When the African Diasporas go European: diversifying development actors, re-centering Europe, silencing (de)coloniality
(2023) European Union International Affairs Conference 2023 — Location: Brussels (4.May.2023)
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- Associations of people of African descent contributing to development “back home” are as old as post-independence migrations to Europe. Self-defined as African Diaspora Development Organisations (ADDOs), they have carved out a specific niche in the development industry at EU level: “diaspora-led development”. Their main purpose is “to link informal gatherings of people implementing projects with donors” (Lacroix 2010, 97), operating in parallel to established Non-Governmental Development Organisations. Authors like Kothari (2006) and Wilson (2012) have clarified how racism be consubstantiated with development as idea (little d development) and industry (Big D development - Lewis 2019). Cooper (1997, 70), Rajagopal (2006, 777), Rist (2013, 104–13), Kothari (2019, 47) and McEwan (2019, 100) have shown the colonial genealogy of development. If calls for the decolonisation of development studies (Patel 2020) and even decolonisation of Europe (Bhambra 2022) start to breach the silence of European academia, what about development in practice? Can we see the creation of ADDO platforms at EU level as the sign for a decolonial critique of development cooperation among practitioners? Do they contribute to diversifying, decentering or even decolonising the development industry? Mostly a focus of migration studies, ADDOs have gone undercover both in development and EU studies. Their recent Europeanisation attempts aiming to influence EU decision-making are studied in this paper. Taking the Africa-Europe Diaspora Development Platform (ADEPT) as case study, I question to what extent their Europeanisation participates to diversifying, decentering or decolonising logics behind EU development cooperation. I explore the process of “going European” (paraphrasing Siméant 2005) of ADDOs. I analyse ADEPT narrative about development in the period 2010-2020, comparing it against conventional, reformist and radical development theories. Theory prevalence in the narrative shows how diversifying development actors, even adding African diasporas to the mix, is by no means enough to expect a decolonial critique of EU development cooperation; on the contrary, it rather contributes to re-centering the EU as pivotal donor for African development.
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Brogna, V. (2023). When the African Diasporas go European: diversifying development actors, re-centering Europe, silencing (de)coloniality. European Union International Affairs Conference 2023, Brussels.