Postcolonialism and Development
Perhaps one of the most important reasons for this intrinsic hesitation by
development theorists is to do with the epistemological foundations of
postcolonialism. Development advocates would argue that postcolonial
criticisms are emotional, subjective and irrational responses which undermine the attainment of universal knowledge that can be gained only
through empirical inquiry based on western scientific methods (Grovogui
2013; Hopkins 1997; Todorov 1993). To development scholars, postcolonial theories offer a subjective interpretation of events which can lead
to a mixing of idiosyncratic and illogical responses that lack knowledge
gained only through scientific empirical examination. With such subjectivity, postcolonialism can lead to ambitious theories and advocacies of
unrealistic practices that may have limited values in real world situations. Development scholars argue that development theory offers a solution to this postcolonial subjectivity (Goss 1996).
Grovogui (2013) has also pointed to the possible duplicity of postcolonialism as a further point of contention from its opponents. As there
remains a postcolonial criticism that western development blankets the
‘third world’ as a single autonomous actor (Escobar 1995: 56), the very
fact that postcolonialism generalises the west in such terms leads to
postcolonialism fulfilling the very practice that it is criticising (Hopkins
1997). Development theorists would argue that it is too simplistic to incite a stereotype of a European master narrative. Furthermore, as Biccum
(2002) points out, another important critique of postcolonial studies is in
the usage of the term ‘post’ colonial. Sprinker cites that the term has no
clarity of usage and could include so many time periods and locations
that it is difficult to find a universal consensus in order to properly foster
scientific enquiry (Sprinker 1995). For example, India gained independence from colonial rule in 1947, but only abandoned the military and
economic structures of imperialism in 1989 (Ahmad 1995). A development theorist might ask here, when did India formally become postcolonial? Indeed, when does postcolonial development actually begin? Final-
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