Disability, Development and Postcolonialism

The Principles and Ethics of Including Children with Disability in Child Research

“…To counter the above assumptions that potentially underpin research designincluding the principles and ethics guiding researcha critical 'decolonisation' is required to achieve a transformative shift in the power relations and purpose of research in developing countries (Chataika, 2012). Such a shift requires a deep learning of each local context and the recognition that marginalised knowledge, such as that of children with disability in developing countries, is 'respected and credible' (Grech, 2012, p. 66).…”

Disability studies and development geography: Empirical connections, theoretical resonances, and future directions

“…Scholars have challenged disability studies to decenter its assumed White, western subjects and develop "southern/global theory" (Connell, 2011;Erevelles, 2011;Meekosha, 2011). The assumed western subjects that had often informed theorybuilding in disability studies led to conceptualizations of disability that at best do not resonate with the lived experience of disabled people in the majority world and at worst have been exported in the name of development at the expense of indigenous and Global South concepts (Chataika, 2012). Human rights frameworks can, for example, distract attention from the ways in which "much of the impairment or harm [in the Global South] is a result of the legacy of invasion, colonization, and globalization" (Meekosha & Soldatic, 2011, p. 1389.…”

Theoretical dimensions for interrogating the intersection of disability, immigration and social work

“…The author adds that 'without considering the entire experience of colonialism and coloniality it would hardly be possible to explain such a peculiar intellectual track' (p. 221). In addition, Eurocentric science and knowledge were utilized to construct the Other and to create discourses that have shaped and justified the assumed superiority of knowledge produced in the North and the inferiority of the Other and knowledge produced in the South (Chataika, 2012;Ghai, 2012;McEwan, 2009;Meekosha, 2011;Quijano, 2008;Razack, 2004Razack, , 2008Said, 1978Said, , 1985.…”

“…Of specific relevance to this article is the contention that dominant theoretical conceptions of disability have developed based on priorities, issues and experiences of people with disabilities in Global North contexts, which do not necessarily reflect realities of people with disabilities in the Global South (Chataika, 2012;Ghai, 2012;Holden and Beresford, 2002;Meekosha, 2011). Indeed, as Barker and Murray (2010) assert, '[d]isability Studies problematically transports theories and methodologies developed within the Western academy to other global locations, paying only nominal attention to local formations and understandings of disabilities' (p. 219).…”