Daniel Bendix

In)Security in postcolonial development education in Germany

Contrary to its own goals, development education in Germany tends to reproduce Europe’s global position of power and to silence marginalized students while empowering those who are already empowered. We contend that development education needs to focus on un-learning myths of Northern supremacy by bringing colonialism back into the global equation. In addition, development education should not shy away from addressing inequalities within the classroom setting.

Reflecting the Post-Development gaze: the degrowth debate in Germany

Abstract Post-Development has reproduced the ‘development gaze’ by focusing on interventions and struggles in the South. This paper draws attention to the German version of degrowth, Postwachstum, as a possible Post-Development approach in the North. It thus contributes to the Post-Development agenda by including the North as a ‘development’ problem and by overcoming the view of the North as a homogeneous neo-liberal, capitalist, Eurocentric bloc. The paper examines key Postwachstum contributions with regard to their correspondence to insights of and gaps in the Post-Development debate. It argues that Postwachstum needs to include a postcolonial perspective on global inequalities and question the ‘development’–modernity–coloniality nexus more profoundly in order to provide a valuable contribution to the Post-Development agenda.

Rassismusanalyse in der Entwicklungsforschung am Beispiel deutscher reproduktiver Gesundheitspolitik in Tansania

Leseprobe ----- Zusammenfassung Ausgehend von einer Betrachtung der bisherigen Beschaftigung mit Rassismus in der deutschsprachigen Politikwissenschaft erortert dieser Artikel, wie das Potenzial der Entwicklungsforschung fur die Untersuchung von Rassismus genutzt werden kann. Entwicklungsforschung mit ihrem Interesse an globaler soziookonomischer Ungleichheit scheint besonders geeignet zu sein, Rassismus als umfassenden globalen Komplex mit diskursiven und materiellen Dimensionen zu verstehen. In diesem Artikel wird argumentiert, dass der Fokus auf Rassismus als Ungleichheit stutzendes diskursives Phanomen nicht ausreichend ist, um dessen Wirkmachtigkeit zu erfassen. Wie Rassismus materieller verstanden und analysiert werden kann, wird in diesem Beitrag anhand des Beispiels deutscher Entwicklungspolitik im Bereich reproduktive Gesundheits‑ und Bevolkerungspolitik in Tansania aufgezeigt. Schlagworter: Rassismus, Entwicklungsforschung, globale Ungleichheit, reproduktive Gesundheit, Bevolkerungspolitik, Deutschland ---- Abstract Departing from an examination of how German political science has dealt with the issue of racism to date, this paper discusses the contribution of development studies to an exploration of racism. With its interest in global socioeconomic inequality, development studies seems to be particularly well-suited to grasp racism as a comprehensive global complex with discursive and material dimensions. This paper argues that it is not sufficient to focus on racism as a discursive phenomenon supportive of inequality in order to grasp its power. How racism can be understood and analysed with more concern for materiality is illustrated in this paper through the example of German development policy in Tanzania in the area of reproductive health and population. Keywords: racism, Development Studies, global inequality, reproductive health, population policy, Germany ---- Bibliographie: Bendix, Daniel/Ziai, Aram: Rassismusanalyse in der Entwicklungsforschung am Beispiel deutscher reproduktiver Gesundheitspolitik in Tansania, PERIPHERIE, 2-2017, S. 206-231. https://doi.org/10.3224/peripherie.v37i2.04

“Impossible to Get to Know These Secret Means”—Colonial Anxiety and the Quest for Controlling Reproduction in “German East Africa”

Daniel Bendix examines colonial narratives on childbirth-related practices and abortions in “German East Africa.” After the turn of the twentieth century, German administrators, missionaries, and physicians cautioned against a “population decline,” and East Africans came to be considered a resource in need of “protection.” This chapter highlights how East African women were turned into objects of German patriarchal-colonial population and health policy, and discerns possible agency of East African women. The chapter argues that the discussion of women consulting German health facilities for delivery and the problematizations of abortions point to the German colonizers’ anxiety in the face of East African women’s non-compliance with colonial desires.

The colonial present in international development? The case of German interventions in obstetric care in Tanzania

This article investigates whether colonialism is alive in contemporary German development cooperation (GDC) on obstetric care in Tanzania. Drawing on archives and interviews, it compares present-day interventions to German policy in ‘German East Africa’ (GEA) at the beginning of the 20th century. It argues that contemporary development cooperation can be considered colonial to a certain extent in that it is marked by a combination of racialization, developmentalism and trusteeship. However, colonial power today is fractured as German development professionals’ accounts of their work display a considerable degree of hesitancy and doubt. This article contributes to the knowledge on colonialism and development by discerning colonial power in the under-researched case of GDC as well as in the context of concrete policy and practice in a particular field of intervention.

Engendering Security Sector Reform: where to from here?

The category of gender has only recently been introduced into the debate on security sector reform (SSR). Drawing on studies of gender in SSR, this paper reviews the rationales offered for incorporating a gender perspective and the strategies adopted for achieving this. It concludes that there is still a lack of implementation tools and, furthermore, that the analysis of gender in SSR could usefully be broadened by drawing on the insights of feminist-inspired peace research on the role of security institutions in the construction of gender identities.