Sally Matthews
Biographic Data
| ID | 143639 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sally Matthews |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sally |
| FAMILY NAME | Matthews |
| SIGNATURE | MATTHEWS S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Rhodes University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7635-3908 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 80 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 27 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Radical Alternatives or Ambivalent Engagements? Reflections on Post-development from the Global South
Asset-based community development (ABCD) in Makhanda, South Africa
The role of Non-Governmental Organisations in supporting popular struggles
Post-Development from the Global South
Rethinking comparative politics in the context of debates about decolonising higher education
In recent years, interest in the topic of the decolonisation of higher education curricula has intensified. A key aspect of attempts to decolonise higher education is the decolonisation of university curricula. This paper explores the question of curricular decolonisation in relation to comparative politics. The paper begins with an overview of debates on curricular decolonisation, proceeding to a discussion of the specific challenges that arise …
Listening to and representing the interests of the poor
This article engages with Monique Deveaux’s book Poverty, Solidarity, and Poor-Led Social Movements. Deveaux argues that philosophers writing on poverty and global justice should be more attentive to what poor people themselves think and do in response to poverty. I support Deveaux’s general orientation but reflect on some challenges that need to be considered and negotiated to achieve Deveaux’s goals. The article begins by complicating some of t…
Fairtrade Wine in South Africa
Fairtrade International (FTI) is an international certificatory body that seeks to restructure market relationships to support marginalised producers. In order to do this, FTI sells certified products at a higher price, allowing for a Fairtrade premium to be provided to the otherwise marginalised producers. In the South African wine industry, FTI has extended its certification to large-scale wine producers, despite the extensive history of exploi…
Commercialising the struggle
One of the ways in which opposition activists in Zimbabwe receive funding is through democracy assistance. Focusing on the late 1990s to 2016, this article explores the effect the receipt of such aid had on the ways in which opposition activists organise and on their ideological orientation. The authors show that the availability of such funds contributed to the commercialisation of the struggle whereby opposition activists began to view activism…
A Case Study of Country Ownership Over Donor Aid
Country ownership ostensibly gives aid-recipient countries more control over donor-funded programs. However, there is much debate both over the utility of the concept and its implementation. This article examines the operation of the Ghanaian Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) to determine to what extent the CCM enables country ownership. The CCM is a governance instrument designed to promote country ownership in relation to donor aid from the …
Decolonising while white
In this paper, I explore whether and how white people can make a meaningful contribution to decolonising university curricula. Drawing on my experiences as a white academic teaching at a South African university, I argue that identity matters when talking about decoloniality and that whites need to think carefully about the effects of their whiteness on their attempts to contribute to decolonial scholarship. I also suggest that white contribution…
Confronting the Colonial Library
This paper engages with Mudimbe's concept of the 'colonial library' with the aim of using this engagement to contribute to current debates about decolonising South African university curricula. The term 'colonial library' refers to the body of texts and epistemological order which construct Africa as a symbol of otherness and inferiority. Mudimbe shows that even the most determined attempts to resist the colonial library draw on this same epistem…
On Their Own
On Their Own: Women, Urbanization, and the Right to the City in South Africa, by Allison Goebel." International Feminist Journal of Politics, 20(1), pp. 105–106
Colonised minds? Post-development theory and the desirability of development in Africa
While post-development theory is very concerned with the ways in which development has impacted upon the countries of the Global South, there has been relatively little written on post-development theory from an African perspective. This paper identifies some of the ways in which post-development theory fails to adequately understand the African experience of development. In particular, I explore the difficulty that post-development theory confro…
Privilege, poverty, and pedagogy
This paper reflects on the experience of integrating a service-learning component into a postgraduate course in political studies. The course in question aims to get students to reflect on the ways in which poverty and privilege are tied up with each other, and on whether and how the relatively privileged can be involved in helpful ways in struggles against oppression. The service-learning component involved spending a week volunteering with a ru…
Development Discourse and Global History
"Development Discourse and Global History: From Colonialism to the Sustainable Development Goals." The Journal of Development Studies, 52(6), pp. 913–914
Reflections on Teaching Africa in South Africa
This article draws on the author’s experience of teaching African Studies to undergraduate South African students in order to reflect on some of the key challenges facing teachers of African Studies, both in South Africa and beyond. In particular, it discusses challenges relating to teaching a field as contested as African Studies, looking at whether teaching African alternatives to mainstream African politics is helpful and at whether and how on…
Reflections on the Appropriate Use of Unjustly Conferred Privilege
What ought beneficiaries of injustice to do with the privileges unjustly conferred upon them? This article examines how those who have been privileged as a consequence of injustice can best contribute to struggles for justice. In particular, I ask whether we ought to renounce privileges which have been unjustly conferred, or whether it may be better to use such privileges in ways that help bring about justice. The article engages in particular wi…
White Anti-Racism in Post-Apartheid South Africa
South Africans today live not only with the memory of the racial injustices of the past, but also with present injustices that are a consequence of that past. How should white South Africans live with these past and present injustices? On recognition of the racial injustices of the past and of the continuation of forms of white privilege today, involvement in ongoing anti-racist struggles seems to be an appropriate way for white South Africans to…
A critical psychology of the postcolonial
Africa
Africa: unity, sovereignty and sorrow, by Pierre Englebert, Boulder, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2009, xiii + 301 pp. ISBN 978-1-58826-646-0 This ambitious book begins with the statement ‘By and larg
Becoming African
The post-apartheid era necessitates the rethinking of white identities in South Africa. One way in which some white South Africans are seeking to redefine themselves is through describing themselves as African. However, claims by white South Africans that they too are Africans have been met with mixed responses from black South Africans. In this article I use contributions to an online university students' forum to explore ways in which some whit…
The Ambivalence of African Elitehood
Recent discussions in South Africa about the role of the so-called patriotic bourgeoisie highlight the much debated question of what role elite Africans can and ought to play in the upliftment of the poor. Those supporting the notion of a patriotic bourgeoisie believe that national or racial solidarity is sufficient to allow privileged Africans to act in the interests of their poorer fellow citizens. However, a reconsideration of an older discuss…
The Role of the Privileged in Responding to Poverty
The debate between post-development theorists and their critics has raised several important questions, one of them being the question of how relatively privileged people may respond meaningfully to poverty while not perpetuating the flaws of past development practice. In this article I build upon the ideas of several contributors to the post-development debate in order to suggest three ways in which we who are relatively privileged may play a ro…
Attaining a Better Society
Investigating Nepad's Development Assumptions
The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) proposes a new strategy to bring about the development of the African continent. In order to assess NEPAD, it is necessary to reveal what NEPAD takes development to be. This article suggests that development, however it is understood, includes three aspects: a characterisation of the current situation which shows this situation to be undesirable, the envisaging of a desirable future, and the po…
Post-development theory and the question of alternatives
Post-development theorists have declared development obsolete and bankrupt and have called for 'alternatives to development'. What do they mean by such calls and what should be the African response to such calls? In this paper I will attempt to address three important questions: first, what is meant by post-development theory's call for 'alternatives to development'? Second, why consider post-development theory from an African perspective? Third,…
Confronting the Colonial Library
This paper engages with Mudimbe's concept of the 'colonial library' with the aim of using this engagement to contribute to current debates about decolonising South African university curricula. The term 'colonial library' refers to the body of texts and epistemological order which construct Africa as a symbol of otherness and inferiority. Mudimbe shows that even the most determined attempts to resist the colonial library draw on this same epistem…
Colonised minds? Post-development theory and the desirability of development in Africa
While post-development theory is very concerned with the ways in which development has impacted upon the countries of the Global South, there has been relatively little written on post-development theory from an African perspective. This paper identifies some of the ways in which post-development theory fails to adequately understand the African experience of development. In particular, I explore the difficulty that post-development theory confro…
Tactics at the interface
White Anti-Racism in Post-Apartheid South Africa
South Africans today live not only with the memory of the racial injustices of the past, but also with present injustices that are a consequence of that past. How should white South Africans live with these past and present injustices? On recognition of the racial injustices of the past and of the continuation of forms of white privilege today, involvement in ongoing anti-racist struggles seems to be an appropriate way for white South Africans to…
Becoming African
The post-apartheid era necessitates the rethinking of white identities in South Africa. One way in which some white South Africans are seeking to redefine themselves is through describing themselves as African. However, claims by white South Africans that they too are Africans have been met with mixed responses from black South Africans. In this article I use contributions to an online university students' forum to explore ways in which some whit…
The Role of the Privileged in Responding to Poverty
The debate between post-development theorists and their critics has raised several important questions, one of them being the question of how relatively privileged people may respond meaningfully to poverty while not perpetuating the flaws of past development practice. In this article I build upon the ideas of several contributors to the post-development debate in order to suggest three ways in which we who are relatively privileged may play a ro…
Reflections on Teaching Africa in South Africa
This article draws on the author’s experience of teaching African Studies to undergraduate South African students in order to reflect on some of the key challenges facing teachers of African Studies, both in South Africa and beyond. In particular, it discusses challenges relating to teaching a field as contested as African Studies, looking at whether teaching African alternatives to mainstream African politics is helpful and at whether and how on…
The Ambivalence of African Elitehood
Recent discussions in South Africa about the role of the so-called patriotic bourgeoisie highlight the much debated question of what role elite Africans can and ought to play in the upliftment of the poor. Those supporting the notion of a patriotic bourgeoisie believe that national or racial solidarity is sufficient to allow privileged Africans to act in the interests of their poorer fellow citizens. However, a reconsideration of an older discuss…
Investigating Nepad's Development Assumptions
The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) proposes a new strategy to bring about the development of the African continent. In order to assess NEPAD, it is necessary to reveal what NEPAD takes development to be. This article suggests that development, however it is understood, includes three aspects: a characterisation of the current situation which shows this situation to be undesirable, the envisaging of a desirable future, and the po…
Reflections on the Appropriate Use of Unjustly Conferred Privilege
What ought beneficiaries of injustice to do with the privileges unjustly conferred upon them? This article examines how those who have been privileged as a consequence of injustice can best contribute to struggles for justice. In particular, I ask whether we ought to renounce privileges which have been unjustly conferred, or whether it may be better to use such privileges in ways that help bring about justice. The article engages in particular wi…
A critical psychology of the postcolonial
Tactics at the interface
Investigating Nepad's Development Assumptions
The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) proposes a new strategy to bring about the development of the African continent. In order to assess NEPAD, it is necessary to reveal what NEPAD takes development to be. This article suggests that development, however it is understood, includes three aspects: a characterisation of the current situation which shows this situation to be undesirable, the envisaging of a desirable future, and the po…
Post-development theory and the question of alternatives
Post-development theorists have declared development obsolete and bankrupt and have called for 'alternatives to development'. What do they mean by such calls and what should be the African response to such calls? In this paper I will attempt to address three important questions: first, what is meant by post-development theory's call for 'alternatives to development'? Second, why consider post-development theory from an African perspective? Third,…
Attaining a Better Society
The Role of the Privileged in Responding to Poverty
The debate between post-development theorists and their critics has raised several important questions, one of them being the question of how relatively privileged people may respond meaningfully to poverty while not perpetuating the flaws of past development practice. In this article I build upon the ideas of several contributors to the post-development debate in order to suggest three ways in which we who are relatively privileged may play a ro…
The Ambivalence of African Elitehood
Recent discussions in South Africa about the role of the so-called patriotic bourgeoisie highlight the much debated question of what role elite Africans can and ought to play in the upliftment of the poor. Those supporting the notion of a patriotic bourgeoisie believe that national or racial solidarity is sufficient to allow privileged Africans to act in the interests of their poorer fellow citizens. However, a reconsideration of an older discuss…
Africa
Africa: unity, sovereignty and sorrow, by Pierre Englebert, Boulder, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2009, xiii + 301 pp. ISBN 978-1-58826-646-0 This ambitious book begins with the statement ‘By and larg
Becoming African
The post-apartheid era necessitates the rethinking of white identities in South Africa. One way in which some white South Africans are seeking to redefine themselves is through describing themselves as African. However, claims by white South Africans that they too are Africans have been met with mixed responses from black South Africans. In this article I use contributions to an online university students' forum to explore ways in which some whit…
White Anti-Racism in Post-Apartheid South Africa
South Africans today live not only with the memory of the racial injustices of the past, but also with present injustices that are a consequence of that past. How should white South Africans live with these past and present injustices? On recognition of the racial injustices of the past and of the continuation of forms of white privilege today, involvement in ongoing anti-racist struggles seems to be an appropriate way for white South Africans to…
A critical psychology of the postcolonial
Reflections on the Appropriate Use of Unjustly Conferred Privilege
What ought beneficiaries of injustice to do with the privileges unjustly conferred upon them? This article examines how those who have been privileged as a consequence of injustice can best contribute to struggles for justice. In particular, I ask whether we ought to renounce privileges which have been unjustly conferred, or whether it may be better to use such privileges in ways that help bring about justice. The article engages in particular wi…
Development Discourse and Global History
"Development Discourse and Global History: From Colonialism to the Sustainable Development Goals." The Journal of Development Studies, 52(6), pp. 913–914
Reflections on Teaching Africa in South Africa
This article draws on the author’s experience of teaching African Studies to undergraduate South African students in order to reflect on some of the key challenges facing teachers of African Studies, both in South Africa and beyond. In particular, it discusses challenges relating to teaching a field as contested as African Studies, looking at whether teaching African alternatives to mainstream African politics is helpful and at whether and how on…
On Their Own
On Their Own: Women, Urbanization, and the Right to the City in South Africa, by Allison Goebel." International Feminist Journal of Politics, 20(1), pp. 105–106
Colonised minds? Post-development theory and the desirability of development in Africa
While post-development theory is very concerned with the ways in which development has impacted upon the countries of the Global South, there has been relatively little written on post-development theory from an African perspective. This paper identifies some of the ways in which post-development theory fails to adequately understand the African experience of development. In particular, I explore the difficulty that post-development theory confro…
Privilege, poverty, and pedagogy
This paper reflects on the experience of integrating a service-learning component into a postgraduate course in political studies. The course in question aims to get students to reflect on the ways in which poverty and privilege are tied up with each other, and on whether and how the relatively privileged can be involved in helpful ways in struggles against oppression. The service-learning component involved spending a week volunteering with a ru…
Confronting the Colonial Library
This paper engages with Mudimbe's concept of the 'colonial library' with the aim of using this engagement to contribute to current debates about decolonising South African university curricula. The term 'colonial library' refers to the body of texts and epistemological order which construct Africa as a symbol of otherness and inferiority. Mudimbe shows that even the most determined attempts to resist the colonial library draw on this same epistem…
Decolonising while white
In this paper, I explore whether and how white people can make a meaningful contribution to decolonising university curricula. Drawing on my experiences as a white academic teaching at a South African university, I argue that identity matters when talking about decoloniality and that whites need to think carefully about the effects of their whiteness on their attempts to contribute to decolonial scholarship. I also suggest that white contribution…
Commercialising the struggle
One of the ways in which opposition activists in Zimbabwe receive funding is through democracy assistance. Focusing on the late 1990s to 2016, this article explores the effect the receipt of such aid had on the ways in which opposition activists organise and on their ideological orientation. The authors show that the availability of such funds contributed to the commercialisation of the struggle whereby opposition activists began to view activism…
A Case Study of Country Ownership Over Donor Aid
Country ownership ostensibly gives aid-recipient countries more control over donor-funded programs. However, there is much debate both over the utility of the concept and its implementation. This article examines the operation of the Ghanaian Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) to determine to what extent the CCM enables country ownership. The CCM is a governance instrument designed to promote country ownership in relation to donor aid from the …
Rethinking comparative politics in the context of debates about decolonising higher education
In recent years, interest in the topic of the decolonisation of higher education curricula has intensified. A key aspect of attempts to decolonise higher education is the decolonisation of university curricula. This paper explores the question of curricular decolonisation in relation to comparative politics. The paper begins with an overview of debates on curricular decolonisation, proceeding to a discussion of the specific challenges that arise …
Listening to and representing the interests of the poor
This article engages with Monique Deveaux’s book Poverty, Solidarity, and Poor-Led Social Movements. Deveaux argues that philosophers writing on poverty and global justice should be more attentive to what poor people themselves think and do in response to poverty. I support Deveaux’s general orientation but reflect on some challenges that need to be considered and negotiated to achieve Deveaux’s goals. The article begins by complicating some of t…
Fairtrade Wine in South Africa
Fairtrade International (FTI) is an international certificatory body that seeks to restructure market relationships to support marginalised producers. In order to do this, FTI sells certified products at a higher price, allowing for a Fairtrade premium to be provided to the otherwise marginalised producers. In the South African wine industry, FTI has extended its certification to large-scale wine producers, despite the extensive history of exploi…
Post-Development from the Global South
Radical Alternatives or Ambivalent Engagements? Reflections on Post-development from the Global South
Political science (20 works) · Sociology (18 works) · Law (14 works) · Law (13 works) · Politics (10 works) · Economic growth (7 works) · Economics (6 works) · Gender Studies (6 works) · Gender Studies (5 works) · International Development and Aid (5 works)