Decolonising Development
‘Decolonization never takes places unnoticed…it influences individuals and modifies them fundamentally’ –Frantz Fanon, Wretched of the Earth, 1961.
More than just a moment
This is more than just a hashtag, more than just a moment. The Black Lives Matter movement has once again opened the space for reimagining a new world. In recent weeks, people have challenged the whiteness of the development sector. This is a continuation of this conversation that directly focuses on how the role of race and racism within the sector has been ignored and brushed away. We aim to shine the spotlight on how the lack of accountability within the development sector has allowed racism to remain unchallenged and untackled.
Charity So White are doing a vital job of highlighting the racism within the sector that black people and people of colour face from a British context. They are an organisation that are dedicated to combatting institutional racism within the development and charity sector. Their work illustrates that charity and development sector must move away from performative acts to tangible actions. In moving toward tangible actions, we must delve into the historical context of how racism and colonial legacy is still present within the development and charity sector.
Colonial legacy is still palpable within the development and charity sector. This legacy is evident within the power imbalance, where we see Western and predominantly white organisations working within formerly colonised countries, refusing to acknowledge their position and privilege. Colonialism is not far removed from our society. Zimbabwe was one of the last countries to eventually gain independence from their colonial power, Britain, in 1980 and South Africa only untangled themselves from the Apartheid system in 1994. The global disparities and inequalities between the Global North and Global South are continually shaped by colonial power relations.
Liberian academic, activist and author Robtel Neajai Pailey, has recently spoken about the ‘white gaze’ of development within organisations, academia and scholarship. She asks the poignant question “who holds knowledge?” It can be argued that even the concept ‘knowledge’ cannot be untangled from colonialism. The whiteness of development research and scholarship illustrates the ivory tower nature of knowledge. Pailey highlights that within development, there is a widespread assumption that Western whiteness and modernity are the global signifiers of progress and prestige. The recent situation with the MDPI Open Access raised by the ‘WASH Failures’ platform, headed by Dr Dani Barrington, Esther Shaylor and Dr Becky Sindall, provides an important example of this. The MDPI had stated that they aimed to waive fees for contributors from ‘developed countries’, who would be given ‘priority’. This is a precise example of Western knowledge within development as markers of prestige and knowledge produced from the Global South is deemed as deviating from this racial hierarchy. Euphresia Luseka makes the significant point: ‘Does it mean that Africans are consumers of knowledge and not producers?’. From journals to non-profit organisations within the sector, there has been a shared tacit agreement of upholding the Global North as the cornerstone of knowledge. To rebuild a development sector which upholds and centres knowledge and contributions from the Global South, we must decolonise.
To decolonise the development sector, we must acknowledge how white supremacy still functions within it. Through the history of colonialism and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, white supremacy became the basis of Western (and Non-Western) societies and tackling this means to start decolonisation. The process of decolonisation is not solely for formerly colonised countries; it is especially for countries that were former colonial powers. We can see this in the decolonising curriculums and universities movement in Britain, originating from South Africa’s 2015 Rhodes Must Fall movement. To decolonise the sector is for white people within the sector is become committed to action against institutional racism and racial hierarchies. There must be a recognition that racism is not simply individual acts but part of the structure — why it is important to call it ‘institutional racism’.
There must be a recognition that racism is inherently linked to power and this is stark in the development sector. How can we continue to be business as usual, where discussions of race and racism are absent and enacting racial hierarchies is the norm? The answer is that we can’t continue. There may not be set action points to follow but it is essential for white people within the sector to be committed to tackling institutional racism through their actions.
As part of Gather’s values, we do the right thing, even when it’s difficult. Now is the time for introspection for all of us.
Recommendations for Learning Resources
Wretched of the Earth, 1961, Frantz Fanon — A groundbreaking book that unflinchingly delves into the nature of the colonised-coloniser relationship and the decolonisation process.
Orientalism, Edward Said, 1978 — A pivotal book into the process of ‘orientalism’, where people of colour are classified as the ‘Other’ within Western societies.
Challenging the “‘White Gaze’ of Development” during COVID-19 — Oxford Society for International Development, an important conversation between Liberian academic, activist and author Robtel Neajai Pailey on the absence of race within the development.
Africa Does Not Need Saving During This Pandemic’, Robtel Neajai Pailey — Article that talks about the harm of helpless African tropes within the development sector and how Africa has saved itself during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Initiating De-colonization of WASH Sector Knowledge, Euphresia Luseka — a water governance specialist working in Kenya, focuses on the erasure of knowledge and research in WASH produced from African WASH practitioners, researchers and scholars.
Decolonization is not a Metaphor, Eve Tuck & K.Wayne Yang — An essay that looks at what decolonization means in reality, especially for indigenous communities in America and the context of settler colonies.
