International Aid as Modern Imperialism—What Does Cross-Cultural Psychology Really Have to Offer? A Commentary on “The Positive Role of Culture: What Cross-Cultural Psychology Has to Offer to Developmental Aid Effectiveness Research, by Symen A. Brouwers”

Abstract

In his article, Brouwers argues that cross-cultural psychologists (CCPs; a term he uses to include cultural psychologists and indigenous psychologists) should be a resource for agencies and organizations that engage in international and developmental aid. His argument is that CCPs can help these agencies and organizations ensure that their interventions become “entrenched”—meaning they become long-lasting aspects of life in the communities receiving the aid. We agree with Brouwers that CCPs can and should be more involved with international aid organizations. However, we argue that CCPs’ primary concern should be ensuring the ethical and cultural appropriateness of the ways in which the aid organizations interact with recipient communities. We believe this can only happen when indigenous psychologists are involved in the intervention in ways that ensure recipient communities are fully engaged with any aid-based intervention. We highlight our argument by utilizing some preliminary analyses from a related project we recently completed in Guatemala.

The Potentially Damaging Effects of Developmental Aid and Voluntourism on Cultural Capital and Well-Being

“…Other strings attached to this aid may, at times, be justified (such as requiring receiving communities to address issues of corruption). But more often, the strings demonstrate a type of cultural imperialism damaging to cultural capital and well-being (often tied to a sense of superiority referred to as the 'White Savior Industrial Complex') that expects a group of people to abandon their own way of life and adopt that of the group or government providing the support (Ashdown and Buck 2018). In addition to often being connected to a White Savior Industrial Complex (which occurs when relatively wealthy people, who are usually White, see themselves, and might be seen by the people they are imposing on, as having all the answers needed to solve a problem; Belcher 2016; Bex and Craps 2016; Jailani 2016; Straubhaar 2014), this imperialistic behavior is rooted in histories of colonialism (Aronson 2017;Ashdown and Buck 2018;Rigney 1999;Rios 2015), and should always be avoided.…”

“…International and developmental aid, whether in the form of financial support or volunteer labor, should always be offered and provided with the motivation of improving the overall well-being of the recipients (Ashdown and Buck 2018), and anything that does not support that main goal should be seriously questioned and criticized. Providing the support and help that other people need to improve the quality of their lives is often, if not always, a noble and generous desire-but it must be balanced with the responsibility to allow people the right and opportunity to choose their own cultural worldview and way of life (Chaudhary 2018)-in other words, to maintain their cultural capital and community well-being.…”

“…In other words, individual and community well-being is harmed via the White Savior Industrial Complex. This complex involves the assumption, usually implied and unspoken, that White people from the Global North are smarter, better prepared, and more educated to solve issues such as those often faced by people living in the Global South (Ashdown and Buck 2018;Belcher 2016;Bex and Craps 2016;Jailani 2016;Straubhaar 2014).…”

“…Instead, the providers of foreign and developmental aid assume that the solutions they have to offer are solutions that will solve the particular issue(s) of concern no matter the cultural context, such as mental health experts using Western-based models in an attempt to treat trauma in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami (Watters 2010). In the process (and often unwittingly but just as consequentially), the outsiders engage in ethically dubious and culturally imperialistic practices (Ashdown and Buck 2018).…”

“…NGOs, such as Habitat for Humanity, also send volunteers to places around the world to provide service with the goal of improving the lives of others (habitat.org). This activity, sometimes referred to as mission trips, volunteer tourism, or voluntourism can be done well…but it can also be done poorly and have more negative consequences than positive impacts on the local communities (Ashdown and Buck 2018;Talmage and Gassert 2020). The difference in power relationships between wealthier countries and less wealthy countries is substantial (Kiely 2016;Martin and Griffiths 2012;Richey 2016), begging the questions: How is this impacting the well-being of the communities and people living in the receiving countries?…”