Robtel Pailey, one of our keynote speakers at DSA2019, has recently recorded a podcast about the nexus between race, development and COVID-19. The podcast is broadcast by the Oxford Society for International Development and available to listen to now on Soundcloud.

Robtel is a Liberian academic, activist and author, and in the podcast she discusses the intersections between her recently published Al Jazeera English commentary, “Africa does not need saving during this pandemic”, and Development and Change journal article, “De-centring the ‘White Gaze’ of Development“. In discussion with Mia Simovic, she uses race as a lens of analysis to interrogate assumptions that Western whiteness and modernity are the primary signifiers of progress and expertise. In exploring the pitfalls of adopting a “colour blind” outlook on development, the podcast also considers how scholars, policy makers and practitioners can challenge the ‘white gaze’ by imagining “a better world beyond flattened curves”.

Robtel’s article in Development and Change – which is based on her keynote – was the Journal’s Top Downloaded Paper in 2019.