Anderson, E-L orcid.org/0000-0002-0631-8744 and Patterson, AS (2017) Instrumentalizing AIDS Empowerment Discourses in Malawi and Zambia: An Actor-Oriented View of Donor Politics. International Affairs, 93 (5). pp. 1185-1204. ISSN 0020-5850
Abstract
Based on 16 months of fieldwork conducted in Malawi and Zambia between 2005 and 2014, this article advances debates on North-South relations by providing an actor-oriented view of donor politics. Drawing upon 152 interviews, 104 focus group discussions and a series of observations, it demonstrates how local people instrumentalize the fuzziness of ‘empowerment’ discourses to gain resources, status and opportunities. Our analysis of how local people push back against top-down dictated policies and structures in international affairs is highly pertinent because of Africa’s extreme dependency on external resources for the AIDS response. We argue that the malleability of ‘empowerment’ in the AIDS enterprise has strategic advantages for seemingly dependent people living with HIV. Through ‘performances of compliance’ that mimic dominant ideologies, ‘extraversion’ that plays up recipients’ weakness in global structures, and silence and humour that extend beyond the limits of the spoken word, locals embrace the elasticity of ‘empowerment’ and show agency despite the constraints of poverty, aid dependence, hunger, and unemployment. These actions close the space for actual transformation of local people’s lives because they create power imbalances within communities, privileging some whilst silencing and disadvantaging others.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Royal Institute of International Affairs. All rights reserved. This is an author produced version of a paper published in International Affairs. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com |
Keywords: | Development, donor politics, empowerment discourses, African agency, HIV/AIDS, Malawi, Zambia |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Education, Social Sciences and Law (Leeds) > School of Politics & International Studies (POLIS) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 10 Aug 2017 11:03 |
Last Modified: | 01 Sep 2019 00:38 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press |
Identification Number: | 10.1093/ia/iix166 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:119962 |