Abstract

The colonial history and legacy upon which international development discourse and practice is built continues to produce and reinforce asymmetrical power relations in new and complex ways. This chapter examines the ways in which the international development paradigm reproduces and reinforces racialised and gendered subjectivities and how these identities are constructed through everyday encounters where development takes place. Working within a postcolonial feminist framework, the chapter explores these issues both historically and in contemporary times and draws upon a collection of narratives from six women of color who currently work in, or have worked in, the development industry. The narratives highlight the intersection of race and gender in the construction of identity and experiences of these subjects as they operate within transnational spaces as part of a particular power structure, in this case the international development architecture. The interviews were carried out in 2012 and 2013 with six female aid workers, ranging in age from 30 to 50, from the Caribbean, North America and the Pacific.