4