Decoloniality – Page 2 – Debating Development Research

18/02/202502/12/2025

The Role of Critical Poetic Inquiry in Decolonising ‘Development’

By Nita Mishra

For Development Studies (DS) to truly decolonise itself, it must include the voices that do not find their way to its dominant narrative. To locate these hidden voices, and amplify them, DS scholars must embrace newer ways of doing research. Newer ways of doing research means adopting newer tools or methods of doing research with the aim to identify sources of forgotten or hitherto ignored knowledge. Whose voice is heard and whose knowledge counts, in essence, is therefore a call to facilitate a more inclusive process of knowledge creation. For instance, while discussions on intellectual decolonization underly all four schools of DS, it still begets the question ‘what research methods are best suited to advance the ‘de-colonial’ imagination of ‘Development’ especially when knowledge-production is still influenced by privileges of race?

11/02/202502/12/2025

Learning and Unlearning: Sowing the Seeds of a Decolonising Mindset

By Peter Taylor / part of our “Share your Decolonising Story” project

Beginnings

I grew up in an industrial town in the North of the United Kingdom, and as a child my experience of agriculture was visiting the countryside, rather than working on farms. Along the way, I became very interested in farming and food production, and my first job was working on a dairy farm. I went on to study agricultural science at University. After that, I continued working for several years in different areas of agriculture and horticulture, enjoying the practical side of things, even when spending much of my time in wet, windy and cold conditions.

04/02/202502/12/2025

What Challenges for Global Development Research are Posed by a More Decolonial Approach?

By Laura Camfield

The appetite for decolonial approaches within development research is growing, prompting a critical examination of the colonial origins of conventional methodologies such as surveys and ethnography. These methods, historically employed as tools of colonial governance, continue to shape development research and limit space for decolonial alternatives. In this blog post I explore colonial continuities in research methods and examine the potential of decolonial alternatives, acknowledging the challenges posed by existing power dynamics within the field).

21/01/202502/12/2025

Confronting My Family’s Colonial Past. A Personal Journey

By Martha Knight / part of our “Share your Decolonising Story” project

Unravelling the threads that shape our understanding of the impacts of colonialism is a multifaceted and highly complex task. I know this because I teach Global Development for the Open University (OU) and grapple with decolonising dominant discourses around development and change. However, this is a personal story. This is a story which goes beyond the intellectual challenge of decolonising knowledge and sits squarely with my family’s role in colonialism. Something I only discovered recently.

07/01/202502/12/2025

In Defence of Development Studies: Why “Global Development” Falls Short

By Alfredo Saad-Filho

There is a growing debate in academic circles about the merits of shifting from traditional Development Studies to a broader concept of “Global Development”. While proponents argue that this shift would better reflect the interconnected nature of our world, I believe that such a move would be detrimental to our field, our understanding of global differences and inequalities, and our ability to understand the dynamics of development.