Author-tag: Peter Taylor

Three spaces of change for reorienting North-South research partnerships

By Geetika Khanduja, Peter Taylor, Andrea Ordóñez, Erica Nelson and Tracy Mamoun

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1. Geetika Khanduja; 2. Peter Taylor; 3. Andrea Ordóñez; 4. Erica Nelson; 5. Tracy Mamoun (biographies)

What are some of the challenges that researchers from the Global South face when engaging in development research initiatives, and how can resetting the relationships that underpin North-South collaborations help? What are the pivotal areas where change is needed?

Challenges

The main concerns for many researchers in Global South-based institutions are around the deep-rooted structural challenges that underpin the research for development space, such as:

  • funding dependence on external sources,
  • insufficient national expenditures on research,
  • lack of agency in the design and implementation of research projects,
  • publication pressures built on problematic Global North “output”-driven demands,
  • competing incentives for promoting and achieving policy uptake.

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Four approaches to shifting mindsets for decolonising knowledge

By Peter Taylor and Crystal Tremblay

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1. Peter Taylor (biography)
2. Crystal Tremblay (biography)

In the context of knowledge for development, what does it require to deconstruct the dominant narratives and personal privileges embodied in our race, class, gender, etc.? And, in a knowledge landscape littered with potential minefields, how do we go about shifting the mindsets that shape the ways in which ‘we’ understand the world and our subsequent values, behaviours, and attitudes?

Drawing on our own experiences, and learning that has emerged through many valued interactions with others, we have identified four approaches which we believe may help to make a difference.

1. Identifying what, and whose, knowledge is valued, counted, and integrated into development processes

Researchers often fail to recognise or value the different knowledges needed to address some of the world’s greatest challenges, because of where knowledge resides and who has generated it.

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