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

Responding to recent criticism of the development industry, this book is a nuanced and original investigation of Northern donor agency personnel as they deliver aid in Tanzania. It explores how donor identities are manifested in the practices of development aid, and how calls for equal partnership between North and South often take a very different form in practice. It illustrates the conflicts and tensions in the development aid process, reflecting 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.