VAD e.V.

From Colonial Service to Development Work –

Changing Structures and Motives of European Foreign Assignments in Africa

Convenors: Gerald Hödl Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist gegen Spambots geschützt! Sie müssen JavaScript aktivieren, damit Sie sie sehen können. Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist gegen Spam Bots geschützt, Sie müssen JavaScript aktivieren, damit Sie es sehen können (Wien), Martina Kopf Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist gegen Spambots geschützt! Sie müssen JavaScript aktivieren, damit Sie sie sehen können. Diese E-Mail-Adresse ist gegen Spam Bots geschützt, Sie müssen JavaScript aktivieren, damit Sie es sehen können (Wien)

African states since independence have attracted a large number of European professionals and volunteers in development programmes and projects. These included teachers and scholars in the national education sector, as has been the case on a large scale basis in Côte d’Ivoire, members of NGOs and humanitarian aid organisations, and practitioners employed by European development agencies or government-run programmes like the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

This particular kind of labour migration from Europe to Africa can be traced back to the colonial state of the 20th century, when the idea of colonial development took shape and the military, which was the dominant force during the era of colonial expansion and conquest, was gradually replaced by civil servants.

This panel invites contributions which take a closer look at the sociology and history of Europeans “working in the field” of African development. In how far did the conditions and underlying structures of these efforts change in sovereign African states compared to the colonial state? Are there continuities with regard to the interests and motives on both individual and structural levels? Which traces did these foreign assignments leave in individual biographies, which impact did they have on power/knowledge-systems in Africa as well as in Europe?