The Paternalism of Partnership A Postcolonial Reading of Identity in Development Aid

by Baaz, Maria Eriksson

• ISBN13: 9781842774144
• ISBN10: 184277414X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-06-04
• Publisher: ZED BOOKS

Summary

The development industry has been criticized recently from very diverse quarters. This book is a nuanced and original investigation of Northern donor agency personnel as they deliver aid in Tanzania. The author explores in particular how donor identities are manifested in the practices of development aid, and how calls for equal partnership between North and South are often very different in practice. She demonstrates the conflicts and tensions in the development aid process. These reflect both the longstanding critique of the Eurocentric nature of development, and discourse that still assumes images of the superior, initiating, efficient "donor" as opposed to the inadequate, passive, unreliable "partner" or recipient. This book will be useful to students seeking an introduction to postcolonial studies and the ways in which it can throw light on contemporary social realities, and to scholars interested in the ethnographic realities of aid delivery.

Author Biography

Maria Eriksson Baaz is a Researcher at the Department of Peace and Development Research (Padrigu), Goteborg University.

Table of Contents

Preface	vi
1 Identity and development aid	1	(31)
2 'The white man's burden' and other stories	32	(40)
3 Situating identity in the development aid context	72	(37)
4 The omniscient self and the backward, passive and unreliable partner	109	(39)
5 The equal partner and the politics of desire	148	(18)
6 Conclusion	166	(11)
Notes	177	(20)
References	197	(11)
Index	208