A review of decolonial praxis in development studies [review of the book challenging global development: towards decoloniality and justice

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dc.contributor.authorSalanga Raymond J.
dc.contributor.authorKahamba Judith S.
dc.contributor.authorNgowi Edwin E.
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-13T21:04:53Z
dc.date.available2026-07-13T21:04:53Z
dc.date.issued2026-05-21
dc.descriptionBOOK REVIEW
dc.description.abstractThis review critically assesses Challenging Global Development: Towards Decoloniality and Justice, edited by Henning Melber, Uma Kothari, Laura Camfield, and Kees Biekart (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024), as a timely and provocative contribution to the decolonisation of development studies. The review employs a threefold analytical framework examining: (i) theoretical contributions to post-development and decolonial thought, (ii) epistemological innovations in research methodology and knowledge production, and (iii) practical implications for pedagogy, research ethics, and development practice. The edited volume brings together scholars from the Global South and North to challenge essentialist ontological assumptions underpinning mainstream development, particularly those embedded in the Sustainable Development Goals framework. Key strengths include the volume’s grounding in grounded alternatives, such as India’s Vikalp Sangam process, Zapatista self-rule in Mexico, and Indigenous resistance to extractivism in Latin America, and its attention to relational accountability, refusal, and Indigenous Data Sovereignty in research ethics. However, the review identifies limitations, including an underdeveloped engagement with degrowth and South-South cooperation’s contradictory relationship with decoloniality, as well as challenges in translating decolonial pedagogy within career-oriented university programmes. While the volume successfully deconstructs development’s coloniality, it leaves unresolved whether “development” itself remains a viable category after decolonisation. This review concludes that the book is an essential resource for scholars and practitioners committed to epistemic justice, though future work must more concretely address material reparations, redistributive justice, and the tensions between local autonomy and large-scale systemic transformation in an era of polycrisis.
dc.identifier.citationhttps://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-30308-1
dc.identifier.issn2619- 8851
dc.identifier.urihttps://www.suaire.sua.ac.tz/handle/20.500.14820/7785
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherSokoine University of Agriculture
dc.subjectDecoloniality
dc.subjectPost-development
dc.subjectEpistemic justice
dc.subjectPluriverse
dc.subjectRelational accountability
dc.titleA review of decolonial praxis in development studies [review of the book challenging global development: towards decoloniality and justice
dc.typeArticle

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