Moral Dilemma: White Savior Complex and Development
By: Sarah Khalbuss
In her podcast Moral Dilemma, Sarah Khalbuss (MPA, DP ‘21) discusses white savior complex in development and humanitarian work. Featuring Sean Hansen (MPA, DP ‘20), Joey Conway (MPA, DP ‘21), Zahra Shah (MPA, EPD ‘21), Alex Berryhill (MIA, ‘21), and Dale Buscher, Adjunct Associate Professor of International and Public Affairs.
As a Syrian-American student who previously studied sociology and area studies, now pursuing Development Practice formally for the very first time, I have been struggling at SIPA. Part of why I came to SIPA was to be around highly critical students who make connections and reflect on their practice in the greater scheme of things, students who would be highly critical of the field itself and their role in it, students who think about reasons for problems, rather than just solutions.
My core courses in my Development major focused on sustainability and food systems-- topics essential to the field -- but not the driving forces behind many of us joining the field. I thought those classes would discuss deeper topics that directly address the inequality we are fighting-- topics like colonialism and imperialism and their effects on the modern world order, colorism and whiteness in the world, globalization and its negative impacts, neoliberalism and its discontents, and the dark and ugly side of the history of development. I have been surprised at the lack of reflection on topics of our identities, reasons for joining the field, perceptions of the other, or inherent privileges by birth or by institution. It somehow felt that the social science part of me was dying and being replaced with a purely technocratic, professional world that saw identities in numbers and percentages and competed to invent apps to “save the world.”
Since I started here, I've been struggling with the concept of white savior complex, and how and why so many of us studying here set our sights abroad when our domestic social problems are getting bigger and more wicked. I knew I was guilty of this even without being ‘white,’ yearning to be in touch with my Middle Eastern roots. I hungered for a class that would grapple with the issue of saviorism head-on. I waited and waited for professors to start conversations about these issues, about Westerners who go abroad to countries they have little to no experience in, and still believe they are being useful. I certainly had these conversations in private, around the warmth of my friends, but something about its absence in my coursework made me feel like maybe there was some reason that it isn't openly discussed. Maybe it's something to do with preserving the current power structures so that we can succeed in them.
The turning point for me was when I was invited to a friend's house for dinner with a group of non-American desi girls. One friend gave an impassioned rant about the centering of war journalists and humanitarians on narratives about interventions and their effects. The group agreed-- why did these white people even come to the developing world and think they know better? Look at the inequalities and injustices in their countries; who invited them to foreign lands to 'transform' societies they never grew up in?
I never thought of myself as white, as the daughter of Arab immigrants, but I know I appear white in all contexts, including in my own country, the USA. Maybe I am a white savior too? I knew I had to explore this more, even despite my lack of class time devoted to it. Naturally, my practical side pushed me to kill two birds with one stone-- research the topic for my Podcast Interviewing class and produce a full-length podcast asking the questions I've always wanted to ask. I deliberately started the episode with the dear Pakistani friend who inspired me to dig deeper. I took my questions to my white friends and professors in the field and asked them how they deal with it. Do they struggle? How do we combat this reality? What came out of it are some explanations of why the white savior complex exists so deeply in Development and Humanitarian fields, some redefining of the term itself, some reflections of American exceptionalist ways of viewing the world, and some deep thoughts about our Ivy League institutional privilege (which is the reason most of us came here). Presenting to you, the first episode of my podcast Moral Dilemma: White Savior Complex and Development. Pass it around and let's use it as a conversation starter to dig deeper into who we are and how we may all just be saviors.