The morality trap of decolonising development: a reply to ‘From dematerialising race to distorting decoloniality: development-as-imperialism and Hindu supremacy’ by Kalpana Wilson

Abstract

Kalpana Wilson’s (2023) article highlights pivotal moves in discourses to decolonise development, focusing on how essentialist and racist readings of decoloniality circulate in development spaces and in Brahmanical Hindu supremacist discourse. Building upon Wilson’s insights, this reply delves into the body-politics of race where diversity in development is a decolonial and antiracist option that manifests in substituting ‘white saviours’ for brown ones, and where reassessments of capital and labour relations are conspicuously absented in reformulations of development. The concept of the ‘morality trap’ is central to this, capturing the dilemma faced by well-intentioned individuals working in development who are sensitive to charges of complicity and implication in development’s racism. By examining the intersections of race, power, and development practices, I aim to elucidate how essentialist interpretations of decoloniality perpetuate racial hierarchies, as evidenced in the emergence of ‘brown saviours’. Such analysis helps to identify not only the body-politics of racism in development but its particularities to the development industry.