Solidarity, not charity : discourses of power in partnership and development aid

Abstract: By applying discourse analysis to six interviews with officials and development workers at the Swedish solidarity organisation AGS, this thesis analyses power in development cooperation, and the construction and function of discourses surrounding the field. It discusses rhetorical and strategic shifts from development aid to partnership and solidarity. By exploring how the informants speak of priorities, privilege and difference in relation to ideas of race or ethnicity, and class, the objective is to show how the solidarity position and development context is discursively created. What differs between solidarity, partnership and development aid? In what ways are the White Western Development Worker image constructed and challenged? The thesis discusses contemporary postcolonial relations between and within African and Swedish societies. It examines difficulties regarding gender mainstreaming efforts as an example of how Swedish development workers and officials discursively construct and deconstruct images of Selves and African Others.