Expatriate-Local Inequality as Epistemic Dominance in International Development Organizations

Abstract

This paper explores the persistence of inequality between “expatriate” and “local” staff in international development organizations despite these organizations’ outward aims of equality and improving lives. We draw on 33 qualitative interviews, observation, and documents collected over a three-month period at a development organization in Nairobi, Kenya. Analyzed through the lens of coloniality, the data illustrate how unequal relations are perpetuated through the legitimization of Western epistemic perspectives, which naturalize and authorize expatriate-local difference. This difference persists through organizational practices that prioritize equality, unity, and meritocracy. By providing novel empirical insights into operations of coloniality in organization in the Global South, we show how relations of domination codified in the colonial era persist and contribute to ongoing inequality through epistemic dominance. In doing so, we illuminate the mechanisms that not only give rise to racial difference in work and organization but also facilitate its persistence, contributing to efforts to break the silence on race in organizations and development.