Decoloniality – Page 5 – Debating Development Research

04/11/202409/12/2024

Reflecting on our Lens: Decolonising Imagery within International Development

By James Andrews / part of our “Share your Decolonising Story” project

When selecting a photo to bring colour to the blog you’ve spent hours copy-editing, have you considered whether it disrupts the colonial gaze, or might it—perhaps inadvertently—reinforce these entrenched power structures? When arranging an interview for your lively development podcast, are you giving a platform to a Western academic who has conducted research ‘in the field,’ or would it be more impactful to interview someone who has spent their entire life living and working in that ‘field’? How do you create multimedia content that not only attracts donor funding but also remains sensitive to the unique circumstances of the individuals whose stories you aim to tell, while being aware of your own cultural, class and gender biases?

15/10/2024

Colonialism’s Blind Spot in Climate Change Solutions: Why Feminist Approaches Are Falling Short

By Bernadette P. Resurrección

Efforts to integrate gender equality into climate change solutions have gained momentum in recent years. However, despite this progress, many of these initiatives are missing a crucial element—colonialism. This glaring oversight leaves today’s climate policies struggling to deliver truly feminist, just, and transformative results.

30/09/2024

Decolonising International Research Collaborations Requires us to go Beyond the “Ts and Cs Apply” Approach

By Eyob Balcha Gebremariam

In February 2024, I found myself at a pivotal moment in the academic landscape, attending a regional network launching event of “Africanist researchers” at one of the UK universities. The room was a microcosm of diverse academic, cultural, gender, and racial backgrounds, all converging with a common purpose to establish a network of researchers. The organisers set ambitious objectives, including partnering to co-develop research proposals, recruiting more African students to their respective regional universities, and providing capacity-building support for Africa-based partners. This was the backdrop against which I observed the dynamics of coloniality, power and privilege that underpin such collaborations.

23/04/202429/04/2024

Rethinking Indigeneity

By María Fernanda Córdova Suxo

The Indigenous subject has been positioned as a key player in alternatives to development. These alternatives refer to Indigenous People’s struggles and knowledge as distinct ways of facing current crises – including environmental, food, and capitalist crises. This positioning can be interpreted as a result of different indigenous movements working together across borders, in search of self-determination and the fulfillment of their human rights. However, this indigenous subject, within academia and other spheres from which power emerges, tends to be framed in abstract characteristics and is dissociated from the complexity of its context. Therefore, the evocation of indigeneities does not necessarily correspond to the stance that these groups currently demonstrate.

05/03/202426/06/2026

The Crisis of Development and Development Studies and Possibilities for Transformation

By Sebeka Richard Plaatjie

Development requires human persons to exist. On this basis it is reasonable to suggest that human life or the preservation thereof, is the foremost condition for development to declare and to recognize itself. Basic physiological needs for the survival of human beings such as food, water, clothing, and health care as suggested by Maslow must therefore be met. Beyond preservation of human life, which is also recognized by the United Nations, development merely functions an ideology, as proven aptly by standpoint theory. Standpoint theory postulates that human beings speak, read, and make sense of the world from the geo-political and body-political location of the subject who speaks.