Donor-funded development research: ethics and epistemic violence. Yacine Ait Larbi interviewed.
Description
In this week’s episode, we speak to Yacine Ait Larbi about the critique he and Sarah Edgcumbe present in a two-part blog on paid-for development research. They outline the competing expectations of consulting companies who often value quick and relevant research outputs over research that is in-depth, reliable, well-grounded and ethical, due - in part - to time and resource pressures.
We speak about development research being interest-driven rather than values-driven, and the consequences this has on ‘local’ research teams, the communities in which research is conducted and the way in which research findings are disseminated.
Yacine talks about the clash of cultures between donor research agendas and community needs, where donor research often reproduces power dynamics and enacts epistemic violence.
Yacine Ait Larbi is a Ph.D. Candidate and a member of the Political Sociology program group at the AISSR of the University of Amsterdam. With over five years of experience in migration research, he has collaborated with international organisations like IOM and engaged in short consultancies. His research spans return and reintegration, forced displacement, and labour migration in various regions including France, North Africa, and the East and Horn of Africa. Yacine is passionate about discussions on decolonization, post-colonial migration, and social transformation. Additionally, Yacine provides part-time operational and logistical support for project management at ODI. Over the past year and a half, he has contributed to projects totaling £3.9 million in funding by organisations such as SIDA Mali, AFD, GIZ, and the African Development Bank.
Find out more about Yacine’s work, here:
Relevant resources:
- Larbi, Y., and Edgcumbe, S. (2023a) Development for profit: The commercialisation of research? Blog. New Thinking.
- Larbi, Y., and Edgcumbe, S. (2023b) Development for Profit: Rethinking Research Practice. Blog. New Thinking.
United States
