Decolonizing Nonprofit, NGO & Development Higher Education: Valuing Indigenous Knowledge in the Majority World

• In Event: Critical Perspectives on Nonprofit Organizing and Voluntary Action II: Theoretical Approaches and Applications

Abstract

This chapter challenges the hegemony of the Minority World over Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the Minority World and proposes recommendations to decommodify higher education, refocus curricula and pedagogical approaches to challenge global inequities and neo-colonial domination, empower communities to resist hegemonic discourses, and remove the veil of ‘cultural blindness’ (Forstorp, 2008).  By reviewing the major influences on HEIs generally and the application of these discourses in the case of nonprofit and nongovernment organization education particularly, we highlight the ways in which future nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations leaders are steeped in the language of development, development theory, and development studies, further solidifying the grip of Minority World on the Majority World. We provide alternative structures and processes to challenge and reconfigure Minority World hegemonic practices “underscoring the value of alternative frames” (Amthor and Metzger, 2011, p. 78) that prioritize voices, perspectives, and understandings of stakeholders from the Majority World. 

Authors

• Roseanne Mirabella, Kean University

• Heather Carpenter, Louisiana State University, Shreveport