Representing ‘development’ on Instagram: questioning ‘what’, ‘who’, and ‘how’ of development in digital space

Being Cosmopolitan: Marketing Development Studies in the Neoliberal University

“…In imagery, both university departments mimic familiar tropes of development, specifically highly racialised tropes of desperate or lacking black and brown bodies, and either barren or chaotic landscapes that appear unfamiliar to the viewer. There is no discernible effort to capture happy faces, rendering the images reminiscent of the ‘poverty porn’ critique levelled at INGOs, and more recent critiques of infantilising representations of southern need (Kim and Wilkins, 2021).…”

“…The project of international development has long been critiqued along these lines when conceptualised as a northern technical pursuit that restricts any other vision of ‘development’ and, through a ‘development industry’ of its own creation, fixes unequal global power relations to foster European superiority and privilege European sensibilities (Escobar, 1985). This critique, and the underpinning conceptualisation of development, is pronounced within the sub-field of development communication; particularly, studies on representations of development, where the communication of northern differences by northern development actors to northern audiences via infantilising representations of southern want and need is instrumental for the sustenance of a paternalistic development industry (Kim and Wilkins, 2021).…”

“…The communication of development as a subject and a field of practice is a rich body of work; particularly, in respect to ‘selling development’ in marketing campaigns of northern NGOs, ethical businesses and bilateral donors (Cameron and Haanstra, 2008; Chouliaraki, 2016; Dogra, 2012; Kim and Wilkins, 2021; Ponte and Richey, 2014). Within a neoliberal modality that governs the contemporary development industry (Power, 2000), acts of marketing, branding and selling (products or expertise) are necessary activities for development actors to retain their relevance, market share and relative positions of power (Patel and Mun, 2017).…”