A World Without White Saviours Cleo Robins
Many people, notably those with power in our societies, like to forget or diminish the effects of colonisation, by distancing current events from past ones, or by referring to our present global situation as “post-colonial”. The reality is, however, that colonisation still affects us in every aspect of our lives, from determining our values to igniting our anxieties. To push away this ugly truth, and assuage the guilt that inevitably follows in the wake of privilege, residents of colonial centres of power, like Australia, the USA and Britain, often devise volunteering projects which allow them to ‘better’ the living conditions of citizens in less economically aggressive nations. These projects are marketed as ‘once-in-a-lifetime’, supposedly enabling Western citizens to alleviate poverty and inequality, as well as giving them an ‘eyeopening’ experience. But does the impetus behind volunteering trips really come from a sincere place? Or has the colonial project just mutated into a different form, albeit one that is hidden in a discourse of compassion? A key ideological principle which is used to justify invasion and colonisation is the binary view of civilisation. Western colonisers often used the rhetoric that they were ‘civilising’ the places they conquered, as if the European way of doing things was inherently better or more efficient. Colonial powers forced 20
Christianity upon the Indigenous peoples of many nations, all the while extracting natural resources from the land they were stealing. They tried to legitimise this exploitation by appropriating evolutionary theories, resulting in the harmful ideology of eugenics which still influences how many people think about race, gender, and sexuality today. The basic assumption of eugenicist theory is that the white way is the right way, and that any person, or nation, who exists outside the binary norms of white supremacy, is somehow inferior and should strive to ‘better’ themselves. In her article “White Supremacy Culture”, Tema Okun writes that paternalism and perfectionism are two of the key characteristics of white supremacy. These tenets are evident in the historical process of invasion and colonisation, but they can also be seen in the more modern project of ‘voluntourism’. Volunteer tourism programs cater to Western tourists, providing transport to countries which are considered to be ‘developing’; in other words, lacking a resemblance to Western culture. Volunteers will spend time and money to help out in communities, often by building schools or amenities. While these activities seem to be motivated by noble aims, the perspective which is centred in the discourse surrounding
Hey guys, I’m a Winthrop duck, welcome to my TED talk.
