This paper looks at the role of situated discourse-as-practice in denaturalising and delegitimising capitalist/integrationist models of development espoused by many national and transnational groups. It focuses on intercultural discourse between the Makushi Amerindians of Guyana and professional development workers and draws on the descriptive methods of Systemic Functional Linguistics, Bernstein's theory of classification and framing and Bourdieu's notions of habitus and symbolic power. I suggest that enhanced community participation within development discourse-as-practice accommodated to local discursive practice can alter the dominant Discourse-as-Ideology. (Contains 3 tables, 2 figures and 7 notes.)